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Read any good books lately? (Humor wise)
I'm not much of a reader outside of school, but when a good humor book comes around the corner, I'm there to buy it. One of my recent purchases has been interesting to say the least. It is called "Ninja Burger: Honorable Employee Handbook" by Micheal Fiegel and it was quite a find. After all, finding a book like this is very similar to finding an actual ninja...very difficult. I found the only one in stock at my local Books-A-Million. Even if you do find one, you must also make sure that it is also not a fake one. If the does not turn into a tree log after you flip through the first page, you have a real copy of the book. One more thing, do not forget to duck. Shuriken traps on the real books.
Anywho, thought I would throw out something slightly different for a change and see what other amusing books are out there according to other people so...have at it! And put those tantos away!! You can all fight later after your work is done..
Anywho, thought I would throw out something slightly different for a change and see what other amusing books are out there according to other people so...have at it! And put those tantos away!! You can all fight later after your work is done..
Comments
Recently I've only read a stack of Larry Niven books given to me, and I'm currently half way through the Blood: the last vampire novel, written by Mamoru Oshii.
If you're looking for humor, I think we can take it as a given that you've read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, right? So we're looking for more obscure authors and titles.
I just finished reading Fall of Knight, by Peter David. It's the third in his series about Arthur Penndragon returning to modern day and trying to be the once and future ruler in a world that has consigned him to myth. The first book in the series is Knight's Life, where he arrives and runs for mayor of New York City, with the second book, One Knight Only, following important events that occur during his presidency. They are decently written and there's a solid blend of humor and strong story in the first book, and although the humor reduces somewhat in the later two books, the story is just as strong and worth the read.
Another good series by Peter David is the Sir Apropos of Nothing, which has a slightly stronger humor element, as it gives you a hero who's a liar, a thief and a coward in a world filled with fantasy adventure. There are also three books in this series, and it's another solid choice to pick up and read.
If you haven't read any more Kurt Vonnegut then you had to in High School, then I would also suggest you try and pick up some of his novels. It's a very dark satire in most cases, so the humor is more understated, but they are good books that if you enjoy humor in your writing you should read at some point. The first one that springs to mind is a book that contains a fictional series of essays that Kurt wrote as he had Doctor Kevorkian give him a controlled near-death experience several times so he can interview people in Heaven.
If you've read Vonnegut and like his style of humor, Chuck Palahniuk is another good writer for very dark satire. He wrote the book Fight Club, which gives the point of the story in a very different way from the movie. He's not really a geek genre writer, but a good choice to read if you're looking for something.
My personal favorite in this category of humorous writers should be obvious to anyone that knows me, Terry Prachett and his Discworld series of novels. There are over thirty of these book, he's been writing them since 1983, and tends to put out about one novel every year.
It originally started as a outrageously funny satire of the stereotypical fantasy world, but has had different styles of books as Pratchett has developed as an author. The first set consists of his books from Color of Magic to Eric, which are books that focus that are funny first, with a good story second. The next set goes from Moving Pictures to Lords and Ladies, where there's a more even balance of humor and story. From Men at Arms onward, the world has grown and it gives you the best stories and starts to look more and more at our world and using stronger, but more subtle satire on it.
I could probably write a whole page on advice on how you might want to start reading Discworld, but my best advice is to pick up Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic, the only direct sequel in the entire series, as a starting point.
Edit: Have you read Nuklear Power? It's by the guy from 8-bit theatre, and though the writings a little stilted and not nearly as good as the current writing in 8-Bit, it's probably also along the lines of what you're looking for.
As for books, I haven't read many as of late. I keep reading comic books and graphic novels. Just when I finish reading all the comics I've got, more come in the mail. I tried to fix this by switching to monthly shipping instead of weekly. Didn't help that much.
But I think now that it is summer, and I've started reading at work, I'm definitely going to start hitting some novels soon. I've got quite a few William Gibson books left to read. I also wish I hadn't already read Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and Diamond Age, so I could read them for the first time again.
One thing I did pick up at the used bookstore in Wildwood is the Lensman series of books by e.e. "doc" Smith. The thing is, I got the wrong book. I bought the book titled "First Lensman" which is actually the second book in the series. Triplanetary is actually the first book. As soon as I get that book I can start reading. Until then, I'm going to finish reading "Under the Black Flag" which is a non-fiction book about pirates. Arrr!
I was going to mention Terry Pratchett, but had to leave for lunch. I have a large amount of the Discworld books, and a small amount of his non-discworld books
Phil Foglio is a comic writer, he did the "Whats New" in the back of Dragon Magazine (and Duelist, for a little while) that hasn't been running lately because of "Girl Genius", his (now) online comic. Anyway, he wrote a book with Nick Pollotta, called "Illegal aliens", which I enjoyed a lot a while back. He also did the chapter Illustrations in the "Myth Adventures" series of books by Rob Aspirin. I havent personally read the novels, just the comic Foglio made out of it for the hell of it, but that was quite entertaining. I have only heard good things about the novels.
While note really a novel, the Devils Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce is very good for a laugh. Its old enough to be on Project Gutenburg; http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/972
I just looked at their copy of it, and its not very good. It doesn't show when its changed to a second definition of the same word, and has a hundred pages of Annoying Gutenburg text, like all the other books on there. Also has Underscores thrown in at random.
/Has a Hitchhiker's Guide reference in his username
**Edit: Not to worry Trogdor. I read the novel that you speak of.
Actually, I think I have to find a copy of "If Chins Could Kill" and read it myself. My list of non-fictional reading is not nearly long enough.
Its funny you should mention it, actually, because Phil Foglio actually did a Fan strip of it. Its not a very good example of his drawing, as its a bit old as isn't something he was doing seriously, but it's here(if you care):
http://studiofoglio.com/fun/goodomens/goodomens.1.html
Um. I will shut up about Foglio now, promise. Unless somebody mentions something else that causes me to bring him up.