As I was checking in a cart of new books recently, I came across The Big Book of Irony by Jon Winokur.  The volume is ironically small in size, but crammed full of information (possibly more than one might ever need) on the subject of irony.  The book includes definitions and examples, and explains many different types of irony one might encounter: 

• Verbal irony: when you say one thing but mean the opposite, with the intent of being understood as meaning the opposite
• Visual irony: when images contradict themselves
• Ambient irony: when irony is everywhere!
• Auto-irony: when celebrities try to humanize themselves

as well as:

• Morissettian irony: when there’s no irony at all (based on the ironically unironic 1996 hit song by Alannis Morissette entitled “Ironic”).

Confused?

Not to worry.  Winokur’s book provides numerous–and often humorous–past and present examples of irony, as well as those things that are often mistaken for irony, including coincidence, sarcasm, hypocrisy, and inconvenience. 

If you’re interested in finding other fun books about language use and grammar, check out these titles:

• Get Thee to a Punnery, Anguished English, and other titles by Richard Lederer
• Eats, Shoots, & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss
• Grammar Snobs are Great Big Meanies: a Guide to Language for Fun and Spite by June Casagrande
• Lapsing Into a Comma : A Curmudgeon’s Guide to the Many Things That Can Go Wrong in Print–and How to Avoid Them by Bill Walsh
• Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English by Patricia T. O’Conner
• The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time: Wit and Wisdom from the Popular Language Column in the New York Times Magazine by William Safire

1. Grammar Pet Peeves
2. Know Your Accents
3. Advice for the booklorn
4. Fantasy Vacation of The Day: Brazil
5. Adult Learning Collections – Improve Your Skills