/lit/ - Literature

Infinite Jest

Mark Twain always makes me smile.

some I've never seen discussed here

>You're A Horrible Person, But I Like You: The Believer Book of Advice

>Free-Range Chickens by Simon Rich

Keith Laumer's Retief novels.

It's like James bond written by Monty Python, IN SPACE!.

This isn't related but since someone posted D a v i d F o s t e r W a l l a c e then I thought you might want to hear it

>be last week
>read in The Pale King that if you say to someone "What's wrong?" in the middle of them talking to you and in a concerned voice they;ll say "how did you know?" and basically suck you dry
>talk to a girl at bookshop since we're browsing hte same shelf
>say "What's wrong?" while shes talking about college debt or something
>"huh?"
>"W-what's wrong?"
>"nothing....."
>"Tell me"
>She asks if I'm ok, then hurriedly exits

Fuck you Wallace

I just read pic related. Laughed a couple of times, which isn't bad - most "funny" books don't make me laugh at all. I'm a britfag though, so it may be a rib-tickler for seppos.

>>2776910
It seems like almost every celebrity in the U.K. (comedians in particular) comes out with a book sooner or later, and they're all shit. But then that's celebrity books in general (save Hugh Laurie's), but it just seems like there's a higher concentration there.

>>2776920

Stephen Fry's books are OK. But in general you're right - there seems to be some kind of idea that a stand-up comedian can automatically write.

Les Dawson wrote a pretty good novel, long before celebrity novels were a big deal. Then again, Fat Les was way more of an intellectual than he ever let on. Britain doesn't trust the brainy ones.

Obliigatory Wodehouse.

Obligatory Wodehouse.

I actually wish that more comedians would write novels the way Hugh Laurie did. Or at least the ones who know how to write - like Louis CK is great at telling wonderful and clever and inventive short stories on his show but judging from his blog and twitter he probably knows what he's doing in declining to write a book. I'd read a comic novel by Tina Fey though. Has anyone read Craig Ferguson's book? I'm curious as to whether it's really good or just surprisingly decent by Ethan Hawke standards.

>>2777226
sup

>>2777244
Sup Rich. How's life standing in the shadow of your successful ex-comedy partner? I see you've written a book about your various sexual exploits in the nineties.

Three Men in a Boat

British humour is best humour

I can't believe nobody has mentioned Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Also Ulysses.

The Master and Margarita

>>2777301
heya stew, i've been sitting here for almost an hour now and i've finally come to the realisation that my entire career has been spent trying to catch up with you.
you're right, i should quit stand-up- maybe i'll go into teaching

>>2777350

I was just about to. (Not Ulysses. The other one.)

Depends on the style you're looking for.

Novelistic: A Confederacy of Dunces, Catch 22
Short comedy: Simon Rich's stuff, Without Feathers

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

I laughed quite often reading the Autobiography of Malcom X

The Ascent of Rum Doodle - W. E. Bowman
Three Men in a Boat - Jerome K. Jerome
Pnin - Vladimir Nabokov

And the works of Bill Bryson, Will Self, and Andrey Kurkov.