# Funniest books?



## ashel (May 29, 2011)

I'm looking for some recs, and also wondering why so many of my favorites are British.

My list, so far:

_Cold Comfort Farm_
_A Confederacy of Dunces_
Much of Pratchett
Much of Wodehouse
_Don Quixote_

...and I've run out already.* See how sad this list is? Please help.

*I've read _Hitchhiker_, it just didn't make my list. Please don't flame me for that one!


----------



## ashel (May 29, 2011)

Oh, I kind of want to put _Catch-22_ on there, even though it gets...dark.


----------



## samanthawarren (May 1, 2011)

Cold Comfort Farm is awesome. 

I'd suggest anything by Christopher Moore. And right now I'm reading Romance Novel by PJ Jones. I was cracking up at the doctor's office yesterday.


----------



## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

I didn't care much for Hitchhiker either.  Okay, I downright hated it.

For cozy mysteries that I found funny:

Janet Evanovich's One for the Money (series)
Karen Cantwell's Take the Monkey's and Run (Very zany)
Kaye C Hill's "Dead Woman's Shoes (British!)  

You might also look up ...  Dave Barry?  I can't remember the name of the mystery he wrote, but it was funny.  Lemme go look it up.


----------



## ashel (May 29, 2011)

samanthawarren said:


> Cold Comfort Farm is awesome.
> 
> I'd suggest anything by Christopher Moore. And right now I'm reading Romance Novel by PJ Jones. I was cracking up at the doctor's office yesterday.


Wasn't Joanna Lumley perfectly cast as Mrs. Smiling in the movie?

Checking out Moore and Jones now, thanks!

And now I'm trying to remember the name of that Dave Barry movie, the one with the toad who was the most evil being in the universe, and starring a young Zooey Deschanel...Big Trouble?


----------



## Anne Maven (Apr 18, 2011)

There is something about Jennifer Crusie's books that have me chuckling for hours. Her books are so busy!


----------



## samanthawarren (May 1, 2011)

genevieveaclark said:


> Wasn't Joanna Lumley perfectly cast as Mrs. Smiling in the movie?


I think they all did a wonderful job. When I finally have kids, I'm going to name my first boy Charles so I can walk around and say "Oh Chahles."


----------



## jherrick (Apr 1, 2011)

_Then We Came to the End _ by Joshua Ferris had me laughing out loud. If you've ever worked in an office environment, you can probably relate to it.


----------



## ashel (May 29, 2011)

samanthawarren said:


> I think they all did a wonderful job. When I finally have kids, I'm going to name my first boy Charles so I can walk around and say "Oh Chahles."


You could just get the father to change his name to Robert Poste so you can name the kid "Robert Poste's child."


----------



## Tony Rabig (Oct 11, 2010)

The Dave Barry book would be BIG TROUBLE -- and it's a scream.

Other recommendations?  I'd second CATCH-22 though, yes, it does get dark.
And if you want funny, you'll want to check out William Goldman's THE PRINCESS BRIDE, Harry Harrison's BILL, THE GALACTIC HERO, R. A. Lafferty's short stories "Polity and Custom of the Camiroi" and "Primary Education of the Carmiroi."  And don't miss John Collier's FANCIES AND GOODNIGHTS (finally available for the Kindle) -- while not all the stories in it are funny, a number of them are, and I'm incapable of reading the closing sentences of "Over Insurance" or "Bottle Party" in that book without laughing my backside off.

While it's not a funny book, Don Robertson's MYSTICAL UNION has a chapter in which a man tries to scatter his brother's ashes at sea and that chapter is very funny indeed.  (The book as a whole is decidedly not funny, but is to my mind one of the most unjustly neglected novels I know, and if you asked me which books I wish I'd written this is the one I'd name first.)


----------



## samanthawarren (May 1, 2011)

I forgot about The Princess Bride, though I have to say I enjoy the movie much more than the book (I think that might be the only time I've ever said that).


----------



## Tess St John (Feb 1, 2011)

I agree with the Jen Crusie books (esp Welcome to Temptation and Faking it--although they each make laugh)...also Susan Elizabeth Phillips (esp This Little Heart of Mine--the softball game) makes me laugh.

Jerry Seinfeld and Whoopi Goldberg both put out autobiographies that had me rolling.


