Humourous Books

qwerty93

Hi, Sorry if theres already a thread on this but I was wondering would anyone recommend any humourous books? Preferably Irish ones!

harry Bailey esq

qwerty93 wrote: »

Hi, Sorry if theres already a thread on this but I was wondering would anyone recommend any humourous books? Preferably Irish ones!

not Irish,but anything by Irvine Welsh cracks me up.filth is especially funny

Zaph

Again not Irish, but Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimen is the funniest book I've ever read.

RayM

Well-Remembered Days, by Arthur Mathews.

qwerty93

Thanks for the replies! that Arthur Mathews book looks particularly interesting! I read a very good book called Rock and A Hard place a few weeks back and was looking for something in that kind of genre!

Queen-Mise

The Artemis Fowl books are funny. Albeit they are kids books but are exceptionally written.

HeadPig

Ulysses. Not joking.

gg2

The one that really sticks out is About a Boy

Aenaes

Our Man In Havana by Graham Greene.

--Kaiser--

Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre, was genuinely in tears reading it.

As for Irish books, try At Swim Two Birds by Flann O'Brien (prepare for a strange ride, however)

Tombo2001

The Third Policeman and At Swim Two Birds would probably stand out as the two LOL Irish novels.

Cant think of any others. On the other hand, if you wanted bleak depressing etc Irish novels, one could name about 200.

In Irish literature then, Paul Durcan has some very funny poems (although a lot of bleak and depressing ones also).

From overseas......I read Oliver Twist last Christmas, that surprisingly contained a lot of humour.....mostly deep sarcastic humour. Catch 22 also is a goody.

Funniest of all imho is Jeeves and Wooster.

Andre Salmon

A confederacy of dunces - John Kennedy Toole
Its a brilliant book, I've read it several times.
Book was published 11 years after the author committed suicide
Went on to win a Pulitzer prize too

qwerty93

Looks like there are some great recommendations i this thread, thanks very much to all who recommended!

adrian522

Have you read McCarthy's Bar ?

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12502.McCarthy_s_Bar

That fits the bill of being really funny and based in Ireland.

qwerty93

adrian522 wrote: »

Have you read McCarthy's Bar ?

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12502.McCarthy_s_Bar

That fits the bill of being really funny and based in Ireland.

I did actually! The author describd parts of Rural Ieland very honestly and it was quite funny too!

adrian522

qwerty93 wrote: »

I did actually! The author describd parts of Rural Ieland very honestly and it was quite funny too!

Cool.

He did write a follow up but I haven't read it. It's called the Road to McCarthy I think.

I can second "A Confederacy of Dunces" an excellent book, but it's not irish, it's based in New Orleans.

--Kaiser--

Andre Salmon wrote: »

A confederacy of dunces - John Kennedy Toole
Its a brilliant book, I've read it several times.
Book was published 11 years after the author committed suicide
Went on to win a Pulitzer prize too

Really? I got 30 pages in and I haven't wanted to pick the book up again (a bad sign), Also didn't find one single thing humorous

Sergeant

The Flashman series.

Some genuinely hilarious moments throughout.

Flashman is such a scoundrel and a cad.

From Wikipedia:

"Fraser's Flashman is an antihero who runs from danger or hides cowering in fear, betrays or abandons acquaintances at the slightest incentive, bullies and beats servants with gusto, beds every available woman, carries off any loot he can grab, and gambles and boozes enthusiastically. Nevertheless, through a combination of luck and cunning, he usually ends each volume acclaimed as a hero".

harry Bailey esq

adrian522 wrote: »

Have you read McCarthy's Bar ?

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12502.McCarthy_s_Bar

That fits the bill of being really funny and based in Ireland.

great read,i think the author,Tim mc carthy passed away last year at a youngish age.was he the same guy that penned 'around Ireland with a fridge' ?

paglynncashel

Cormac McCarthy's The Road, the feelgood novel of the decade. Hilarious.

adrian522

harry Bailey esq wrote: »

great read,i think the author,Tim mc carthy passed away last year at a youngish age.was he the same guy that penned 'around Ireland with a fridge' ?

