If you're curious about what kind of humor I like when it comes to prose,
here's your answer.
<p>
I've read and enjoyed most of the Terry Pratchett books that have been published.
His style of humor tends to be based upon the idea that everyone is basically like
the people you know, so that a wizard's university and a school for assassins
both resemble British boy's schools, and mayflies reminisce about the good old
hours when the sun was much higher and yellower. He sometimes uses that to
achieve bathetic humor, especially with Death, the terrifying hooded skeleton
who has a horse named Binkey and occasionally turns up at the local pub -- not
just for official business, but even when he's off-duty.
Pratchett is also good at extending a mythological
idea to its logical extreme. He imagines a zombie having to figure out
how to consciously manage the details of his body that used to take
care of themselves ("Anyone here know what a pancreas is supposed to be for?")
and a mummy (in
Pyramids
) groping around blindly to find its eyes that have been stored
in a jar.
<p>
My favorite Pratchett novel is the collaboration
Good Omens
, a hilarious
book about the Apocalypse -- one of the funniest books
I've ever read, and in some ways similar to the serious
To Reign in Hell
by Brust. I suspect that the idea of the angel and the demon secretly
meeting like spies from opposing sides exchanging information was Pratchett's,
as well as the idea of an absolutely perfect prophetess who could blackmail
people who were born centuries after she died.
Only You Can Save Mankind
is also worth reading; it's a story
about a video game from the point of view of its inhabitants. Then there's his
Discworld series, including:
<UL>
<LI>
Feet of Clay
<LI>
Colour of Magic
<LI>
Good Omens
<LI>
Maskerade
<LI>
Sourcery
<LI>
Wyrd Sisters
<LI>
Mort
<LI>
Wyrd Sisters
<LI>
Interesting Times
<LI>
Soul Music
<LI>
Men at Arms
<LI>
Soul Music
<LI>
Small Gods
<LI>
Reaper Man
<LI>
Men at Arms
<LI>
Pyramids
</UL>
<p>
Esther Friesner is also good at bathetic humor, especially when she juxtaposes pompous
courtly speech with earthy reactions. I forget the title of the novel where she takes
that to hilarious extremes, but all she seems to have in print at the moment is the
Majyk by Accident
/
Majyk by Design
series, which is worth reading.
<p>
Dave Barry, a columnist in Miami, tends to write short (of course)
pieces and is good at pointing out all the ways you always knew
that the world was out to get you. He's a master of hyperbole,
the running gag, and cheerful cynicism about the human spirit.
<p>
My favorite book of his is
Dave Barry's Complete Guide to Guys
.
<p>
Second only to that is
Dave Barry in Cyberspace
.
People just struggling to learn about computers and the Internet will probably
find it even funnier. Besides the brilliant spoofs on the computer world,
computer manuals, and even the Smiley Face table (he also satirizes the
whole need for smileys :-), the book contains the only work of pure fiction
by Dave Barry that I have ever come across, as touching as it is funny: a chapter about a bored
middle-aged housewife who hates computers finally becoming addicted
to AOL, and then falling in love with a man because he knows how to use
an apostrophe.
One warning: Don’t buy the book for a child if you object to occasional objectionable
language — and I don’t mean “booger”.
<p>
I've also enjoyed
Dave Barry Talks Back
,
Dave Barry's Greatest Hits
,
and
Stay Fit and Healthy Until You're Dead
.
Homes and Other Black Holes
is okay, and would be a good gift for anyone who's recently
bought a house, or even just moved into a rental house.
<p>
I have not read any of these yet:
<UL>
<LI>
Babies and Other Hazards of Sex
:
How to Make a Tiny Person in Only 9
Months With Tools You Probably Have Around the Home
<LI>
Claw Your Way to the Top
:
How to Become the Head of a Major
Corporation in Roughly a Week
<LI>
Dave Barry Does Japan
<LI>
Dave Barry Is from Mars and Venus
<LI>
Dave Barry Is Not Making This Up
<LI>
Dave Barry Slept Here
: A Sort of History of the United States
<LI>
Dave Barry Turns 40
<LI>
Dave Barry's Bad Habits
: a 100% Fact-Free Book
<LI>
Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs
<LI>
Dave Barry's Gift Guide to End All Gift Guides
<LI>
Dave Barry's Guide to Marriage And/or Sex
<LI>
Dave Barry's Only Travel Guide You'll Ever Need
<LI>
The Taming of the Screw
: Several Million Homeowners' Problems
</UL>