----------



## lvcabbie (Jun 11, 2011)

Reading this







which is free on Nook.


----------



## Jeff Tompkins (Sep 17, 2010)

I'd recommend anything by Carl Hiaasen and Dave Barry.

Another good novel that kind of surprised me is THE COMEDY WRITER by Peter Farrelly. It's funny, but also has some really great serious moments.


----------



## LDHesler (Mar 25, 2011)

I agree with Jeff above me... "Big Trouble" by Dave Barry is worth a couple of reads.


----------



## ashel (May 29, 2011)

These are great, guys! Thanks. I've been happily downloading all morning.


----------



## Amia Lacey (Jun 1, 2011)

I thought Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities was very funny.


----------



## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

Tony Rabig said:


> The Dave Barry book would be BIG TROUBLE -- and it's a scream.
> 
> Other recommendations? I'd second CATCH-22 though, yes, it does get dark.
> And if you want funny, you'll want to check out William Goldman's THE PRINCESS BRIDE, Harry Harrison's BILL, THE GALACTIC HERO, R. A. Lafferty's short stories "Polity and Custom of the Camiroi" and "Primary Education of the Carmiroi." And don't miss John Collier's FANCIES AND GOODNIGHTS (finally available for the Kindle) -- while not all the stories in it are funny, a number of them are, and I'm incapable of reading the closing sentences of "Over Insurance" or "Bottle Party" in that book without laughing my backside off.
> ...


Yes! Big Trouble. It was a LOT of fun.

You might like some of A. Lee. Martinez's work. Some are...over the top, but I really enjoyed The Automatic Detective and a couple of others.


----------



## grahampowell (Feb 10, 2011)

I can't think of the funniest piece of fiction I've read off-hand, but the funniest _book_ is clearly _Anguished English_ compiled by Richard Federer. It's a collection of hilarious malapropisms from student papers, insurance claims forms, newspaper headlines, court proceedings, etc. The first time I read this I was literally in tears. My favorite, from a divorce case:

Attorney: Did you sleep with this man in New York?
Witness: I decline to answer that question.
A: Did you sleep with this man in Chicago?
W: I decline to answer that question.
A: Did you sleep with this man in Miami?
W: No.

There's a sequel that is not as good but still pretty funny. I believe this is the same guy who did _Get Thee to a Punnery_.


----------



## ashel (May 29, 2011)

That reads like a racy I Love Lucy episode. I kind of love that.



grahampowell said:


> I can't think of the funniest piece of fiction I've read off-hand, but the funniest _book_ is clearly _Anguished English_ compiled by Richard Federer. It's a collection of hilarious malapropisms from student papers, insurance claims forms, newspaper headlines, court proceedings, etc. The first time I read this I was literally in tears. My favorite, from a divorce case:
> 
> Attorney: Did you sleep with this man in New York?
> Witness: I decline to answer that question.
> ...


----------



## Tamara Rose Blodgett (Apr 1, 2011)

I'll agree with the other post(er): Janet Evanovich ("One for the Money;" caveat...they digress in a "less funny" direction after about book 12)
And I *loved* the Maryjanice Davidson vampire series (Betsy). So far (especially the earlier works), she had me barking like a dog at the moon! Terrific! Comedic relief, a good thing!


----------



## RobynB (Jan 4, 2011)

I agree with some of the other recs for funny fiction. For funny nonfiction, I adore David Sedaris. Actually, he's written fiction too:

 

(If you get a chance to see him perform live, jump on it -- it's a whole new experience to hear him read his work.)

I also love Anne Lamott's _Operating Instructions_ (again, nonfiction, but very funny).


----------



## ColinJ (Jun 13, 2011)

Joseph Wambaugh's LA cop novels are hilarious, especially THE CHOIRBOYS. The stuff in those books is so outrageous it can't possibly be made up.

I also get a great laugh out of Joe Lansdale's 'Hap and Leonard' series. That man is a genius.

GOOD OMENS was a crack-up as well.


----------



## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

You may find Douglas Adams's "Dirk Gently" books to be more fun than the "Hitchhiker" books. I think the Hitchhiker books are more cynical, and while full of individually funny moments, the overall themes are actually somewhat depressing. But I found _Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency_ and _The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul_ to be overall funnier and more enjoyable books. However, I don't think they have been enKindled yet. 

