I seem to read mostly humor because I want to write humor myself. I have almost every single book Terry Pratchett has written. His command of psychology, literature, social dynamics, mythology, pop culture, history, physics and politics is brilliant and the mix he concocts from these is a delight to read. He is my favorite writer. Almost every single book of his is a treat. I say almost, because he occasionally produces real stinkers in trying to keep to his two-a-year production target.
I am also simply nuts for writers who ridicule their own warped characters. Susan Townsend’s butchering of Adrian Mole can make me chuckle even though it can get relentlessly brutal at times. Helen Fielding’s treatment of Bridget Jones is more compassionate, but no less biting. The characters are probably reflections of the authors’ own weaknesses or their generation’s worst characteristics, but they are both fun.
Genre-creating books like Douglas Adam’s The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy are just awe-inspiring. Every single page of the five-book trilogy makes you wonder about the extraordinary mind that can associate so many concepts and come up with this absolutely hilarious work. It is a pity that he did not write more. When I first read his books, I used to believe that his work had fallen drastically in quality after the first hitchhiker book, but I found the other ones equally funny when I re-read them.
I still have fond memories of the first’adult’ book I read, Leave It to Psmith by P. G. Wodehouse. The way Wodehouse can craft a novel from mere style and language without much of plot and still keep you engrossed for an entire weekend, is something every writer secretly wishes he could do. His writing is the best example of the craft of writing, the simple, elegant art of style.
In the last few years, I have also discovered Indian writing. To me, this is anything that is about India, not necessarily by Indian authors. Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance is a book that can still leave me cursing him for writing such gripping characters and then treating them so cruelly. Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, while it grew slightly tiresome in its rather stretched central point, is still an example of meticulous attention to detail. The manual that Piscine Molitor Patel reads about what NOT to do when faced with thirst in the middle of the sea is fascinating. I read Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children when I was 12, but obviously did not understand anything beyond the mere words. After I got older, I have not been able to complete it despite four attempts. But we shall overcome!
All those writers and their books are great, but the absolutely top book in my list is The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure(The’Good Parts’ Version). Yes, I know. the name is silly. Yes, if you go out and get the book and are thinking through the first fifty pages about what the hell the author is going on about, you are right - that entire build-up is very annoying. But have patience. Once you get to the meat of the story, you will sit down and revise your own list of favorites. The book may appear to be a love story, a fantasy, a fairy tale, a tale of knights and chivalry, an adventure story, but it is much more than any of these.
Check out the quotes at the IMDB movie quotes page(https://imdb.com/title/tt0093779/quotes), BUT please read the book before you see the movie. The only part where the movie excels over the book is in Billy Crystal’s portrayal of Miracle Max. The book was written by the William Goldman who also wrote the screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Maverick.