Dave Hause

Other than bringing us the phrase Catch 22 there is not much notable. The book is a repetitive, slapstick narrative about a coward surrounded by a clan of shallow characters. Basically it's like reading a 400-page-long 'dad joke'.

600 pages and the part you're probably most familiar with (from movies) is about 80 pages. The rest is an encyclopedia of whales and 19th century whaling technology. It's worth the read though, you see its theme running through many new tales.