on the road by kerouac and cat's cradle by vonnegut had me laughing most of the time
on the road by kerouac and cat's cradle by vonnegut had me laughing most of the time
Lamb by Christopher Moore
Many of Life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up
Lucky Jim By Kingsley Amis always has me in stitches.
Douglas Adams, of course. And Wodehouse. And Leacock. I'm also fond of Dave Barry.
And "1066 And All That". I forget who wrote it. Is it still in print? It was a hilarious spoof history of England.
Thank You, Jeeves by Wodehouse was the most recent. I laughed so much at one point my parents got annoyed!
Far From the Madding Crowd just made me laugh a very little too, which is odd because Hardy usually produces the opposite effect. I'm sure it was a one off though.
Other authors have been Shakespeare, Kesey and I can't think of anymore.
"...You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?..." E. A. Poe
I thought On the Road was pretty hilarious
Tim Dorsey's Serge Storm books, while not literature are books that are so outrageous I can't help but laugh out loud.
I'd rather have questions that I can't answer than answers that I can't question.
My first post on this board. I'll try to make it reasonably interesting.
I think the most I've laughed recently was during a second reading of Stella Gibbons' 'Cold Comfort Farm'. I was almost in tears at some of Gibbons' one liners and intentionally purple prose.
I always remember Evelyn Waugh making me chortle as well. I haven't read much by him recently, mind.
The book of Acts.
In chapter 19, verses 13 thru 16 we get a little exorcist story which always makes me laugh:
Some who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Yahshua over those who were demon-possessed.
They would say, 'In the name of Yahshua whom Saul preaches, I command you to come out.'
Seven sons of [a certain priest] were doing this.
The evil spirit answered them, 'Yahshua I know, and Saul I know about, but who are you?'
Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all.
He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
Hamlet telling Polonius that his beard is too long always gets me as well. I can't remember exactly which act or scene that is in.
I think it's when the players are performing something from classical antiquity shortly after their arrival and Polonius complains about its length. Hamlet basically tells him he should go to the barbers instead of whining.
Kafka's Castle made me cry with laughter. As did Lucian's Assembly of the Gods which I was researching regarding Kafka's book.
Austen makes me roar every time. I don't know what it is with the woman. She just does.
I'll have to second Far from the Madding Crowd as well... Some of the parts are hilarious, certainly when the gentle folk is talking in the malt house... Or when Joseph (?) has to take the coffin back and they get drinking in the inn 'because she's got the time anyway' or something like that and then Gabriel turns up and asks what the hell is going on and Joseph replies that he's always got this weird thing happening to him when he is in an inn after a while... That he sees double.... Can anyone be more idiotic?
But indeed, that is Hardy's only one I believe which is still remotely funny...
One has to laugh before being happy, because otherwise one risks to die before having laughed.
"Je crains [...] que l'âme ne se vide à ces passe-temps vains, et que le fin du fin ne soit la fin des fins." (Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Acte III, Scène VII)
I absolutely agree with you about Svejk!Originally Posted by Boris239
I would like to add Gogol, Ilf and Petrow and of course Anton Checkov!!!
"Where love is there God is also".
Leo Tolstoy
"Diplomatic Baggage" by Bridgit Keenan
About a diplomat wife adventure with her spouse.
I enjoyed that book very much and laughed alot.
Acts 20:9 is pretty funny too.
And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.
Apparently, Paul wasn't the most exciting preacher.
This is going to stir up a hornet's nest, but the Book of Mormon. The Tudor syntax and misuse of words drove me crackers, the nicking of bits from Proverbs and Kings were so wildly inappropriate and the way it turned the Bible on its head yet claimed to believe it were hilarious - and I'm a big Spike Milligan fan! And please not let's get into an argument, it's only my humble opinion. Free information and worth every penny you paid for it.
Dafydd Manton, A Legend In His Own Lunchtime!!www.dafydd-manton.co.uk
My Work Has Been Spread Over Many Fields!
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
