Printable View
The funniest novel that I have read was "The Aluminum Man" by G. C. Edmondson. Of course, "Bored of the Rings" is one of the funniest things in the history of humanity, but it is a parody, so it doesn't have especially sophisticated humor.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fango
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fango
If you like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, you should check out Terry Pratchett and his Discworld series, he also wrote a book called Good Omens with Neil Gaiman that is a riot!
Have you ever read any of Adams' other books? He wrote two 'Dirk Gentley' novels, Dirk Gentley is a holistic detective with very interesting methods and bizarre cases. The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul is my favorite of those two and I would highly recommend them to anyone.
I'm not so sure of the 'comic' aspect but I enjoy Keith Laumer's Retief series as satire -- making jabs at diplomatic relations between planets. Laumer was in the Air Force himself about 10 years before I began my career (19 good years--2 bad ones) but he has great insight in what I have come to believe (least as far as PEACETIME Air Force--Appearance is EVERYTHING, substance is a bonus.
It isn't a novel, but Washington Irving's History of New York is rather funny - in what certainly could be called a "sophisticated-ish" sort of way.
Almost everything by Keith Laumer could be regarded as satire.Quote:
Originally Posted by mtpspur
Thanks, gang, I appreciate the replies...
I haven't read Adams' other books, mainly because I'm keen to diverge before I indulge into one author. :)
Hey, I'll see about Terry Pratchett (and Good Omens). I certainly heard about him.
Not a lot of female comic writers around, eh?
A really funny novel is Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim. You can read a little blurb here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Jim
Hmm, well, I took some time to review the suggestions, and I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy Bored of the Rings. It reminds me of -- http://members.ozemail.com.au/~imcfa...et/fantasy.htm
My favourite Douglas Adams would actually be "Last Chance to See", which is totally brilliant. I can also join Idril in recommending Gaiman & Pratchett's "Good Omens", which really is rather much like Adams (and perhaps not surprisingly, Gaiman having written an Adams biography).
Adams himself talked a lot about the old master of humour, P.G. Wodehouse. I have only read very little of his stuff, but he is pretty funny.
Wodehouse (the writer of the Jeeves series) also now reminds me of Hugh Laurie (who acted in the TV series, and is now Dr House in "House M.D."), whose first book "The Gun Seller", is apparently a riot, or so I have heard. Someone told me it is very "Dirk Gentley like", which I think is the highest recommendation there is when it comes to books that you read for laughter.
Try Jasper fforde - start with "The Eyre Affair"
Check out Tom Holt, who has written some very funny books, as well as some serious ones.
Try A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. It's funny in a sarcastic, witty sort of way.
I don't know if I would reccomend this book for it comic nature (although I do agree with you that it had a certain wit to it), but I would still encourage anyone to read it becasue it was fantastically written and inspiring.Quote:
Originally Posted by Danika_Valin
Bored of the Rings is better.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fango
Another really funy author is Tom Holt. "Who's Afraid of Beowulf" and "Flying Dutch" should be considered two of the classics of humorous fiction.
Goergoe MacDonald Fraser's Flashman novels are also very funny in an understated way. The interplay with Sherlock Holmes in the last book is one of the funniest scenes in literature, and it satirizes Holmes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Danika_Valin
As long as you warn them that that along with it being quite funny in places, it can also be a little sad and depressing I think it would be ok and that it's actually a biography and not a novel. It was recommended to me because of it's humour and I was surprised at the serious nature of the subject matter but I still appreciated the recommendation.Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles Darnay
I thought of another brilliant comic novel, A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. It's an insanely funny book.
Anything by P.G. Wodehouse, who makes fun of the British aristocracy in his madcap comedies of the 20's and 30's. I would especially recommend "Right ho, Jeeves", "Thank You, Jeeves", "The Code of the Woosters", "Laughing Gas", and/or "Uncle Fred in the Springtime."
And then there's Peter Cannon, who wrote hilarious crossover stories in which Wodehouse characters, Bertie Wooster and Jeeves, confront the monsters of H. P. Lovecraft. The book is called "Scream For Jeeves" and believe me, it's a keeper.
The fantasy of Tim Powers, particularly "The Stress of Her Regard" and "The Anubis Gates". He does stuff about time travel and the supernatural, usually set in Victorian England, but always with a comic twist. He's truly strange...in a good way!
As other people have already mentioned, the Flashman novels. They're a hoot!
I find "Bored of the Rings" to be obscene and unfunny. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a good parody (as you can see by my previous link), but this is jejune IMO and plays on sexual humour. No offense, just not my cup of tea.
I'm still looking at Confederacy of Dunces (which I heard a lot about for the past two years, actually) and Jeeves (which I also heard about before). The other titles don't grab my attention from some reason...
Discworld certainly has a quality, but I'm not sure if it's funny enough for me (after reading the beginning of The Wee Free Men). But I'll sure read further and other books in the series before I make up my mind.
