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• Reputation: 639 Q&A: 22 0 0 205 6 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Expert: 5 topics Books & Writing Book Recommendations General Book Discussion Other Books & Writing Book Club- A Visit from the Goon Squad Follow Following 2 David Wright

  3 0 I really think you might enjoy Absurdistan, by Gary Steyngart, or maybe his first - The Russian Debutante's Handbook. Satiric, farcical, jokey, smart, jaundiced. If you're okay with short fiction, George Saunders has that wonderful, giddy, disturbing feeling that makes you feel like you woke from a nightmare laughing. Try Pastoralia or Civil War Land in Bad Decline. Tristan Egolf's Lord of the Barnyard might do something for you - the author is way out there and hyper brilliant, and he's having his way with the American way of life in a big, rangy, bizarre and totally over-the-top fashion. For something maybe a bit less epic but no less charged with raving visceral invention, Harry Crews' A Feast of Snakes. Or Bradley Denton's Laughin' Boy, about the wierd cult of notoriety surrounding a man caught on camera laughing in the midst of a horrifying catastrophe. You've maybe read Candide? If no, I think you might like it. Thomas Berger's Little Big Man would seem to have a lot that you enjoy: a view of history that is at once dark and farcical and desperately anti-heroic. There's a sequel, and Berger also did his own take on the Arthur legends called Arthur Rex which is wonderful, and hard to find. Nick Harkaway (John Le Carre's son) is clearly a fan of some of your favorite writers, and pays tribute to them in The Gone-Away World, an absurdist look at war in which reality itself is the enemy. I've always been fond of the darkly farcical espionage novel Our Man in Havana, by Graham Greene. John Le Carre did his own tribute to this in The Tailor of Panama, more on the realistic side of things, in which the Cuban crisis is swapped out for our little invasion of Panama - remember that? Along with Vonnegut's Mother Night there are other great absurd spy things like G K Chesterton's The Man Who Was Friday, or Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent. Absurdity seems to run through a lot of the best espionage. mmm, maybe Andrei Codrescu's Casanova in Bohemia. Colson Whitehead's John Henry Days. God's Country by Percival Everett! Nam-A-Rama by Gary Jennings. Mailman, by J. Robert Lennon! The Good Soldier Svejk, by Jaroslav Hasek Gotta throw it out there: How To Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, by Charles Yu. See the other 18 times I've suggested it for why. David Wright answered in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report 3 comments by hayden, Abby Bass, and brain… 1 0 Great suggestions! hayden commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 Charles Yu! Charles Yu! Abby Bass commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 thanks David, and everyone, for the many many suggestions! I shall commence reading immediately brain commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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• Reputation: 96 Q&A: 3 0 0 36 0 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Expert: 6 topics Books & Writing Book Recommendations General Book Discussion Other Books & Writing Book Club- A Visit from the Goon Squad Teens & Tweens Follow Following 0 hayden

  2 0 I love these kinds of books. Here are a few to try:  Couch, by Benjamin Parzybok I really think this one will hit all of your marks--a strange, absurd, hilarious, and slightly heartbreaking story about three Portland roommates who suddenly find themselves on a quest to deliver a couch to a distant, unknown location. The Sheriff of Yrnameer,  by Michael Rubens This one is more on the funny/silly end of the scale, and much less realistic.  But it's a lot of fun, especially if you're a fan of Douglas Adams-style humor.  Nation, by Terry Pratchett This is a teen book, but it was a National Book Award finalist, and it's great.  An alternate historical fiction story that is both hilarious and moving. Have you read any Neil Gaiman?  You might be a fan.  Maybe try American Gods and see what you think.   Happy reading!  If you ever want more suggestions, feel free to Ask A Librarian any time. Cheers, Hayden hayden answered in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report 3 comments by hayden, David Wright, and David Wright… 1 0 David's list reminded me of a couple more funny ones: Your Body is Changing, by Jack Pendarvis http://seattle.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2417091030_your_body_is_changing These bizarre short stories are laugh out loud funny. His book The Mysterious Secret of the Valuable Treasure is just as good. It might be a stretch, but I wonder if you might also like Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bible! http://seattle.bibliocommons.com/search?t=smart&search_category=keyword&q=ladies+and+gentlemen+bible&commit=Search Jonathan Goldstein reimagines Bible stories with strange, funny, and often moving results hayden commented about 1 year ago | Report 1 0 Okay, Hayden, as a keen admirer of your truly elegant post-post-graduate work in the absurd, I've got to read "Couch," especially because every time it is mentioned I have the Pavlovian need to relate a small and meaningless anecdote about it, namely that I looked on as Parzybok and publisher Gavin Grant ran around the huge expo floor of Book Expo America with an inflatable orange couch until somebody made them stop. (This story grows in the telling, by the way, so watch the next time for someone to be riding on the inflatable couch). Anyway, it is somewhere in a pile of books under my desk. David Wright commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 Pendarvis, Yes! Likewise (we're riffing here) Scott Snyder's collection "Voodoo Heart." And - I keep veering back to satire - a trio of post 9/11 satires, Torsten Krol's "Callisto," Clifford Chase's "Winkie" (Teddy bear as terrorist) and Jeffrey Rotter's "The Unknown Knowns." Crazy books for crazy times. David Wright commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  1 0 The Tetherballs of Bougainville was a book I randomly picked up at the bookstore, and I enjoyed it. It's sort of a satire told from the perspective of a geniuns 13-year-old. http://www.amazon.com/Tetherballs-Bougainville-Novel-Mark-Leyner/dp/067976349X Gloria answered in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report 1 comment by capicola… 0 0 To which endorsement of Leyner I would add "Tooth Imprints on a Corn Dog" and "My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist." Brace yourself - you wanted absurdist comedy, you got it. capicola commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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• Reputation: 166 Q&A: 6 0 0 46 0 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Expert: 5 topics Books & Writing Book Recommendations General Book Discussion Other Books & Writing Book Club- A Visit from the Goon Squad Follow Following 0 Abby Bass

  1 0 Hayden & David have already pretty much recommended everything and everyone that I was going to mention, but I will add a few more. One of the most hilariously insane, down-the-rabbit-hole type books I've read in recent years is The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton, about a group of seven anarchists in early 20th century London who call themselves by the days of the week, and are plotting to destroy humanity. Or are they? A hysterical, completely unpredictable and profoundly philosophical book. The other author who comes to mind is Dan Rhodes. He's not an over-the-top absurdist like George Saunders and Nick Harkaway, but he illustrates the mundane absurdities of everyday life with compassion and melancholy. Definitely a little sad sometimes, but funny too. Try Gold to start. Abby Bass answered in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  1 0 Again with the Jonathan Lethem. Try Chronic City. It fits the bill. Nancy answered in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  0 0 "Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell and anything by Haruki Murakami especially "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle", "Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World", or "Wild Sheep Chase" Marty Unger answered in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report 3 comments by East Coast Transplant, Marty Unger, and brain… 0 0 Cloud Atlas is a great book, but hardly an absurdist comedy. East Coast Transplant commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 Yeah. Fair enough. I think I focused more on "absurd" although I found the Timothy Cavendish story hilarious. Come to think of it, Murakami isn't funny either. My answer sucks. Marty Unger commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 it doesn't have to be funny! your answer was good brain commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  0 0 Broom Of the System (Wallace as well), Confederacy of Dunces East Coast Transplant answered in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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