How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely - PPPPP

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How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely - PPPPP

The first line of this book scared the crap out of me.

In strewn banners that lay like streamers from a longago parade the sun’s fading seraphim rays gleamed onto the hood of the old Ford and ribboned the steel with the meek orange of a June tomato straining at the vine.

This continued for two full pages causing me to seriously consider jumping in front of a passing train.

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Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut - PPP

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Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut - PPP

I’m beginning to think that Kurt Vonnegut’s reputation as a comedic author is ill-fitting. This is the third book of his that I’ve read and while he’s creative and witty, he’s not laugh-out-loud funny; which is a problem for readers looking for at least a few hearty LOLs.

In Cat’s Cradle, the narrator, John, tells us that a long time ago he began collecting material for a book he intended to call The Day the World Ended, which would be an account of how certain notable Americans spent the day that the atomic bomb was

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Lamb; The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore - PPPP

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Lamb; The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore - PPPP

At the turn of the second millennium, Levi, who is called Biff, is summoned by the angel Raziel to compose his account of the life of Jesus Christ, Biff’s best friend from the age of six.

The narration then switches back and forth between the present time where Biff and Raziel are holed up in a hotel in St. Louis, Missouri and biblical times as we read Biff’s tale.

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - PPP

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - PPP

A few words come to mind: Disappointing, Underwhelming, Overrated.

I’m not even sure what the consensus rating is, but I’m confident it’s too high. Especially since it was turned into a movie starring Martin Freeman.

The Martin Freeman. He’s this generation’s Mark Hamil for Christ’s sake!

Anyhoo, in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, earthling Arthur Dent and his close

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A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole - PPPPP

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A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole - PPPPP

As one would expect from the title, the cast of this character-driven novel includes a plethora of imbeciles, crooks, and trainwrecks, but in the protagonist, Toole has created an iconic character who is one of the most outlandish, entertaining, and memorable ever.

Ignatius J. Reilly is lazy, incompetent, condescending, hypocritical, self-entitled, sensitive, dramatic, irascible, intelligent, delusional, self-righteous, judgmental, sadistic, pathetic, offensive, litigious, self-pitying, and sexually repressed. He’s a fat bastard – a

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