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Official Recommendation Thread: Books

Discussion in 'Books and Anime Discussion' started by Marguerida, Apr 5, 2005.

  1. Innomine

    Innomine Alchemist ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    A Black Comedy and Nonjon's other work.
    Oh God Not Again!
    Methods of Rationality (Great when you don't take it seriously, and treat it mostly as crack. Also, if there's any paragraph above 5 lines, just skip it)

    Those are the ones I've read most recently.

    EDIT, thought this was a different thread. :(

    Any of Douglas Adam's books are fantastic.
     
    Last edited: Aug 18, 2015
  2. Quiddity

    Quiddity Squib ~ Prestige ~

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    I think he meant books, not fanfiction ;)


    Have you read the Discworld books?
     
  3. Iztiak

    Iztiak Prisoner DLP Supporter

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    I personally thought Catch 22 was hilarious, but I have to accept that it's not for everyone.

    The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is also pretty amazing in my opinion.

    I don't read a lot of humor though, so I can't think of any others at the moment, sorry.
     
  4. Newcomb

    Newcomb Minister of Magic

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    Books that I can remember making me laugh out loud besides the aforementioned Hitchhiker's and Catch-22, off the top of my head:

    Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart

    Lamb by Christopher Moore

    Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

    The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut (although this one is more of a "laugh because otherwise you'll cry" kind of funny.)
     
  5. Shinysavage

    Shinysavage Madman With A Box ~ Prestige ~

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    Three Men in a Boat, by Jerome K. Jerome.
    The Code of the Woosters, P G. Wodehouse (any of his books really, but that especially).
    The Sacred Art of Stealing, Christopher Brookmyre (also Be My Enemy, A Snowball in Hell, and Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks).
    The J.W. Wells trilogy by Tom Holt (The Portable Door, In Your Dreams and Earth, Air, Fire and Custard).
     
  6. LittleChicago

    LittleChicago Headmaster DLP Supporter

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    Literally everything by Patrick F. McManus - he's primarily an outdoors/humor writer, and has over a dozen collections of short stories in print, almost all of them very exaggerated and ridiculous tales of his mishaps on hunting and camping trips.
     
  7. funflash

    funflash First Year

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    My favourite collections of humourous tales are Dead Fishy and Psycho Cat by Derek Hanson. My family would read these at our bach on holidays and loan them out to the neighbours and unfotunately they were not always returned. We've tried to get more but they are extremely hard to find.

    He also has a Lunches series that are amazing.
     
  8. Murphy

    Murphy Second Year

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    I've read A Black Comedy and loved it, but as far as all the other suggestions I'm going to start looking into getting some of them. When I do that I'll leave reviews.
     
  9. Tesla

    Tesla Auror

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    Straight Man by Richard Russo is incredibly funny. Love that book, despite its weak ending.

    I also thought Catch 22 was great.
     
  10. Paranoid Android

    Paranoid Android Professor

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    Thirding the recommendation for catch 22.
     
  11. redlibertyx

    redlibertyx Professor

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    Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett is very good and very humorous.
    The Martian by Andy Weir (soon to be a major motion picture) has some humor in it.
     
  12. DarkAizen

    DarkAizen Professor DLP Supporter

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    If your looking for humour I will recommend anything by Terry Pratchett. There are multiple ways to start the Discworld series. But I found that Guards Guards! was the funniest of the lot.
     
  13. AlchemistLoki

    AlchemistLoki Squib

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    Hello Everyone lately I've been really into Urban paranormal books and Would really like some suggestions on some good ones. I just finished THE UTTERLY UNINTERESTING AND UNADVENTUROUS TALES OF FRED, THE VAMPIRE ACCOUNTANT by Drew Hayes and i'm looking for books with a similar style of writing.
     
  14. Eilyfe

    Eilyfe Supreme Mugwump

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    Finished Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle two days ago and can only recommend it as a book that at the same time pulled all the right strings to entertain the cynic in me, before weighing down the inevitably following smile for one reason: How could I actually be happy about the things he writes about, no matter how skillful he does it? It kind of makes you want to laugh and weep at the same time.

    With roughly 200 pages it's a quick read and his prose pulls you along at a good clip right until the end (read it in one session during a train ride.) The ideas he conveys, however, will take a lot more time to properly digest.

    As for the content, here's the relevant part from Amazon:

    It's the fourth Vonnegut book in my collection and he's quickly becoming one of my favorites. And compared to the others I read (Slaughter House 5, Breakfast of Champions, A Man Without A Country) this one's the best so far, even though all of them are incredible in their own way.

    Busy, busy, busy.
     
  15. Newcomb

    Newcomb Minister of Magic

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    You should read Sirens of Titan next. It's incredible and right up there on the "makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time" scale.
     
  16. Jjf88

    Jjf88 Auror

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    Looking for some new books. Recently I've read the Ex-heroes seris by Peter Clines, Patrick Rothfuss' Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear. I've read the Earthsea books as well.

    If anyone can recommend something along the lines of a fantasy/steampunk book with an intelligent character with good development I'd appreciate it.
     
  17. Innomine

    Innomine Alchemist ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    Brian Stavely - The Emperor's Blades is a good choice. Three main characters, all quite intelligent. Some very interesting concepts in the books, and you can tell the author is someone who knows a lot about the world.

    Robin Hobb - The Farseer Trilogy is also fantastic, it's written in first person and has quite possibly the best character development I've ever seen. It's also very interesting in that we get to see the main character grow old. First trilogy covers years 6-20ish, second series picks up around 15 years later, 3rd has a similar time jump.

    Scott Lynch - The Lies of Locke Lamora. This book is a bit more simple than Robin Hobb, but equally good in a lot of ways. The Author seems to suffer from Rothfuss syndrome though. (In that release time between books is never certain)
     
  18. Jjf88

    Jjf88 Auror

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    Awesome, mate. They sound right up my street. Especially the second one. Thanks a lot :)
     
  19. Innomine

    Innomine Alchemist ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    Just be prepared to get very emotional with Robin Hobb.
     
  20. Mutton

    Mutton Order Member

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    I was captivated by the first Emperor's Blades book, but the sequel hook wasn't very good and I just can't get into the second one.
     
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