i read that book over the summer - it is the funniest book i have ever read. i was laughing out loud thru-out the entire read. i heard a few years ago that they were going to make a movie w/ will ferrel as ignatious, but nothing ever happened.
I recently got the audiobooks for this series. The first one was absolutely sensational (the Polar Bear character, Iorek Byrnison was awesome), the second one was okay. Haven't gotten around to listening to the third one yet.
A Confederacy of Dunces is my favorite book in the world. Read it. I second Shannon's recommendation of Chuck Palahniuk. His books are quick reads, highly entertaining, and they make you think. Very dark though, with twisted humor. A couple people have recommended Cormac McCarthy...I love him but you said you were into quick easy reads...Cormac isn't really that. If you're into crappy entertaining fiction check out Jeffrey Archer. Good way to pass time.
Check out Rick Riordan. His first book is Big Red Tequila. He's a great mystery writer that mixes humor and suspense. His typical locale is San Antonio, but later novels with the same protagonist, Tres Navarre, also include Austin. He, along with Nick Hornby, is my favorite current author.
Man, I love Chuck Palahniuk. Choke is one of my favorite novels. It's very dark and funny. He does a great job of describing the underbelly of society and the grime and gross nastiness of it all. And I used to love Jeffrey Archer's novels. I read a bunch of his earlier ones, As the crow flies (my personal favorite), Kane and Abel, The prodigal daughter. The quality has tailed off though. But I give him props for writing these "rags to riches" business novels, when hardly anyone else does it. I don't know why it's such a small sub-genre, these heroic business novels are fascinating. And speaking of Jeffrey Archer, his Prison Diary is incredibly compelling, and utterly entertaining. It's about when he got convicted for perjury, and spent about a month in a maximum security prison before he was transferred to a lower security one. It's excellent.
Has anyone read this? Is it worth it? http://www.amazon.com/How-I-Conquered-Your-Planet/dp/0975579940 John Swartzwelder - How I Conquered Your Planet
OMFG -- I was going to post that one too! I just started reading it on Monday. Funniest book ever? I've never read anything that's made me laugh as much. Another great one, and my favorite book, is Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. The made for TV movie is also one of the best movies I've ever seen. I've never read a book that I was so captivated by -- I was staying up until 5 AM reading, b/c I just couldn't put it down. Yes! I haven't read an Archer book in about 13 years, but he was one of my very favorite authors. As the Crow Flies was fantastic!
I will add my praise of Confederacy of Dunces. I would ask what classics you have read? The classics are the classics for a reason. In general you aren't going to find better written books. I love Fitzgerald, but my favorites aren't necessarily the most well known ones. By Fitzgerald I would try: The Beautiful and Damned This Side of Paradise One of the funniest books ever is Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes. You can't go wrong with that book. If you want to read a great epic try Anna Karenina - by Leo Tolstoy The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexander Dumas The Three Musketeers - Alexander Dumas Other random good books Slaughter House Five - Kurt Vaughnegut Down and Out in Paris and London - George Orwell The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemmingway One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez All of the Enderby Novels - Anthony Burgess A Dead Man in Deptford - Anthony Burgess (if you like classic theatre and William Marlowe) Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov Pnin - Vladimir Nabokov On The Road - Jack Kerouac Some great biographies. The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Malcolm X and Alex Haley My Wicked Wicked Ways - Errol Flynn (fascinating book. His life before Hollywood was better and more exciting tha just about any of his movies. While some of it is embellished a surprising amount is really true.)
can anyone recommend some good horror or true crime? i've read Deviant (about Ed Gein, the guy that inspired Psycho and Leatherface). it's creepy to say the least.
I agree FranchiseBlade, if a book is still popular 300 or more years after it's written it probably did something right. The Count of Monte Cristo is easily the best book I've ever read. And Fitzgerald's short stories are really good as well, there's a couple of collections of them that are worth picking up.