In addition to Harry Harrison's _Bill the Galactic Hero_ mentioned above, many of his "Stainless Steel Rat" books are available for the Kindle, and while not as outrageous as "Bill", are of a similar tone and often quite funny. Three of the books are available in one $9.99 ebook: _A Stainless Steel Trio_


----------



## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

I have enjoyed Lee Goldberg's Monk series.  
deb


----------



## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

samanthawarren said:


> I'd suggest anything by Christopher Moore.


Word


----------



## stormhawk (Apr 29, 2009)

I've read several of Carl Hiassen's books, but the only one that actually made me LOL was Skin Tight

Mercury Falls by Robert Kroese is very funny. 

Beat the Reaper by Josh Bozell is so outlandish, I loved it. 

And I second the suggestion for Christopher Moore.


----------



## 9Lanterns (Jun 11, 2011)

It's a bit slight, but I thought I LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER was hysterical when I read it.  And I also have another vote for THE PRINCESS BRIDE.


----------



## kCopeseeley (Mar 15, 2011)

Anne Maven said:


> There is something about Jennifer Crusie's books that have me chuckling for hours. Her books are so busy!


Totally agree. LOVE _Bet Me_.


----------



## kCopeseeley (Mar 15, 2011)

Tess St John said:


> I agree with the Jen Crusie books (esp Welcome to Temptation and Faking it--although they each make laugh)...also Susan Elizabeth Phillips (esp This Little Heart of Mine--the softball game) makes me laugh.


OMG -you stole my post!!! I was going to name that exact book by SEP. It's my favorite. All of them are pretty funny though. _Natural Born Charmer_ is hilarious.

In romance writers... Meg Cabot's adult books are funny too. _She went all the way_ comes to my mind. And if you don't mind reading a "classic" romance writer, Georgette Heyer is HILARIOUS. _Friday's Child_ made me laugh so hard I couldn't stop. Also, on the subject of Regency Romances, Marion Chesney is also hilarious. Her Six Sisters series has some of the funniest characters.


----------



## kCopeseeley (Mar 15, 2011)

I'll give a third nomination to Christopher Moore... ESPECIALLY _A Dirty Job._ His explanation of the Beta Male was riveting.


----------



## lolita006 (Jan 31, 2011)

for me i had fun reading when you're engulfed in flames by david sedaris.

and the shopaholic series, i've only read the first 2 books.  i'll read the rest sooon enough


----------



## jherrick (Apr 1, 2011)

Amia Lacey said:


> I thought Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities was very funny.


Yeah, Tom Wolfe, I'd forgotten about that. Bonfire is on my to-read list. I read his My Name is Charlotte Simmons last year. Very funny, and for 700 or so pages, it read fast.


----------



## suns56 (Mar 25, 2011)

The funniest books that I've read in the past year were two by RJ McDonnell: Rock & Roll Homicide and Rock & Roll Rip-Off. They're detective mysteries, but the detective worked as a mental health counselor before becoming a private investigator, and employs some former clients to work in his agency. They're good at their jobs, but the way they relate to each other is hysterical. The detective and his girlfriend also have some amusing banter as well.


----------



## wonderfulray (May 5, 2011)

...and another vote for Christopher Moore. I think the best one I've read has to be "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal." I'm neither a biblical nor historical scholar, so I can't really evaluate it on those grounds, but it did impress me with the feeling of being authentic and well-researched--as well as being funny.


----------



## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

I enjoy the writings of Patrick McManus. His work falls mainly into two groups: the mystery novels featuring Sheriff Bo Tully, which are amusing, and the allegedly autobiographical books which I find to be very funny. Some people have compared his writing to those of Mark Twain and Robert Benchley (although I don't see the resemblance to Twain, myself).

Most of his work is available on the Kindle, but at a pretty hefty price.

Mike


----------



## BarbraAnnino (Jan 27, 2011)

wonderfulray said:


> ...and another vote for Christopher Moore. I think the best one I've read has to be "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal." I'm neither a biblical nor historical scholar, so I can't really evaluate it on those grounds, but it did impress me with the feeling of being authentic and well-researched--as well as being funny.


YES on Moore. Never read Lamb or Fool, but everything else. Also Lisa Lutz's Spellman series is pretty funny. And Konrath's Jack series. One of my favorite lines was "Oh hell, it's Frankenbitch."


