David James Duncan's The River Why made me laugh and laugh and laugh.
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David James Duncan's The River Why made me laugh and laugh and laugh.
I know literature is sometimes assumed to be dead serious, but there are a few works and authors that prove the opposite by writing a higly literary book with a very funny side. I'm reading the drama-works of Harold Pinter and it's really humoristicly written
Do you guys know any good books that also made you laugh?
Mark Twain
Moliere
Aristophnaes
Shakespeare
Max Beerbohm
Evelyn Waugh
P. G. Wodehouse and one could go on ad infinitum.
defintely go with Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais and The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne, the funniest books I have ever read!
Molloy - Samuel Beckett
The late, great Douglas Adams.....
Quote:
Originally Posted by JhKreisler
Holy crap that is the first Pinter comment I've seen on these forums, The Dumb Waiter and The Caretaker are amazing and quite funny.
Also I thought Candide by Voltaire, The Doctor is Sick by Burgess, The Fur Hat by Voinovich and Breakfast of Champions by Vonnegut were all pretty funny.
L Frank Baum
The Oz Series
Agree on Breakfast of Champions, Douglas Adams and Molloy.
It's quite rare that I find a book really funny. But actually, War and Peace has been making me laugh quite a bit at times. American Psycho did too.
Practical Jokes With Artemus Ward by Mark Twain. Funninest book I ever read in my life!
I'd forgotten about Douglas Adams, and Lewis Carroll also had some humorous/silly works...Quote:
Originally Posted by blp
Anything by (guess who!) Oscar Wilde is hilarious, but I recommend "The Importance of Being Earnest."
Also, I quite enjoyed "The Rape of the Lock" by Pope and Catch-22 by Heller.
For some old-school (as in Classical and medieval) humor, I really like Catullus and Chaucer. Oh, and The Golden *** by Apuelius.
there are many authors who are funny in there seriousness like Wilde, and others that are funny in a more absurd sense like Douglas Adams... but the last book I read and laughed out loud every 3 minuets or so was Marley and me by the columnist John Grogan, as a dog owner who knows how 'difficult' dogs can be, it was a very amusing book!
Mark Twain definitely comes to mind. The Innocents Abroad, his autobiography, or Roughing It in particular are very funny. Whether he's describing hiding on a rooftop and dropping a watermelon on his younger brother's head, or describing a sea captain who can drink "astonishing amounts of whiskey while never showing any signs of feeling the effects", or describing an Indian mining friend who decided a good place to store dynamite was in the stove.
I also heard that George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman is very funny. I just bought it but have not gotten to read it yet
Dickens, Southern, Amis, Vonnegut. And above all, Wodehouse.
Indeed! I too enjoyed the birthday party and the chambre.Quote:
Originally Posted by Babak Movahed
JP Donleavy has had me laughing harder than any other author. But it's been many years, and perhaps I've matured since then!
I agree that Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Frank Baum, Lewis Caroll and even Shakespeare are quite funny. And not to forget Stephen Leacock, the great humorist. Recently I read Roald Dahl's ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' and enjoyed it a lot.
I'd have to suggest "Three Men in a Boat"- Jerome K. Jerome. I was really surprised at how hilarious it was in parts. Brilliant portrayal of middle-class snobbishness.
I tend to be someone who rarely laughs out-loud at anything particularly the written word. However, Adams, Spark, Waugh and Heller, I find terribly funny.
A Confederacy of Dunces - Kennedy
Catcher in the Rye -Salinger
The two funniest books that I can recall.
I had forgotten that one. It's the same sort of humour as The Office. You have to watch it from behind the sofa. But very funny.Quote:
Originally Posted by rufustfirefly
I have read two plays of George Bernard Shaw and thoroughly enjoyed them, especially Arms and the Man. It is not just funny but witty too.
Maybe its just me, but I burst into laughter at least once each chapter when reading Don Quixote. When he charges the flock of sheep and gets stoned by the shepherds, oh my, how I chuckled at that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rufustfirefly
huh??
Confederacy of Dunces, any Vonnegut novel & Catch 22 are good calls. I just finished White Noise (Delillo) which definitely had its moments; as did Notes from the Underground (while not known as a side splitter it certainly can get you rollin').
Don Quixote really is pretty damn funny.
I also thought that Dorian Grey was hillarious, but that's just my sense of humour. I loved Dorian, I thought that he was a riot.
Vonnegut and Douglas Adams have a flair for wit. But, I'd say that Catch 22 is the rare book that had me turning heads as a result of my seemingly random laughter.
Byron's Don Juan, had me laughing out loud every stanza
You know your right; I don''t think of Notes from the Underground at all as a comedy, but it was pretty funny actually.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad Coelho
Huh what? It is pretty funny - though drily so.Quote:
Originally Posted by keilj
ha - all right. As long as you're not talking knee-slapping funnyQuote:
Originally Posted by MarkBastable
I have a bit of a sadistic and dry sense of humor, so for me its Hunter S. Thompson.
His insightful and often drug fueled rants just crack me up.
I've just finished Joy in the Morning by P G wodehouse. Every line in it makes you smile and quite a few make you laugh out loud or nudge the person next to you and read out quotes.
A quote from Stephen Fry on the back reads
"You don't analyse such sunlit perfection, you just bask in it's warmth and splendour"
Having read vast tracts of Wodehouse's prolific output I have laughed out loud on many an occasion. It's fatal to read him on public transport at the risk of being thought mad by other passengers, but the funniest book for me must be Evelyn Waugh's 'Scoop' which had me helpless with laughter from beginning to end. I'm laughing now just thinking about it.
If you can handle some dark... verrrry dark and shocking humor, and are looking for something more contemporary, just about anything from Chuck Palahniuk is a winner. I would recommend Survivor or Choke (If you saw the movie, please don't let it disuade you. One of the worst adaptations ever of a phenomenal book). But beware: He is NOT for the faint of heart.
pioneer, go home by Richard Powell
Mil Millington (Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About), Christopher Moore and Sherman Alexie for me.
Adventure of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is my best 'laughing' book.
I don't like comical books nor those which meant to be "amusing", I prefer serious books.
Will Cuppy's 'The Decline and Fall of practically Everybody' is hilarious. I also enjoyed the oeuvre of German writer Walter Moers.