Top ten black comedies

Back in 2005 the novelist Tiffany Murray named her top ten "books that deal in the murky and contrary depths of dark humour" for the Guardian.

One item on the list:

Slaughterhouse-5 by Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut's semi-autobiographical classic was 24 years in the making: "So it goes". The unspeakablility of war where all that follows Dresden's destruction is the 'Poo-tee-weet' of a bird. Like his protagonist Billy Pilgrim, Vonnegut was a prisoner of war inside a meat-locker beneath a slaughterhouse as Dresden was fireballed and bombed. It is unknown whether he, like Billy, was also abducted by aliens.

Read about all ten titles on Murray's list.

Slaughterhouse-5 also made Sebastian Beaumont's top 10 list of books about psychological journeys.

--Marshal Zeringue