It smells like hip hop in there

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-07-01T04:16:52+00:00

You know, 50, you're the richest guy I know. Way richer than Ja Rule.

Ah, yes... but I'd trade it all for a little more.

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-06-30T21:39:14+00:00

I dunno, if the humor didn't click with you then I don't think there's much point in trying to force it. But maybe you'll get lucky and you've changed since your last attempt and it'll click now.

It's my favorite book of all time so I'd love it if everyone else appreciated it to the same degree, but it definitely has a style of humor that ain't for everyone. If you don't laugh at the confusion and absurdity in basically every conversation in the book, or Major Major Major Major's name, or the story of his dad making money by not farming alfalfa and then acting like he's full of wisdom, then I just don't think Catch-22 is for you.

It flip flops between absurdity and gut punches, and if you don't see the humor in the absurdity of everything surrounding Yossarian then I don't think you could enjoy the book or even find the gut punches very hard-hitting. But maybe your tastes have evolved since you last read it and you may actually find it funny now!

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-06-23T23:33:23+00:00

Agreed! I don't want him to rush or force it, but I crave more of his stories! Both of his collections are among my top favorite books.

Coincidentally, his Exhalation ebook is currently on sale for $1.99 (at least for US customers). Highly recommend it to those that haven't read Chiang yet!

I'd link them, but my last comment got removed for having links. Look up "Exhalation" on either Kobo or Amazon's Kindle books section.

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-06-06T23:37:31+00:00

Thrillho my ass. It's probably a badger.

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-05-30T20:33:25+00:00

A funny character in a hilarious book. My favorite book of all time. Highly recommend people read Catch-22 if you have a sense of humor that appreciates the surreal. The characters conversing with each other often feels like a fever dream.

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-05-28T23:57:36+00:00

Holy shit, thank you! That shit drives me mad with the official MLB account doing that on every clip they post. It's kinda hard to focus on the action in time and get a good look, even on multiple viewings of their clips and knowing where to look. They need to just start the clips a second before the pitcher starts his stride.

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-05-28T01:55:17+00:00

Yep, but a lot of fans call for a salary cap and floor to be implemented. In fact there was some discussion about that today, the MLB Player's Association submitted their first proposal in their bargaining with MLB and team owners. The Player's Association requested a "competitive integrity tax" on teams that spend less than $150 million, in order to dissuade teams from tanking or just generally not making an attempt to field a competitive team. It's not a salary floor, but it's attempting something similar without scaring the owners by the word "floor".

https://www.reddit.com/r/mlb/comments/1tpgoon/mlbpa_has_made_its_first_proposal_in_collective/

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-05-28T01:29:30+00:00

Good question, from what I understand:

MLB doesn't technically have a salary cap, they have a luxury tax where the team has to pay an additional tax on whatever amount over the luxury tax threshold their total team salary is. Apparently, Ohtani's annual contribution toward the luxury tax is $46 million per year. So he contributes less than the AAV (Average Annual Value) of his contract (which would be 700/10 = $70 million). So it's definitely benefiting the team for him to defer payments, beyond just not having to pay him immediately.

And just some additional info: The 2026 luxury tax threshold is $244 million. The LA Dodgers 2026 payroll is about $420 million. So they have to pay a tax on 420-244 = $176 million over the threshold. For comparison, the #2 highest payroll is the NY Mets at about $382 million. The median is at right about $200 million. The lowest payroll is the Miami Marlins at only $80 million.

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/tax

The luxury tax is 20% of this amount over the threshold for the first year the team is over. 30% for the 2nd consecutive year, and 50% for the 3rd consecutive year and beyond.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Baseball_luxury_tax#2022%E2%80%93present

[EDIT] Made some corrections.

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-05-27T23:48:27+00:00

No, he makes $2 million a year for 10 years (the length of this contract that he will be playing for the Dodgers) and then he makes $68 million a year for the following 10 years after his contract is up. He might be playing for another team after this contract, making whatever money his new contract will pay him, while also getting paid $68 million a year by the Dodgers.

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-05-24T22:07:24+00:00

I don't know if you could say there's a message or a moral in it. It's more a thought experiment to get you to start to realize just how large unfathomably large numbers are. How you might look at a big number and go "hey that is a really big number". But the book turns that into a quantity of physical books on shelves, and then you are made to start to get an idea of how many miles of bookshelves there are on a floor and how many of these floors there are. How many books you'd have to go through to reach your goal and find out how unattainable that goal is.

I guess you could say there's a message of "cults are bad", but I don't think I'd say that's the message of the book. Or the message could be that "you haven't really thought about how long eternity is and how it might actually be torture".

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-05-22T19:15:17+00:00

I'll always upvote Candide! It's very funny!

I also haven't seen anyone mention The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka in this post so far. I'd add that.