I am amazed that anyone would find "Bored of the Rings" to be obscene. While there are mentions of sexual and/or sexually deviant activities, those items are satirical in themselves, rather than making any effort to pander to prurient interests. And the "sexual humor" in "Bored of the Rings" is a minor item. Most of the humor is parody of "Lord of the Rings". "Bored of the Rings" makes no sense at all to anyone who is not familiar with LOTR.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fango
Alright, maybe "obscene" wasn't the right word, but I stick to everything else I said. And I understand the "sexual stuff" suppose to be satirical/parodic, it just doesn't tickle my funny bone.
I read the original twice at least.
The Ancient Greeks wrote a Satyr play for many of their tragic trilogies. BOTR plays that part with respect to LOTR. Regarded in that light, BOTR is truly great; but, if you don't appreciate an appeal to ancient literature, it is lost on you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fango
It is possible that some parts of BOTR are obsolete. There are references that would be lost on someone who didn't have some familiarity with the time period in which it was written. For example, Tim Benzedrine is absolutely to anyone who knows of the drug scene in the late 1960's, but I expect that it wouldn't be as meaningful or funny to someone who wasn't familiar with that setting.
Okay, whatever makes you feel better.
I've never read Wee Free Men but wasn't that geared more for younger readers? If you do decide to try Pratchett, start with Mort, the first two read like Pratchett is trying way too hard to sound like Adams, the third one is just simply awful but Mort is good and if it's strictly humour you're looking for, I would suggest you stick with the Discworld books that feature the Wizards, they are always good for a laugh.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fango
I would go with Idril in that if you come to Pratchett from an Adams background, Mort seems like the best place to start. I find it really good, while I think that much of the rest of Pratchett is quite boring, actually. But then again, I didn't like Bored of the Rings, either, so I may just not be calibrated for some types of humour.
Fango: as you have Guybrush as your avatar, you might want to try the Discworld adventure games. (Not quite "fiction", but perhaps "interactive fiction"? ;)) They play pretty similarly to Monkey Island, and at least the first two are really quite funny.
Also, I know you were originally looking for novels, but for "wild humour and creative writing style" you could do worse than peeking into Tom Stoppard's plays. They are good reads, or at least the 60s and 70s plays are that I am mostly familiar with.
This, of course, comes with certain qualifications: if you don't like absurdist humour (say, Monty Python) and absurdist theatre (Beckett, to some extent Pinter), stay away from Stoppard. ;)
I always loved Catch-22 for comedy. . . or alot of oscar wilde and beckett
or At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien
Though always a great idea for a thread, this thread may help your search, too. ;)
J.P. Donleavy's The Ginger Man is funny, and sophisticated in a..... spraying fecal matter kind of way
Douglas Adams' The Deeper Meaning of Liff, a tongue-in-cheek dictionary, much like the also hilarious Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce makes a good read. The irrepressible Dave Barry has an entire series of books that could make a cow laugh with his misadventures in Japan, Cyberspace, Turning Forty, etc. If you can get into small town backwoods humor dealing with the outdoor life and kids growing up, Pat McManus' books are great. The sardonic wit of Lewis Grizzard is also pretty funny. :D
I've never heard of that and being the big Adams fan I am, I think I need to find it. Thank you, Pen, for bringing it to my attention. ;) :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Pendragon
Depending on how sophisticated you want the novel to be you could give Ben Elton or Stephen Fry a go.
I agree that Pratchett is hilarious and 'Catch 22' is amazingly funny in a completely horrific way.
Dreamcatcher by Stephen King was not a funny book, as far as subject matter and overall plot, but there was one line in the book that made me laugh out loud. It was about a clipboard: "The clipboard he'd been carrying went sliding like a toboggan for leprechauns." This character Henry has been through hell, he's being held against his will, and it looks like the situation is only going to get worse. Someone has dropped a clipboard on the snow, and to Henry it looks like a toboggan for leprechauns. That, to me, was funny.
the canterbury tales-chaucer:lol:
Don Quixote
Master and Margarita
Celine's and Bukowski's works have been riots. Don Quixote has been the exemplar of wholesome humor that has yet to be surpassed.
The Artemis Fowl series, I saw someone mentioned it. It's very clever and funny. I can't think of anymore at the moment.
A Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams made me laugh
and Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov made me giggle
The Georgia Nicolson series, the first book is entitled "Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging". Kinda says it all.......
Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Tartarin de Tarascon by Alphonse Daudet
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Bridget Jones (1 & 2) by Helen Fielding
lets start with the old ones
candide voltaire(almost everything he wrote even on the napkiens in french cafes would make me laugh)
canterbury duh
gulivars travels
sherlock holmes(not necissarly comedy but cleverness always makes me giggle)
The Imitatable Jeeves(I have read this the most recentley.. LOVED IT)
Hitchickers Guide to the Galaxcy
DIRK GENTLEY (I like these better than HG2G)
Most books I have read make me laugh but these especially.
Oh yes, Candide made me laugh too!
Lucky Jim ~ Kingsly Amis
Nice Work ~ David Lodge
Try them, you won't be dissappointed. Let me know if you are.