----------



## David M. Baum (Apr 21, 2011)

An Oldie, but Goodie: God Knows, by Joseph Heller. Maybe not as good as Catch 22, but funnier. 

Most Pratchett books have me laughing as well.


----------



## liafairchild (Apr 2, 2011)

Hi Everyone:

One of my favorite's of late is Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella. It's both funny and fun to read. I haven't read Shopaholics books and didn't seem interested in the movies, but Remeber Me was great.

Lia Fairchild


----------



## Michelle Muto (Feb 1, 2011)

Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series and anything by David Sedaris. Sedaris is probably the funnier of the two. I listened to most of his books on audio while driving to work, and the drivers in other cars around me must have thought I was totally nuts.


----------



## ashel (May 29, 2011)

Michelle Muto said:


> Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series and anything by David Sedaris. Sedaris is probably the funnier of the two. I listened to most of his books on audio while driving to work, and the drivers in other cars around me must have thought I was totally nuts.


And his sister Amy, too! Can you imagine growing up in that house?

So because of this thread and a few others, I've gone absolutely insane on Amazon downloads in the last few days. Conservatively, it might take me a year to read them all. I am not that patient. I have yet to figure out a solution to this.


----------



## Alle Meine Entchen (Dec 6, 2009)

genevieveaclark said:


> And his sister Amy, too! Can you imagine growing up in that house?
> 
> So because of this thread and a few others, I've gone absolutely insane on Amazon downloads in the last few days. Conservatively, it might take me a year to read them all. I am not that patient. I have yet to figure out a solution to this.


The solution is simple, just clone yourself and you'll get those books read in no time


----------



## Alan Ryker (Feb 18, 2011)

George Saunders is funny. I like Vonnegut's bitter humor.

I don't think I'd call either the funniest, though. Wodehouse probably takes that title for me.


----------



## Michelle Muto (Feb 1, 2011)

genevieveaclark said:


> And his sister Amy, too! Can you imagine growing up in that house?
> 
> So because of this thread and a few others, I've gone absolutely insane on Amazon downloads in the last few days. Conservatively, it might take me a year to read them all. I am not that patient. I have yet to figure out a solution to this.


True! Amy is hilarious. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall in their house.


----------



## tristanlindsay (Feb 4, 2011)

Anything by Oscar Wilde or Mark Twain. Classic AND funny.


----------



## RJMcDonnell (Jan 29, 2011)

I love the humor in Nelson DeMille's John Corey Series. The banter between retired NYPD detective, John, and his FBI wife, Kate, is consistently funny and believable. I also enjoy how John's perspective on life has helped Kate's humor to evolve over the course of the series.


----------



## Adam Kisiel (Jun 20, 2011)

All the Terry Pratchett books. Especially with the Witches.


----------



## arshield (Nov 17, 2008)

I like Christopher Buckley books.  But I couldn't get through Confederacy of Dunces (tried twice and gave up both times.)


----------



## markarayner (Mar 14, 2011)

I can't believe Kurt Vonnegut hasn't come up on this list yet -- he's tragically funny.  Perhaps I missed a previous mention.

I'd second (third, fourth, fifth?) Christopher Moore, Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett.  

I'd add some Tom Sharpe (really silly), John Hodgman (absurdly eruditely silly), and if you're okay with dark, Chuck Palahniuk can be savagely funny.  

All of them have influenced my own writing in addition to giving me hours of laughs.


----------



## mattposner (Oct 28, 2010)

Philip Roth:  Portnoy's Complaint.

Warning:  NC-17.


----------



## SimonSmithWilson (Jul 26, 2011)

Infinite Welcomes Careful Drivers is one of the funniest books I have ever read. It is the first Reddwarf novel.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

SimonSmithWilson said:


> Infinite Welcomes Careful Drivers is one of the funniest books I have ever read. It is the first Reddwarf novel.


Is it on Kindle? I haven't found the Red Dwarf books available yet. . . . . . . .but, of course, that can change!


----------



## Joseph.Garraty (May 20, 2011)

I'll add another vote for _Catch-22_.

Also, Warren Ellis's book _Crooked Little Vein_ had me crying, I was laughing so hard. Be warned, though--it's pretty vulgar.


