I've absolutely laughed out loud through most of Mil Millington's Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About. There's a taste on his website: http://milmillington.com/
Even smiling as I post this...
I've absolutely laughed out loud through most of Mil Millington's Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About. There's a taste on his website: http://milmillington.com/
Even smiling as I post this...
LOVE the nonfiction writing of Mark Twain - it almost makes you ashamed of being so amused, he assaults you in a funny way. I don't have the title, but one of his pieces about a poem for dead children published in the newspaper is extremely funny. (Sounds awful, I know, but try to read it without laughing!)
More commonly, My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler
Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh is easily the funniest book I have ever read
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis is also very funny
Aldous Huxley is witty, but not laugh out loud. For me P G Wodehouse and Evelyn Waugh are the masters of comedy.
Decline and Fall is incredibly funny but its equal is another of Waugh's books i.e A Handful of Dust, although I sometimes wonder if one has to be English to fully appreciate the humour as nobody sends his countrymen up as funnily as Waugh. And the amazing thing is that the English really are like that.
Im glad this thread got revived.
Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
James Herriot - Vet in a spin.
Jerome K Jerome - Three men in a boat.
/Claes
Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."
Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart is fantastic.
Any novel by Richard Russo, though Nobody's Fool stands out for me as the funniest book and movie.
Mark Twain short stories are unbelievably funny. Check out The Watch, and/or How I Edited An Agricultural Paper
Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You by Christopher Durang is hysterical, though not for everyone. I found all his plays very funny.
non fiction--Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods has some very funny moments.
The Good Soldier Svejk and His Fortunes in the World War by Jaroslav Hašek --- probably the funniest book ever written.
and
the writings of Ilf and Petrov - The Twelve Chairs and The Golden Calf
the main idea with the books is that there are too many not worthy to be read.
Actually, I find Quixote's adventures crazy and funny but it's kinda sad towards the end, when he regained his senses and died.Originally Posted by bibliophile190
I'm currently reading "The Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster. It's a book for young children but I got intrigued after a friend told me it's a good read. It's pretty funny, with all the puns and word plays.
But the one book that never fails to make me laugh would have to be "The Bunbury Book of Limericks" by The Reverend Septimus Bunbury. Anyone heard of this book?
The only book by Neil Gaiman that I have read is 'Anansi Boys" and i find it hilarious! I'm looking forward to reading more of his works. I like his smooth prose.
Vanitas vanitatum, dixit Ecclesiastes, vanitas vanitatum, et omnia vanitas.
Yo sé quién soy, y sé que puedo ser no sólo los que he dicho. - Don Quixote
Funniest book I ever read: Anything by Terry Pratchett, most especially Guards!Guards!
When you read his entire Discworld series, the satire so eclipses Douglas Adam's Hitchhikers Guides that I wonder why people even bother comparing them. Also, Twain's books are still hilarious and as pointed now as they were when originally written. (An unpublished story by Mark Twain will appear in The Strand Magazine this Spring for you die-hards out there.)
April 1st: This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three hundred and sixty-four. -- Mark Twain
I don't typically go for "funny" stuff, but David Sedaris and Frank McCourt definately make me laugh
Oh and when I was at the bookstore the other day, I saw this featured on one of the counters. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. O_o
Any thoughts on classics being turned into zombie stories?
Most anything by Evelyn Waugh
Most anything by Ian Banks (crow road, wasp factory specifically)
I've laughed out loud in public twice when reading.
once on a bus, reading Hitler and my part in his downfall by Spike Milligan.
and once in a cafe, reading Unreliable memiors by Clive James.
Is it just me or did anyone find the fist one or two chapters of Wuthering Heights hilarious? Lockwood's cheekyness at the start of the novel had my laughing out loud which caused the other starbucks goers to stare at me like I was nuts.
Oh, and A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. Brilliant, intricate, and well crafted all while being friggin hilarious.
Yes, I'm glad someone else finds the opening sequence funny. That was what drew me into the book.
I also found Apuleius' The Golden *ss quite funny. It's a Latin novel about a main character who is obsessed with magic; while performing a spell, he accidentally turns himself into a donkey.
Last edited by Wilde woman; 05-04-2009 at 10:42 PM. Reason: apparently, that's bleeped out
seems a bit of a culturally bankruptcy to me, - like they actually stocked it on the shelves, meaning thought it should be taken seriously.I don't typically go for "funny" stuff, but David Sedaris and Frank McCourt definately make me laugh
Oh and when I was at the bookstore the other day, I saw this featured on one of the counters. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. O_o
Any thoughts on classics being turned into zombie stories?
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