The Man Who Folded Himself, by David Gerrold (1973)
When you read an older book, it's a peek into the past. Hello, 1973.
Dan is a rich 19-year-old, supported by his Uncle Jim and a trust fund from his parents. What happened to his parents? They're "not there" in the way parents are absent in children's games ("Okay, we're living alone in the wilderness, and....").
Uncle Jim says that Dan has a vast fortune, but when Uncle Jim dies there's no fortune to be found. Just a belt. Oh, it's a TIME TRAVEL belt. And so the adventure begins.
It's a neat adventure, though over-full of rhetorical questions from the narrator. It's the kind of story that leaves you wondering what YOU'D do if YOU had a time travel belt.
May I just vent for a moment about a little thing that niggles at me? At one point the narrator begins an affair with another version of himself. He concludes that this proves homosexuality is a choice. (Hello again, 1973.) If you DID travel in time and have affairs with other versions of yourself, I think you would be more accurately described as narcissistic, not homosexual. Keep that in mind for when you get YOUR belt.
The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror, by Christopher Moore (2004)
I knew I was going to like this book from the very first sentence: "Christmas crept into Pine Cove like a creeping Christmas thing." (That's not in fact the entire sentence, but it's funnier for the review when it's shortened.)
The only thing that kept me from reading this book sooner is that I wasn't keen on the idea of Christmas horror. I'm a big fan of the animated show Futurama, but I pass on the episodes with evil robot Santa. I think I can assure you, though, that this book is fine. It's not horror in the sense of HORROR. There are zombies, sure, I'm not going to lie to you about that. And okay, someone gets a shovel in the throat. But it's mostly tongue-in-cheek, and everything is okay in the end.
What is more important than the horror is the comedy. It's clever. An angel trying to raise the dead says, "Let he who lies here dead arise! Arise from your grave this Christmas and live!" And then, when nothing happens, he adds, "Behold! For I am really not kidding!"
I recommend the book. And I'm going to go back to my library to see if they have any other books by this author, such as Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. Sounds promising.