I loved Land of Lisp, but found Clojure for the Brave and True annoying. To me, LoL is hilarious, while CftBaT tries to be funny, but fails.

Hmmm I think I remember a few failed jokes but I found the actual coverage of the language pretty good, wdyt? I guess for a book like this you are not really looking for a comedy best seller, no? :-)

I guess the thing is that when an attempt at humor fails, which is obviously subjective, it starts to distract from the content.

I agree it is subjective. I actually open Clojure for The Brave and True book from now and then just because I find so much of it truly hilarious. The hilarity is what really helped me get Clojure. I also like the Land of Lisp and find it funny as well.

I really loved the part where Lady Gaga explained multitasking.

I suspect this is one of the best books on Clojure out there ("suspect": I'm working through a couple of different ones on and off).

Clojure Applied (Alex Miller) or Programming Clojure 3rd Ed (Alex Miller / Stuart Halloway) would be my picks but I don't know how beginner friendly they are.

They're certainly not as colourful as brave but found the pace and coverage good