Book recommendations?

[ghost2]

I'm desperate for anything decent to read. Recs are needed!

To give an idea of the sort of book I might like: A while back, yumemisama recommended Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. I read all of them within a month. I own all the Harry Potter books, enjoyed The DaVinci Code, and like John Grisham's stuff.

I'd rather avoid horror (no Stephen King or the like!) and depressing subjects. Humor and series with continuing characters would be nice.

Any ideas?

Comments

[mad-march-hare.livejournal.com]

If it's humor and series with continuing characters you want, I have just the thing for you!

Try the Discworld series, by Terry Pratchett. He's one of the funniest and most prolific satirists of the last century. Each book can stand fairly well on its own, but I recommend starting with:
-Soul Music, (if you like rock and roll)
-Guards! Guards! (if you like dragons),
-Wyrd Sisters, (if you like Shakespeare) or
-Interesting Times (if you like Asian culture, especially Chinese).

But really, everything the man writes is witty, hilarious, and more ofter than not a rather incisive critique of all that it patently ridiculous in our own history and society. Have fun!

[ghost2.livejournal.com]

Sounds good. I'll probably start with Interesting Times, since a quick search of my library's online catalog just told me it's available right now. I can get the others for free through interlibrary loan. :)

[cersia5.livejournal.com]

Have you read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams?

[ghost2.livejournal.com]

Not yet. It really seems like I SHOULD have, but somehow I haven't. Anyway, thanks. :) I'll put it on my list for my library trip on Tuesday.

[biichan.livejournal.com]

PG Wodehouse is very fun, especially the Jeeves stories.

[ghost2.livejournal.com]

I read a few of the Jeeves books several years ago. IIRC, the copies at the library were falling apart and they had pulled most of them rather than buy replacements. I should see if they have them available now, though, and I'll also check out Wodehouse's other stuff. :)

[shannonsequitur.livejournal.com]

Since someone else has already put in a good word for Terry Pratchett (quite possibly my favorite author ever), might I suggest the Thursday Next novels by Jasper Fforde? It's really hard to describe them, but they're based around the premise of the Bookworld being real, which leads to lots of nerd humor and funny meta comments. And the most recent book in the series has a scene with two of the secondary characters ribbing each other over which Doctor was best.

[ghost2.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recs. I'll try those books. :)