# I like conversation-heavy, witty books. Any recommendations? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 7, 2007, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-conversation-heavy-witty-books-any-recommendations/387050 "2007-01-07T15:22:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-conversation-heavy-witty-books-any-recommendations/387050/1 "2007-01-07T15:22:57Z")
Examples: Dave Gorman and Danny Wallace: Are you Dave Gorman? Bill Maher: True Story Douglas Adams: Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Joseph Heller: Catch-22 Does anybody have any recommendations for my next amazon shipment? ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-conversation-heavy-witty-books-any-recommendations/387050/2 "2007-01-07T15:57:13Z")
_Big Trouble_ by **Dave Barry** ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-conversation-heavy-witty-books-any-recommendations/387050/3 "2007-01-07T17:06:51Z")
_The Loved One_, by Evelyn Wsaugh ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-conversation-heavy-witty-books-any-recommendations/387050/4 "2007-01-07T17:12:53Z")
I’m not sure they’re witty, but Asimov’s Foundation series is definitely conversation-heavy. Nothing happens on-stage except for a bunch of people talking about what happened elsewhere in the galaxy. ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-conversation-heavy-witty-books-any-recommendations/387050/5 "2007-01-07T17:36:01Z")
Anything by Nancy Mitford. She was hilarious. I am reading The Pursuit Of Love and enjoying every word. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-conversation-heavy-witty-books-any-recommendations/387050/6 "2007-01-07T17:43:20Z")
Steven Brust’s Vlad Taltos novels probably fit the bill–lots of witty repartee flying around, though I don’t know if they’d reach the level of being conversation-heavy exactly. Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe novels also have flashes of wit, but definitely aren’t conversation heavy. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-conversation-heavy-witty-books-any-recommendations/387050/7 "2007-01-07T18:24:03Z")
_The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove_ by Christopher Moore. Or just about anything else by him, but that’s a good one to start with. Very funny. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-conversation-heavy-witty-books-any-recommendations/387050/8 "2007-01-07T18:58:51Z")
[QUOTE=saoirse] _The Loved One_, by Evelyn Wsaugh [/QUOTE] I was also going to recommend Waugh, but I prefer his earlier work, like _Vile Bodies_. Funny, nasty, brutal. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-conversation-heavy-witty-books-any-recommendations/387050/9 "2007-01-07T19:00:20Z")
_A Confederacy of Dunces_ by John Kennedy Toole ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-conversation-heavy-witty-books-any-recommendations/387050/10 "2007-01-07T20:27:31Z")
[South Wind](http://www.amazon.com/South-Wind-Norman-Douglas/dp/1426416067/sr=1-2/qid=1168201377/ref=sr_1_2/105-4854213-1605231?ie=UTF8&s=books) by George Norman Douglas. And, yes, nearly anything by Evelyn Waugh, especially the first five novels: **Decline and Fall, Vile Bodies, Black Mischief, A Handful of Dust, Scoop**. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-conversation-heavy-witty-books-any-recommendations/387050/11 "2007-01-07T20:31:05Z")
Oh. Don’t buy the copy of **South Wind** that Amazon lists. It was published in reprint by Dover back in 1982, and used copies are available for dirt cheap at any online booksearch service. ---
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-conversation-heavy-witty-books-any-recommendations/387050/12 "2007-01-07T21:23:41Z")
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is not a conversation-heavy book ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-conversation-heavy-witty-books-any-recommendations/387050/13 "2007-01-07T21:29:46Z")
[QUOTE=Ukulele Ike] And, yes, nearly anything by Evelyn Waugh, especially the first five novels: **Decline and Fall, Vile Bodies, Black Mischief, A Handful of Dust, Scoop**. [/QUOTE] Vile Bodies, yes, but really, _no one_ could _possibly_ prefer Decline and Fall of the two! [Puts away her heavy-duty chain-yanking gloves] ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-conversation-heavy-witty-books-any-recommendations/387050/14 "2007-01-07T21:39:56Z")
[QUOTE=blinkingblinking] Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is not a conversation-heavy book [/QUOTE] Yeah, well, I’m not sure any of them are all that conversation-heavy. They have more conversation than, say, Lord of the Rings or The Stand, but less than The Sun Only Rises. Anyway, please go by my examples, not by my way of describing them. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-conversation-heavy-witty-books-any-recommendations/387050/15 "2007-01-08T01:08:13Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] Vile Bodies, yes, but really, _no one_ could _possibly_ prefer Decline and Fall of the two! [Puts away her heavy-duty chain-yanking gloves] [/QUOTE] Well, one really must admit that **A Handful of Dust** would be the most…well…_literary_ of the five. {_vastly_ irritating smirk} ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-conversation-heavy-witty-books-any-recommendations/387050/16 "2007-01-08T01:08:44Z")
\*\*Vox \*\*by Nicholson Baker - one long conversation. Kinda sexy, if it grabs you. You might’ve heard of it… ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-conversation-heavy-witty-books-any-recommendations/387050/17 "2007-01-08T04:59:38Z")
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-conversation-heavy-witty-books-any-recommendations/387050/18 "2007-01-08T05:12:38Z")
_Tuf Voyaging_ by George R.R. Martin is one of my favorite science fiction books. Part of its allure is its many witty conversations between the unflappable, phlegmatic hero and various excitable military officers and planetary heads of state. Two thumbs way up! ---
**Author:** ![Gorgonzola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e480ec/32.png) [@Gorgonzola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgonzola)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-conversation-heavy-witty-books-any-recommendations/387050/19 "2007-01-08T05:24:38Z")
_Infinite Jest_ by David Foster Wallace. Also by DFW, _The Broom of the System_, if you can find it. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-like-conversation-heavy-witty-books-any-recommendations/387050/20 "2007-01-08T05:27:01Z")
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