----------



## destill (Oct 5, 2010)

I have to put in another vote for Dave Barry's Big Trouble. While reading that book, I disturbed everyone around me on the beach. I couldn't keep from laughing out loud.


----------



## SimonSmithWilson (Jul 26, 2011)

> Is it on Kindle? I haven't found the Red Dwarf books available yet. . . . . . . .but, of course, that can change!


I did not think of that. I have all the paperbacks and assumed it would be on kindle. I just checked and none of them are, which is really surprising.


----------



## mattlynn (Jun 10, 2011)

Like many people here, it has to be Catch 22. I still laugh out loud at lots of it.

- Matt Lynn


----------



## BrianPBorcky (Aug 7, 2011)

Everyone who mentioned Dunces and the Sedaris books is right on. Of course, there are the non-fiction books: Colbert's book (if you're into his humor), Braindroppings by George Carlin (I was so disappointed when Napalm and Silly Putty was his stand-up put to paper) and the Dave Barry collections.

I'll concur with the masses and say that Catch-22 is probably the best of the best. Yes, it gets dark, so dark comedy has to be in your wheelhouse, but the best part is how Heller doesn't just go for jokes, he uses his comedy to enhance the development of his characters.


----------



## markarayner (Mar 14, 2011)

I mentioned Tom Sharpe previously, and I was pleased to discover his backlist is available on Kindle. 

Porterhouse Blue had me laughing so hard a bus driver once stopped his bus to administer CPR on me. (He was kind of ticked off I was just laughing.)


----------



## jamiedierks (Jul 5, 2011)

If I want to have a good laugh, I read Tim Dorsey or Carl Hiaasen. The stories are great too.


----------



## bertcarson (Jan 28, 2011)

I love everything that Robert B. Parker wrote - especially the Spenser series, followed closely by the Jessie Stone Books -

, ,


----------



## BrianPBorcky (Aug 7, 2011)

bertcarson said:


> I love everything that Robert B. Parker wrote - especially the Spenser series, followed closely by the Jessie Stone Books -


Parker was incredible. For sheer funniness, I find Robert Crais to be my mystery novelist of choice -- especially his older work, the Joe Pike centric stuff is understandably more serious, though he did work some comic relief into The Watchman. The First Rule is pretty dry, though.


----------



## ashel (May 29, 2011)

Um, this is possibly weird, but I am just getting around to reading Wuthering Heights after, you know, either blocking it from my memory or avoiding it for 15 years or so, but...

It's not actually supposed to be funny, right? I mean, I know it's not. But so far I've laughed pretty hard, and I'm not even out of the prologue yet. This is only because I read Cold Comfort Farm first, yes? It becomes heartbreaking in short order?


----------



## DarleneGardner (Aug 6, 2011)

How about Thank You For Smoking by Christopher Buckley? They made a movie of it but the books are always better.

Another one is The Nameless Witch by A. Lee Martinez. I read it on my daughter's recommendation. The witch's familiar is a demonic duck with a taste for human flesh.


----------



## Joseph DiFrancesco (Aug 1, 2011)

I haven't read a "Funny Book" in quite a while but Nelson DeMille's characters always make me laugh.  He has quite a wit about him.


----------



## Loren DeShon (Jun 15, 2011)

Winterdance by Gary Paulson (non-fiction). A guy living in Northern Minnesota decides to train a sled dog team and enter the Iditarod. He does.

My wife and I each read in bed before lights out. I laughed so hard that I repeatedly had to get up to wipe my eyes and blow my nose. I tried to read sections to her and couldn't do it - I'd get halfway through and couldn't speak; I couldn't physically enunciate any words for laughing. I finally gave up and just told her she'd have to wait her turn to read it. When she did she laughed so hard that she, too, had to get out of bed to freshen up and compose herself.

I've recommended it to friends & acquaintances for the last 10 years with a money back guarantee if they bought it and didn't like it - no one has asked for their money back yet.


