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Humor books
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Book reviews/essays: Humor books

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>

Bob Kanefsky ~