32. Tricky Business, by Dave Barry
The Extravaganza of the Seas is a five-thousand-ton cash cow, a top-heavy tub whose sole function is to carry gamblers three miles from the Florida coast, take their money, then bring them back so they can find more money. In the middle of a tropical storm one night, these characters are among the passengers it carries: Fay Benton, a single mom and cocktail waitress desperate for something to go right for once; Johnny and the Contusions, a ship's band with so little talent they are ... well, the ship's band; Arnold and Phil, two refugees from the Beaux Arts Senior Center; Lou Tarant, a wide, bald man who has killed nine people, though none recently; and an assortment of uglies whose job it is to facilitate the ship's true business, which is money-laundering or drug-smuggling or ... something.
This book is funny, though not as funny as Barry's first novel, Big Trouble. It lampoons gambling, drug smuggling, grumpy old men (I envisioned Jack Lemmon and Walter Mathau while reading), the "F" word, and Titanic. (The captain of the casino ship is Edward "Eddie" Smith, the first mate is Henry "Hank" Wilde, and the leader of the band is Wallace "Wally" Hartley.) The ship goes out in a tropical storm (because it has to meet up with the smugglers). Various people are double-crossing various other people, romance is found (and lost, on occasion), seasickness happens hilariously (really), and plenty of weed is smoked.
33. Red Sky at Morning, by Richard Bradford
The classic coming-of-age story set during World War II about the enduring spirit of youth and the values in life that count.
Josh Arnold becomes the man of the house at age 17 when he and his mother move to Sagrado, New Mexico in 1944. (His father is in the Navy.) While Josh's mother finds the social differences difficult to deal with (they were originally from Mobile, Alabama), Josh himself makes friends and comes of age in the final year of World II. This book is considered a classic of 20th century literature, and rightly so. It has a good mix of humor, drama, and social commentary, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys coming of age stories or Westerns set during the 20th century.