----------



## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

Loren DeShon said:


> Winterdance by Gary Paulson (non-fiction). A guy living in Northern Minnesota decides to train a sled dog team and enter the Iditarod. He does.
> 
> My wife and I each read in bed before lights out. I laughed so hard that I repeatedly had to get up to wipe my eyes and blow my nose. I tried to read sections to her and couldn't do it - I'd get halfway through and couldn't speak; I couldn't physically enunciate any words for laughing. I finally gave up and just told her she'd have to wait her turn to read it. When she did she laughed so hard that she, too, had to get out of bed to freshen up and compose herself.
> 
> I've recommended it to friends & acquaintances for the last 10 years with a money back guarantee if they bought it and didn't like it - no one has asked for their money back yet.


Imma go with this...I have read many non-fiction books that just made me laugh out loud.

I've read several biographies that also made me laugh.

When I indulge in chick-lit (only Costco specials), they tend to both infuriate and make me laugh.

But in my preferred genres, I usually find anything but subtle or occasional humor as distracting. Heinlein did it pretty well.


----------



## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

samanthawarren said:


> Cold Comfort Farm is awesome.


I loved that movie!....I'll have to look for the book/e-book.

I wonder if Gosford Park would also be good in print? (Will check!)

I also love the humor of Jane Austin. 'Sense and Sensibility' is one of my favorites...book & movie.


----------



## indiebookslist (Aug 5, 2011)

Yet another vote for Mr. Pratchett here. His humor tends to wander off into philosophy, without any warning. 

Although he and Mr. Adams are thrown together quite often, I tend to find Terry's "voice" a little easier to handle for large stretches.


----------



## Pinworms (Oct 20, 2010)

For me, it was Youth in Revolt by CD Payne.  Its pretty juvenile humor, but it made me laugh out loud harder than any other book I've read.  The sequels suck, the movie sucks...but the book is great.


----------



## AlisonM (Jul 30, 2010)

samanthawarren said:


> Cold Comfort Farm is awesome.


I agree, great book.

Also Love in a Cold Climate and The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford. Hilarious books and two of very few books that I have read twice.


----------



## Patrick Reinken (Aug 4, 2011)

Russo's back history sections in _Empire Falls_ made me laugh out loud.

Someone also mentioned an Anne Lamott book, and here's another one - _Bird by Bird_. Sure, it's a book about writing, but it made me laugh plenty of times, too.

And all Bill Bryson's travel books are great.


----------



## Guest (Aug 16, 2011)

Jennifer Belle is very funny. So is Douglas Coupland.


----------



## djgross (May 24, 2011)

Another vote for Josh Bazell's _Beat the Reaper_. His sequel, _Wild Thing_, comes out in Feb. 2012

David Sedaris is also fabulous!

Almost Like Being in Love was recommended to me in the August Quasi-Official Book Reading Game. The book has a very unusual narrative style, including e-mails and court transcripts, and contains a number of laugh out loud moments.


----------



## ashel (May 29, 2011)

I just started "Two Serious Ladies" by Jane Bowles (wife of Paul), and so far it's incredibly funny because everyone's just so...weird. It's really, really good. After like 20 pages I went and found my copy of "The Sheltering Sky", read the first few pages just to confirm: I think I might like the wife better.


----------



## Grady Hendrix (Sep 8, 2010)

If you're looking for a dose of British humor, try any of these:

ANY BY PG WODEHOUSE - he's the gold standard in British humor. I tend to avoid anything he wrote post 1946 but he wrote something like a zillion books before then, so I haven't run out of them yet.

DIARY OF A PROVINCIAL LADY - it doesn't sound promising, but it's the 1930 precursor to Bridget Jones, only much less self-pitying and much dryer.

The LUCIA Books - by EF Benson. They are really fantastic. A bit meaner than most Wodehouse, and they basically revolve around catfights disguised as overly-polite conversation. Every novel by Benson is like getting the latest, meanest gossip from their tiny village of Riseholme.

THREE MEN IN A BOAT - it was mentioned up-thread, but it really is the classic British humorous novel done to perfection.

SKIPPY DIES - it's from 2010, and there's a lot of lit fic humiliation humor on display in it, but it is THE best novel of 2010 and it is funny as hell. It's the story of a bunch of kids at a British boarding school and what happens after one of them ODs and, well, dies. Hilarity ensues. 

TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG - Connie Willis is American, not British, but TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG is a sci fi/time travel book set in Oxford around 1920 and somehow time travel seems to fit the milieu perfectly. The entire book revolves around a very rich woman's attempts to use time travel to go back to the 20's and 40's in a quest for a decorative object known only as "the Bishop's bird stump" which turns out to be hideously ugly but vital to her plans to restore Coventry Cathedral.


