"The Angel and the Author, and Others" by Jerome K. Jerome is a compilation of amusing essays and tales from the late 1800s, revealing the author's cleverness as he explores morality, society, and humanity’s silliness using fictional stories and observations. The stories explore charity, virtue, and how we see ourselves versus how others see us, often with the author's funny chats with fantastical characters, such as the Recording Angel. It begins with the author's strange dream about chatting with the Recording Angel where good deeds are marked down as sins. The author thinks about what charity really means, questioning if good acts are really sincere, while humorously listing his charitable donations. This sets the stage for poking fun at kindness and expectations, making readers wonder what real virtue is.

The Angel and the Author, and Others
By Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka) Jerome
In a world where good deeds are mistaken for sins by a heavenly scribe, a writer questions the true meaning of charity and virtue.
Summary
About the AuthorJerome Klapka Jerome was an English writer and humorist, best known for the comic travelogue Three Men in a Boat (1889). Other works include the essay collections Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1886) and Second Thoughts of an Idle Fellow; Three Men on the Bummel, a sequel to Three Men in a Boat; and several other novels. Jerome was born in Walsall, England, and, although he was able to attend grammar school, his family suffered from poverty at times, as did he as a young man trying to earn a living in various occupations. In his twenties, he was able to publish some work, and success followed. He married in 1888, and the honeymoon was spent on a boat on the River Thames; he published Three Men in a Boat soon afterwards. He continued to write fiction, non-fiction and plays over the next few decades, though never with the same level of success.
Jerome Klapka Jerome was an English writer and humorist, best known for the comic travelogue Three Men in a Boat (1889). Other works include the essay collections Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1886) and Second Thoughts of an Idle Fellow; Three Men on the Bummel, a sequel to Three Men in a Boat; and several other novels. Jerome was born in Walsall, England, and, although he was able to attend grammar school, his family suffered from poverty at times, as did he as a young man trying to earn a living in various occupations. In his twenties, he was able to publish some work, and success followed. He married in 1888, and the honeymoon was spent on a boat on the River Thames; he published Three Men in a Boat soon afterwards. He continued to write fiction, non-fiction and plays over the next few decades, though never with the same level of success.