# Recommend me some good books written in dialect **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 6, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books-written-in-dialect/205816 "2003-10-06T04:10:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books-written-in-dialect/205816/1 "2003-10-06T04:10:04Z")
It occurred to me recently that some of my favorite books are written in dialect, i.e., “Far Tortuga” by Peter Matthiessen, “Fearsum Endjinn” by Iain Banks and “Huckleberry Finn” by that Twain guy. It then occurred to me that the reason I might like them, independent of their quality is the fact that they’re written in dialect, so I thought I’d ask for some recommendations of other books in which the dialect is heavy-duty. Have at it! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books-written-in-dialect/205816/2 "2003-10-06T04:26:05Z")
I’ve got a copy of the New Testament written in Scot’s Dialect. Good fun at parties. May the Lord o Peace himsel gie ye peace aagate an wiout devaul. The lord be wi ye aa. ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books-written-in-dialect/205816/3 "2003-10-06T05:07:13Z")
Well, it’s a lot lighter fare, but Robert Asprin’s M.Y.T.H. Inc. in Action is a favorite of mine. Bare bones: M.Y.T.H. Inc. is a group of freelance magical-types, who solve problems for big fees in a multi-dimensional fantasy setting. This particular book (one in a fairly large series) is told from the perspective of a Mob bodyguard who works with the group, Guido. Seems he took his part a bit too seriously when, according to his cousin Nunzio, he played one of the leads in a high school production of _Guys and Dolls_. So the whole thing’s essentially written by a guy who speaks “gangster movie slang.” “The joker what was takin’ down this information gives me a hard look before continuing with his questions.I give him my best innocent look back, which as any jury can tell youse is most convincin’…” ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books-written-in-dialect/205816/4 "2003-10-06T05:48:23Z")
You want dialect? I’ll give you nearly indecipherable dialect: **Uncle Remus** _Joel Chandler Harris_ “THE WONDERFUL TAR BABY STORY” > [@](#): > > “Didn’t the fox never catch the rabbit, Uncle Remus?” asked the little boy the next evening. > > "He come mighty nigh it, honey, sho’s you born–Brer Fox did. One day atter Brer Rabbit fool 'im wid dat calamus root, Brer Fox went ter wuk en got ‘im some tar, en mix it wid some turkentime, en fix up a contrapshun w’at he call a Tar-Baby, en he tuck dish yer Tar-Baby en he sot ‘er in de big road, en den he lay off in de bushes fer to see what de news wuz gwine ter be. En he didn’t hatter wait long, nudder, kaze bimeby here come Brer Rabbit pacin’ down de road–lippity-clippity, clippity -lippity–dez ez sassy ez a jay-bird. Brer Fox, he lay low. Brer Rabbit come prancin’ 'long twel he spy de Tar-Baby, en den he fotch up on his behime legs like he wuz 'stonished. De Tar Baby, she sot dar, she did, en Brer Fox, he lay low … > > "Brer Rabbit keep on axin’ ‘im, en de Tar-Baby, she keep on sayin’ nothin’, twel present’y Brer Rabbit draw back wid his fis’, he did, en blip he tuck ‘er side er de head. Right dar’s whar he broke his merlasses jug. His fis’ stuck, en he can’t pull loose. De tar hilt 'im. But Tar-Baby, she stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low. > > "`Ef you don’t lemme loose, I’ll knock you agin,’ sez Brer Rabbit, sezee, en wid dat he fotch ‘er a wipe wid de udder han’, en dat stuck. Tar-Baby, she ain’y sayin’ nuthin’, en Brer Fox, he lay low. > > "`Tu’n me loose, fo’ I kick de natal stuffin’ outen you,’ sez Brer Rabbit, sezee, but de Tar-Baby, she ain’t sayin’ nuthin’. She des hilt on, en de Brer Rabbit lose de use er his feet in de same way. Brer Fox, he lay low. Den Brer Rabbit squall out dat ef de Tar-Baby don’t tu’n ‘im loose he butt ‘er cranksided. En den he butted, en his head got stuck. Den Brer Fox, he sa’ntered fort’, lookin’ dez ez innercent ez wunner yo’ mammy’s mockin’-birds. > > “`Howdy, Brer Rabbit,' sez Brer Fox, sezee. `You look sorter stuck up dis mawnin’,’ sezee, en den he rolled on de groun’, en laft en laft twel he couldn’t laff no mo’. `I speck you’ll take dinner wid me dis time, Brer Rabbit. I done laid in some calamus root, en I ain’t gwineter take no skuse,’ sez Brer Fox, sezee.” ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books-written-in-dialect/205816/5 "2003-10-06T05:55:26Z")
_The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_ by Robert Heinlein, written in the dialect of future inhabitants of the moon. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books-written-in-dialect/205816/6 "2003-10-06T07:59:15Z")
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston- she’s recently gotten on a postage stamp! (U.S.) ---
**Author:** ![Fox\_in\_the\_Snow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/82dd89/32.png) [@Fox\_in\_the\_Snow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fox_in_the_Snow)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books-written-in-dialect/205816/7 "2003-10-06T11:14:03Z")
“Trainspotting” by Irvine Welsh and “How late it was, How late” by James Kelman are both pretty heavy on Edingurgh and Glaswegian dialect respectively. Both excellent reads as well. ---
**Author:** ![Profane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@Profane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profane)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books-written-in-dialect/205816/8 "2003-10-06T11:30:16Z")
I see I was beaten to Irvine Welch, so 'll just add that I really liked Marabou Stork Nightmares. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books-written-in-dialect/205816/9 "2003-10-06T11:32:02Z")
_A Clockwork Orange_. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books-written-in-dialect/205816/10 "2003-10-06T11:36:19Z")
Sorry, hit “submit” too soon. I meant to say that _A Clockwork Orange_ by Anthony Burgess is his most famous dialect book, but the same author also wrote a superb book called _A Dead Man in Deptford_ about Christopher Marlowe, entirely in Elizabethan dialect. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books-written-in-dialect/205816/11 "2003-10-06T11:38:48Z")
Harriet Arnow’s The Dollmaker ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books-written-in-dialect/205816/12 "2003-10-06T12:20:19Z")
Russel Hoban’s **Riddley Walker** creates an interesting future dialect. And it’s worth searching out Finley Peter Dunne’s **Mr. Dooley** stories, some of the most viscious satires ever penned on American politics. Sadly, much of what he railed against is still relevant today. [Here’s an example,](http://www.boondocksnet.com/ai/dooley/dooley6.html) including his most quoted line (at the end). There’s a larger example at [Project Gutenberg.](http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03/omdoo10.txt) ---
**Author:** ![statheist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@statheist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statheist)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books-written-in-dialect/205816/13 "2003-10-06T16:58:26Z")
**The Sot-Weed Factor** , by John Barth. This is one of the funniest books I’ve ever read. I literally laughed out loud on many occasions. The dialog is all colonial-period English, but very easy to understand, and seemingly very authentic. The most amazing plot twists and situations ever. YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK!! ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-books-written-in-dialect/205816/14 "2003-10-06T17:25:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Evil Captor \* > **"Fearsum Endjinn" by Iain Banks** [nitpick] Feersum Endjinn by Iain M. Banks. [/nitpick] And not so much dialect, as phonetically written in parts. Yoo reely need to sound out thi wurds. An xselent book.