Wednesday, June 11
These are the five funniest works of fiction I've read:
5. Ham on Rye, Charles Bukowski – Okay, this might not be laugh out loud funny, but it’s funny. Darkly funny. It’s the kind of stuff you like to hear about, but don’t necessarily want to be involved in. I’m doing a terrible job explaining this, so just read a chapter and see for yourself. It’ll make you feel better about what a drunken loser you thought you were.
4. Portnoy’s Complaint, Philip Roth – This story about a young Jew’s adolescence is the longest set-up to a punchline I’ve ever encountered. Includes a first-hand account of humping a piece of liver from the butcher’s shop. If that doesn’t make you want to read it, I can’t help you.
3. Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. – This is ostensibly about the firebombing of Dresden and the horrors of war, but includes enough subplots, asides, and weird twists to make an argument that it’s about something else entirely. What exactly that “something else” is I don’t know, but I can tell you that it’s good.
***Honorable Mention: Breakfast of Champions – I’m pretty sure Vonnegut was the first person to ever put the phrase “wide open beaver” in print. Kudos, Kurt!
2. Catch 22, Joesph Heller – If you only ever read one Joseph Heller book, make it this one. Mostly because this is the only book he ever wrote that doesn’t suck balls. That doesn’t matter though - Catch 22 is both hilarious and poignant, and is the cleverest damn book I’ve ever read. It’s about a pilot in WWII who stares the inanity of war in the face and realizes that he’s just totally fucking sick of flying missions.
1. Franny and Zooey, J.D. Salinger – You can read this book as a message about the nature of God, you can read it for the curious interactions between a brother and his little sister, or you can just read it for the part where Zooey calls his mother a “Fat Irish Rose”. Gets my vote for best book of all time.
I've got all of these books somewhere, so let me know if you're interested in reading any of them.
5. Ham on Rye, Charles Bukowski – Okay, this might not be laugh out loud funny, but it’s funny. Darkly funny. It’s the kind of stuff you like to hear about, but don’t necessarily want to be involved in. I’m doing a terrible job explaining this, so just read a chapter and see for yourself. It’ll make you feel better about what a drunken loser you thought you were.
4. Portnoy’s Complaint, Philip Roth – This story about a young Jew’s adolescence is the longest set-up to a punchline I’ve ever encountered. Includes a first-hand account of humping a piece of liver from the butcher’s shop. If that doesn’t make you want to read it, I can’t help you.
3. Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. – This is ostensibly about the firebombing of Dresden and the horrors of war, but includes enough subplots, asides, and weird twists to make an argument that it’s about something else entirely. What exactly that “something else” is I don’t know, but I can tell you that it’s good.
***Honorable Mention: Breakfast of Champions – I’m pretty sure Vonnegut was the first person to ever put the phrase “wide open beaver” in print. Kudos, Kurt!
2. Catch 22, Joesph Heller – If you only ever read one Joseph Heller book, make it this one. Mostly because this is the only book he ever wrote that doesn’t suck balls. That doesn’t matter though - Catch 22 is both hilarious and poignant, and is the cleverest damn book I’ve ever read. It’s about a pilot in WWII who stares the inanity of war in the face and realizes that he’s just totally fucking sick of flying missions.
1. Franny and Zooey, J.D. Salinger – You can read this book as a message about the nature of God, you can read it for the curious interactions between a brother and his little sister, or you can just read it for the part where Zooey calls his mother a “Fat Irish Rose”. Gets my vote for best book of all time.
I've got all of these books somewhere, so let me know if you're interested in reading any of them.
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