----------



## Evelyn Collier (Jul 7, 2011)

My favourite funny writers are ;

Bill Bryson
Sue Townsend


----------



## Elizabeth Black (Apr 8, 2011)

Books I thought were funny:

"Portnoy's Complaint"
"Catch 22"
All the Joe Lansdale's Hap Collins and Leonard Pine books.
Donald Westlake's Dortmunder caper novels.


----------



## mscottwriter (Nov 5, 2010)

One of my favorite indie reads this summer was "Satan Loves You".  *Very* funny stuff!

I also finished Demetri Martin's "This is a Book" which was hilarious.  It's not a novel, but it does have some wonderful short stories.


----------



## Ross Payton (Jul 10, 2011)

Zombie Spaceship Wasteland by Patton Oswalt is absolutely hilarious - some comedic writing (the notes on a movie script from a producer section is incredibly funny!) and some autobiography of a young comedian in his teen years and early stand up days. I cannot recommend it enough.


----------



## Tara Maya (Nov 4, 2010)

addyj672 said:


> I like....
> 
> Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome (1889)
> 
> Still makes readers smile 120 years after publication.


Connie Willis' To Say Nothing of the Dog is a nice sf send-up of Three Men in a Boat, and also very funny in its own right.


----------



## Iwritelotsofbooks (Nov 17, 2010)

PJ O'Rourke's Parliament of Whores is a favorite.  

And if you like indies, try
John Pearson's Learn Me Good.


----------



## henryandhenrybooks (Sep 6, 2011)

Don't forget CATCH - 22


----------



## MaxCool (Sep 12, 2011)

Tim Dorsey raised the bar.


----------



## markarayner (Mar 14, 2011)

I've got to second Cruel Shoes.  

Also, Woody Allen has written some funny books, such as: Side Effects, Without Feathers and Getting Even.  All pretty funny.

And I haven't seen Max Barry mentioned yet.  I enjoyed Company.


----------



## JD Rhoades (Feb 18, 2011)

genevieveaclark said:


> *I've read _Hitchhiker_, it just didn't make my list. Please don't flame me for that one!


Not flaming, just puzzled as to how you can like Pratchett and not Like Hitchhiker's. The humor is quite similar.

I love David Sedaris' books. Christopher Moore's FOOL is great...heck, pretty much any Christopher Moore makes me laugh.


----------



## Bubastes (Nov 14, 2011)

Another vote for anything by David Sedaris. I snort when I read his stuff.

Christopher Moore's _Lamb: The Gospel According to Bif_f is laugh out loud funny too.


----------



## Iain Manson (Apr 3, 2011)

The funniest book I've ever read is Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim, published back in 1954. I'm not sure if the humour crosses the Atlantic, but it can still make me laugh aloud.

Jim Dixon is a young academic striving to keep his job and to get laid. But his tenure depends on an impossible boss, and he is never likely to get his neurotic girlfriend Margaret Peel into bed. (Amis changed his original name for her, Margaret Beale, in deference to his closest friend, Philip Larkin, whose girlfriend was Monica Margaret Beale Jones. Amis er... didn't like her much.)

And don't forget Charles Dickens, one of the most uneven of writers, but also one of the funniest. I always remember a few lines from The Pickwick Papers:

_Bob Sawyer, "thrusting his forefinger between two of Mr. Pickwick's ribs and thereby displaying his native drollery and his knowledge of the anatomy of the human frame at one and the same time, enquired - 'I say, old boy, where do you hang out?' Mr. Pickwick replied that he was at present suspended at the George and Vulture."_

Here, in conclusion, is a short list of books I would not recommend to anyone in need of a laugh: the Bible, the Talmud, the Qur'an, the Bhagavad Gita. What _is_ it about religion?


----------



## Joseph_Evans (Jul 24, 2011)

The funniest book I've read recently was Spud by John van der Ruit. It had me in stitches!


----------



## Jon Olson (Dec 10, 2010)

Anybody like THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING? To me, as a kid, that was hilarious and poignant.


----------



## Michelle Muto (Feb 1, 2011)

I'm going to say you can't go wrong with Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series and anything written by David Sedaris.


----------

