posted
Of late I've found comedic writing to be very much of a draw for me. One of my issues, however, is that I've done very little reading in the genre of comedy. I'm very much a television/movie/comic type of comedy enthusiast. I'm most interested, as of now, in satire, parody, and character comedy (Though all sorts of comedy have draw for me)
Are there any modern written comedies out there that you would highly recommend? I say modern because I can't relate enough to many of the older books. As much as I might respect the writing in Catch-22, I just can't relate to it, and thus don't enjoy it.
Thanks folks.
[This message has been edited by Gan (edited October 24, 2010).]
posted
You might try a series by Anton Strout. It's Urban Fantasy but with a humorous twist. Kinda satirical. The first in the series is "Dead To Me". Actually I think the third and so far latest book is more serious, well all of them are to some degree but this one leaves out some of the humor the others, especially the first one had. Not that there isn't some in there.
Then if you can find any issues of On The Brighter Side. It lasted only three issues and may have been all on line but if you can it there could be an archive someplace online.
(rolls eyes upward)They almost bought one of my stories.
posted
Of course, there's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Though you can stop at book 3 because they mostly stop being funny after that.
I also remember a series called, or starting with, Castle Perilous by John DeChancie that I thought was quite humorous. If I remember right, the first line was, "It was a stark and dormy night." And the hilarity ensues.
If you wanted to give one of the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich a try, Four to Score is the best and funniest. You don't need to have read the previous ones, at all.
That's all I can think of at the moment. Hope this helps.
posted
I'd recommend Terry Pratchett, Janet Evanovich, Barry Crump. Roald Dahl has funny stories and books for adults as well as children. Some of Ben Elton's books are funny (and some try to be but aren't )
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I'll second Pratchett, especially his discworld books. Each of book is a stand-alone novel, so you don't have to start at the beginning (though it might make for some better character continuity).
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Most of the above are SF / fantasy. I'll throw in something else---at least, it's the only satire I've read lately. Depending on what end of the spectrum your politics are, you might really like or absolutely hate Rules for Radical Conservatives, by somebody using the name of David Kahane.
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Have you tried Robert Asprin? He wrote the "Myth" and "Phule" series. It may be too old hat for you though <<big shrug>>, but I like the older type school of comedy. For example; I tried to read "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and never finished it. Thought the movie sucked, too, but I never have liked much of British-style comedy. Guess I should add that I did like the movie "A Fish Called Wanda", but that's been quite awhile back.
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Start with Terry Pratchett's, the Bromiliade Trilogy, Digger, Trucks and Wings. Beautiful, brilliant satire.
Then move to Douglas Addam's Hitch Hikers Guide and the books that follow. Although I second genivieve, don't worry to much past book three.
Then back to Pratchett. I personally enjoy his non-Disc World stuff to his disc world stuff, but really you can't go wrong with anything Terry Pratchett. Carpe Jugularum, is a great one, and Johnny of the Dead, and Nation, are all good in their own unique way.
And then move to Dean Koonz. He's not that funny, but who doesn't like Dean Koonz? ~Sheena
[This message has been edited by shimiqua (edited October 24, 2010).]
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Yeah, it's true. If you don't care for British comedy, Hitchhiker's Guide probably won't work for you. And I think you have to have enjoyed the book for the movie to work. It really was a fan-oriented movie.
I hate to suggest the next three books since I'm not sure of the titles or writers but if you want modern satire, there are three books, I think one was by a different writer than the other two about adventures of fairy tale princesses. Snow White, Cinderella etc.. I think in one Prince Charming wasn't and in another book, one of them gets kidnapped and the other princesses go to her rescue. They turn into tough" take no prisoners" warriors.
I apologize for not being much help with this suggestion but they are fairly new books.
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I think the above post is referring to Jim Hines' series - The Stepsister Scheme, The Mermaid's Madness, and Red Hood's Revenge (not sure if the third is actually out yet). He also wrote three Goblin books that are again humourous fantasy.
Jim's blog on livejournal is excellent and I'd recommend it to anyone.
I have Stepsister Scheme on the way from Amazon so will be reading it soon.
quote: I think the above post is referring to Jim Hines' series - The Stepsister Scheme, The Mermaid's Madness, and Red Hood's Revenge (not sure if the third is actually out yet). He also wrote three Goblin books that are again humourous fantasy.
Yeah that's right, now I recall the titles of the books.
But I'm sure there's another one, which was probably written by someone else. I remember wondering if there was going to be a new sub-genre of books about the fairy tale princesses. I could have misremembered a book along the way.
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