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Robert Ludlum: The Road to Gandalfo Stan Lee: Dunn's Conundrum John M. Ford: How Much for Just the Planet?
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Lisa: John M. Ford: How Much for Just the Planet?
WOW! I had forgotten that book! My brother owns just about every ST book ever written, and I've read a few of them...my brother HATED that book, but it was the only one that I felt the need to go back and read more than once. What a funny book!
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I had gotten every Star Trek book up to about #100 (original series). When I got rid of about 750 books, I included most of the Star Trek ones. I kept maybe a dozen of them, and this was one. The Romulan Way, Dreadnought, Ishmael, The Entropy Effect, Spock Must Die, the two New Voyages collections, the two Phoenix books, Spock's world... I don't recall the rest.
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I realize this is slightly deviating from the topic of the thread (which is FUNNY books), but Ishmael was also one of my favorites. I don't remember much about "The Romulan Way", but I do remember that I enjoyed that one, along with "The Final Reflection". Both of those, if I remember right, tried to give back-history on other species (Romulans and Klingons)
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Spider Robinson's Callahan's series is very funny. Lots of John Varley cracks me up. Connie Willis is funny too, even in serious novels like Passages about near-death experiences.
I really need to read some Terry Pratchet. Should I start with Discworld or something else?
*does some quick research*
Good God, there's almost 40 Discworld books? I had no idea.
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I loved David Eddings book Redemption of Athalus, as well as the Belgarion books and the Sparhawk books. I just connected with his sense of humor. I didn't like his most recent series though...I only read the first couple of books.
Posts: 1901 | Registered: May 2004
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If you wanna read Terry Pratchett, try "Mort." I like the Death character the most and that's a good place to start. I couldn't get into his other Discworld books as much.
For me, its without a doubt Douglas Adams. And not just H2G2. I some of his short essays and "Last Chance to See" are some of the funniest things he's written. If I could bring anyone back to life for a quick lunch, it would be him, and I would be happy to listen to him rattle on about computers and endangered animals all day.
Don't know about Christopher Moore yet. I like parts of "Lamb" but I can't quite convince myself to read anything else he's written.
I'm thinking about tracking down this book called "Happiness" by Will Ferguson. I read a review at work that described him as perfect for "the Douglas Adams fan who is sick of The Secret and all the other self-help books that get talked up on Oprah." Which is basically me in a nutshell. Its supposedly about and editor who gets this manuscript for a self-help book and discovers upon its publication that it really works and everyone is happy which nearly leads to the end of the world or something. Sounds interesting.
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Jasper Fforde -- yeah! Forgot to mention him, he's a fave.
Connie Willis -- I wish I could like, many folks have recommended to me, but her humor's just too dry.
Did William Goldman ever write anything else as funny as The Princess Bride? (I read Marathon Man, that was an OK thriller, but not really to my liking.)
Posts: 2911 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Stephen Fry - most notably The Hippopotamus and Making History. Alan Dean Foster - The Spellsinger books have some great scenes in them. Like Pratchett they tend to be a slightly warped version of well-known fantasy rules. Tom Sharpe - The Wilt series is really all I've read by him so far, but they were good enough to consider some of his other titles as well.
Posts: 993 | Registered: Jul 2006
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If we're talking Adams, I prefer Dirk Gentley's Holistic Detective Agency even though I don't really get the bit about the albatross.
When I need a good laugh, I pick up Poul Anderson's Hoka, Hoka, Hoka. It's a short story collection about a race of aliens obsessed with Earth fiction. They become the culture they read about.
Posts: 2283 | Registered: Dec 2003
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quote:Originally posted by plaid: Is the John Ford book the one with the Magian?
Yup. Ilian the Magian.
quote:Originally posted by Lisa: The Romulan Way, Dreadnought, Ishmael, The Entropy Effect, Spock Must Die, the two New Voyages collections, the two Phoenix books, Spock's world... I don't recall the rest.
You kept Dreadnought but not Battlestations?
Must Die, New Voyages, and the Phoenix books are primarily notable for historical reasons, not because they're much good.
But I'll agree on keeping anything by Vonda McIntyre, Diane Carey, and Diane Duane.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Originally posted by plaid: Is the John Ford book the one with the Magian?
Yup. Ilian the Magian.
quote:Originally posted by Lisa: The Romulan Way, Dreadnought, Ishmael, The Entropy Effect, Spock Must Die, the two New Voyages collections, the two Phoenix books, Spock's world... I don't recall the rest.
You kept Dreadnought but not Battlestations?
I couldn't remember the title. Of course I kept Battlestations. I wish she'd do more stories with Piper and friends. I really enjoyed those.
quote:Originally posted by rivka: Must Die, New Voyages, and the Phoenix books are primarily notable for historical reasons, not because they're much good.
But I'll agree on keeping anything by Vonda McIntyre, Diane Carey, and Diane Duane.
Spock Must Die was cool just because it was the first novel that wasn't a novelization of the episodes. The Entropy Effect was cool because that's where Sulu got his first name. Some of the stories in New Voyages were pretty cool, like the one by Nichelle Nichols, and the one where the actors wound up on the Enterprise.
I should also have mentioned Prime Directive, Final Frontier and the sequel to Final Frontier, the name of which escapes me at the moment. I think I may possibly have also kept the David Gerrold one.
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quote:Originally posted by Lisa: I couldn't remember the title. Of course I kept Battlestations. I wish she'd do more stories with Piper and friends. I really enjoyed those.
Agreed. I actually re-read Dreadnought on Shabbos, and made it halfway through Battlestations. (Just past the dance with the veils, IIRC.) Diane Carey's other ST books are all good, but none are as much fun as those two.
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I wonder why she didn't do more of those? Honestly, I would have supported a whole series of Piper books. It would have made a terrific TV show, too.
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My understanding (backed up by Wkipedia) has always been that there was a fair bit of fan backlash. The only reason there were two was that the second one had been bought by Pocket before the first one hit the shelves.
Piper is a Mary Sue. A fun one, but not everyone liked her. Personally, I would have liked to see one or two more books, but I think a series or show would have driven me wild.
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Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchet definitely make the top of my list. I'm also a big fan of P.G. Wodehouse. His humor was very subtle but beautifully crafted.
Posts: 681 | Registered: Feb 2004
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Peter David's written some pretty good ST novels. Can't remember the name of the first one he did -- has the Illuminatus in it? much good Klingon humor. And I've read Imzadi a couple times.
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My first thought when I heard Douglas Adams had died, was "Now I'll never get another Dirk Gently novel".
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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I used to be very fond of John Moressy's Kedrigern books and Craig Shaw Gardner's Ebenezum/Wuntvor series.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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Has anybody read much of Tom Holt? I read Expecting Someone Taller and thought it was pretty funny, but I haven't read more by him.
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I really like the novel Tom Jones by Henry Fielding. It's hilarious and so true. But his other writings aren't nearly as good. I don't recommend them. Tom Jones is absolutely wonderful, though. I can't recommend it highly enough. =)
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