No, I am serious about this. I wish to get back into the learning of reading, but as a beginner I am repelled by the intense use of vocabulary, literary devices of classical literature books or intense and difficult-to-follow storyline of modern day fiction. I want to read a book that is clearly made with people like me in mind.

I’m not saying I want 10 second short paragraphs or extremely racist or bigoted comments to fuel my interest in reading the book. Though I rarely use social media, I do quite often look at memes, and they make me feel at home with how they are relatable and make use of clever wordings and phrases to express that one particular feeling. Same thing is seen in comments of meme forums where people come up with things to add to the humor of the original post or make it even better. I feel like this kind of expression could very well be possible to implement in a book in a textual medium while retaining the same amount of engagement and creativity.

I know my request may seem unnecessary, that I should quit bickering and just pick up a book and start reading it, and in reality I could by lending one from my family, however I wish to give this approach a chance as I am sure this situation must be faced by other people and someone could have a written a book to directly address these kind of people. I need a stepping stone to start my habit of reading books and I feel like starting from something I am already familiar with would greatly assist me.

I am not interested in any particular genre as of now apart from what I have expressed in the post so far. I could even go as far as to read an encyclopedia or an academic paper if the humor is engaging enough.

I feel that this topic of discussion is general, subjective and of help to others on the internet, which is why I decided to post it here instead of the dedicated books community.

  • owenfromcanada@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    You might consider books written with meme-like humor. Two that come to mind are The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (by Douglas Adams) and The Princess Bride (by William Goldman). Both of those books are relatively short novels, so they should go down easy.

    • Usernameblankface@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I’ll second the recommendation for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (by Douglas Adams).

      It is very funny, with a zany sense of humor that is right at home in meme land. Many of the funny things I have read in memes and comments under memes are just quotes from that book.

  • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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    1 year ago

    Terry Pratchett disc world books are very funny and full of easy to understand jokes.

    • DrQuint@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      But also full of slightly harder to understand linguistic jokes that may frustrate OP.

      • quinkin@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I found with my kids they just didn’t get the reference and enjoyed what they understood. No frustration, just revelations when they read them again when older.

  • FippleStone@aussie.zone
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    1 year ago

    “repelled by the intense use of vocabulary”

    “this kind of expression could very well be possible to implement in a book in a textual medium while retaining the same amount of engagement and creativity.”

    🤷🏻‍♀️

  • InsomniacKS@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Have you tried graphic novels? Comic books get a bad rap, but there is dialog and pictures that help you get into the story. Maybe that would help?

    • jonathanvmv8f@lemm.eeOP
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      1 year ago

      Truth be told, I have been reading graphic novels for a month now. I wanted to move away from comics in favour of starting to read books, but like I said in the post, I do not know of any books that could provide a similar amount of humor as from the dialogs in these comics, which is the primary reason why I read them, not because of the illustrations.

      • WeLoveCastingSpellz@lemmy.fmhy.net
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        1 year ago

        This might be counter intuitive but if you want to step out of your comfort zone and try to really get used to that “intense use of vocabulary” in an engaging story I recommend reading “the wheel of time” novels and for something lighter and funnier the “Percy Jackson” series they are what got me into reading back in middle school

  • testfactor@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Only because I haven’t seen anyone else say it, but Ready Player One is kinda what you’re talking about and pretty accessible.

      • tomcatt360@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Actually, the book has a completely different set of clues for the egg hunt, and you get to know the characters a lot better.

      • Sharkfeek@lemmy.fmhy.net
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        1 year ago

        The movie was like someone reading the cliffnotes version of the book and making a movie out of just that. Major overarching plot points are there but how they got there and character development is all lost.

  • gazter@aussie.zone
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    1 year ago

    Terry Pratchett.

    The Discworld books can wrap a particle physics pun in a fart joke. The cheeky cleverness that Patchett writes with, along with the keen eye for making fun of the absurdity of human existence, could be right up your alley. Start with “Guards, Guards!”, or whichever one you spot on your local second hand bookstore- they are pretty much all able to be read standalone.

    Seriously. Pratchett will scratch your itch.

  • morganth@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 year ago

    I haven’t read them myself, but I understand that “Gideon the Ninth” and its sequels are heavy on meme humor. Some reviewers love them for that, others hate them for that, but they all seem to agree that it’s there.

    • radix@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      It definitely feels unique among the books I’ve read, yeah. I liked it once I understood that it was supposed to be anachronistic and fun to read.

      The hardest part about reading Gideon the Ninth for me was keeping track of all the settings (different room layouts, a big castle with winding hallways, etc.) and people (basically Hunger Games–style; 2 people from each of 9 sections of a nation). Maybe it would be more helpful for OP to start with something easier for these reasons.

      • Glaive0@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        Came here to say The Locked Tomb is FANTASTIC meme humor and so witty in almost every way. However it’s a series that I’m convinced I’ll never actually understand. I’m on Nona now and things are barely better. Harrow had me second guessing every fact and almost pulling out a cork board, pins, and string to just understand when what happened to whom.

        One of my favorite new series, though. And it’s been a delight to buddy read with my wife.

  • rufus@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 year ago

    Go to a book store. In my experience it is way easier to find book there than with the whole catalog of amazon.

    Have a look at the shelves with the gift ideas. Most books there are somewhat funny and are more a casual read.

    If you want something funny, have a look at something from your favorite comedian or poetry slammer. They often write similar format like they do on stage. Short, condensed and on point.

    Pick up a few books, read the better bart of the first page, run through the pages and read another one in the middle. See if you like the style or try with the next one.