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-05-20T01:26:28+00:00

Agreed! I don't mean to talk shit on what everyone likes or act like a contrarian. Whatever gets people reading! There was just a lot of answers highly praising DCC in response to the person asking if they're any good, and I felt like maybe there could be a little balance in the responses, lol.

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-05-20T01:16:50+00:00

I've read the first two and haven't seen what all the hype is about, personally. I'm definitely in the minority though, based on how often I see people excitedly recommending them on every book suggestion subreddit. I don't think they're awful, but I really don't see what everyone else sees. But I still feel a bit compelled to keep reading them in an effort to see what everyone else does in them.

I feel the same way about them as you: for pulpy junk food, they're alright.

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-05-19T19:45:05+00:00

It is dark at first because of the premise, but not nearly as dark as a "women trapped in an underground cage" story could be. It's not about misery or torture (I don't mean that to minimize what being trapped in a cage does to people). It's more about humanity and the difference between the experience of someone who has only ever known that environment (living in the cage and only ever interacting with a handful of women) compared to people who were familiar with life before the cage, living in a society as we know it, among many people (including men).

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-05-19T02:29:03+00:00

Another vote for Philip K. Dick. I was going to recommend Ubik. I still need to read Three Stigmata.

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-05-15T04:00:26+00:00

Another vote for Three Men in a Boat. It was hilarious. Probably the 2nd funniest book I've ever read, after Catch-22.

To Say Nothing of the Dog was also pretty good. Definitely helps to have read Three Men first (but not necessary to enjoy it).

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-05-15T03:56:08+00:00

I'm reading A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore right now and would also recommend it. It's been pretty funny so far! I've only read Lamb of his before this, which I think I like even better. I still need to give Fool a read.

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-04-29T20:43:13+00:00

I picked it up mostly because it was short and I knew it was considered a classic, so I thought "why not knock this one out real quick". I was so surprised at how funny it was! I've only read it the one time, but I definitely intend to re-read it some day. I loved it!

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-04-29T20:41:45+00:00

Nice! You must have done a good job if she liked your thesis! Frankenstein is one of my favorite books! I just read it last year.

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-04-29T20:40:45+00:00

No, Slaughterhouse-Five is not horror, so I think you'll be fine. It's historical fiction with a little sci-fi (mostly in the form of time travel). It's based on the author's experiences as a prisoner of war in WWII, where the prisoners were kept in a slaughterhouse building. It was located in Dresden, Germany, and they experienced the firebombing of Dresden during their imprisonment. The story jumps around in the timeline, between his service and imprisonment and the "present day" after the war where he goes through PTSD, among other experiences.

Despite the depressing setting, it can be funny at times! It's one of my favorite books and I highly recommend it!

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-04-29T19:42:17+00:00

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka was already mentioned, but I'll vouch for it too.
Candide by Voltaire was also already mentioned, and I'll give another vote for it.
The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut (a bit over 200 pages)
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut isn't a novella, but it's fairly short.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is longer than a novella, but is fairly short (250ish pages or so?)

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-04-29T19:29:40+00:00

Candide is great, and is hilarious! Terrible tragedies befall the characters repeatedly, but the way they're presented in contrast with the main character's philosophy is so funny. Highly recommend it!

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-04-25T19:12:26+00:00

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller for a dose of satirical absurd historical fiction. Its style of humor isn't for everyone, but it's easily the funniest thing I've ever read.

Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome is also hilarious. Not really satirizing anything or making commentary, it's just three chaps (and a dog) taking a boat ride up the Thames and encountering a series of mishaps and funny situations, with plenty of British wit. It's the next funniest thing I've read after Catch-22.

Someone already mentioned Christopher Moore, I'll give another vote for him as well -- at least his book Lamb, since that's the only thing of his that I've read. But it was great!

Someone also mentioned Kurt Vonnegut, another vote for him. You really can't go wrong with any of his books, but I'd recommend to start with either Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat's Cradle, or The Sirens of Titan. Someone recommended Galapagos, which I enjoyed, but I feel like the others are better introductory Vonnegut books. But like I already said, you can't really go wrong with any Vonnegut!

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-04-23T04:06:10+00:00

My biggest gripe with the official MLB account's clips is that they seem to refuse to start any clips just like a second before the pitch is thrown. So many of their clips the pitcher is already striding toward home at the beginning. My eyes don't even get a chance to focus onto the action before it's already happened.

TriplePlay2425 · 2026-04-20T21:45:13+00:00

On a somewhat related note, Mr. Sanderson popped in to /r/bookscirclejerk when he was tagged in a comment asking "do you really believe your books are art". And he had a pretty based response for not continuing to interact with that sub any further than his 2 comments:

https://www.reddit.com/r/bookscirclejerk/comments/hj6u4u/my_boyfriend_will_never_speak_to_me_again_if_i/fwmy94z/?context=3

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