Pete McCarthy. He passed away in 2004.

Don't think he wrote Around Ireland with a fridge.

He had intended another book about the 6 counties of northern ireland but never got to it.

Mongarra

Tony Hawks wrote the fridge book.

I know there's absolutely no Irish connection but give me a P G Wodehouse any time. Not just Jeeves and Wooster, mentioned in an earlier post, but also the Blandings Castle, Psmith and Mr. Mulliner sagas/stories. Recent TV series of Blandings Castle was good.

snausages

Don Quixote

donglen

Mentioned here in passing but Round Ireland with a Fridge is definitely worth a read. Based on a pub bet to simply travel Round Ireland with a Fridge, even the late Gerry Ryan gets involved to regularly check in on his progress.

blackhound

Not Irish but I recently read The Princess Bride by William Goldman I thought it was hilarious, one of the few books that actually made me laugh out loud.

kylith

Anything with Spike Milligan written on the front.

--Kaiser--

blackhound wrote: »

Not Irish but I recently read The Princess Bride by William Goldman I thought it was hilarious, one of the few books that actually made me laugh out loud.

I read his 'Adventures in the Screen Trade' were he revealed that his script for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was so funny that he was forced by the studio to remove half of the jokes as they were marketing it as a serious western (it's still awful funny though)

blackhound

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

I read his 'Adventures in the Screen Trade' were he revealed that his script for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was so funny that he was forced by the studio to remove half of the jokes as they were marketing it as a serious western (it's still awful funny though)

Really? Haven't read that but going on Princess Bride I love his style, it could so easily come across as arrogant but it's so clever and self aware. I may look into it.

Other books I love that I find quite funny even if they can also be quite depressing are any of Bukowskis novels, Hollywood is especially funny imo.

donglen

paglynncashel wrote: »

Cormac McCarthy's The Road, the feelgood novel of the decade. Hilarious.

Hmmm.

matTNT

Irish and funny. Skullduggery Pleasant, aimed at teens, the writer can write dialogue and character interchanges as well as I have seen. The writing will make you laugh, their actual things that people would say not any cheesy Twilighty sh1t.

matTNT

paglynncashel wrote: »

Cormac McCarthy's The Road, the feelgood novel of the decade. Hilarious.

Almost as funny as the Kite Runner, The Bell Jar and my personal "lol" favourite... Anne Frank's Diary.

Stepping Stone

How about the Ross O'Carroll Kelly ones? They are hilarious.

BopNiblets

Mystery Man by Colin Bateman, a comedy detective tale, his character is one part Bernard Black, one part Dirk Gently.

audidiesel

its another non Irish book but... Yes man by Danny Wallace is probably the funniest book I've ever read.

ignoring the film that wasn't remotely as good. this literally had me in tears laughing in places.

its laddish humour but particularly well done at that.

Monkeybonkers

The Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison. He lived in Ireland for a while so there's a (tiny) bit of an Irish connection.

fruvai

Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

WhatsGoingOn2

The Superchick trilogy is very funny.
If anyone knows of any similar books, I would love to hear about them

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Superchick-Stephen-J-Martin/dp/1856354644/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369321581&sr=1-3&keywords=stephen+j+martin

grohlisagod

Not Irish, but Fever Pitch is very funny.

Ipso

Stepping Stone wrote: »

How about the Ross O'Carroll Kelly ones? They are hilarious.

Amazing stuff.

delux

The Secret World of the Irish Male - Joseph O'Connor
Non-irish would be The Hitchhikers Guide - Douglas Adams

HeadPig

delux wrote: »

The Secret World of the Irish Male - Joseph O'Connor
Non-irish would be The Hitchhikers Guide - Douglas Adams

I read Star of the Sea by O'Connor but never got around to Redemption Falls or the abovementioned. How do they compare to it?

delux

I read Star of the Sea by O'Connor but never got around to Redemption Falls or the abovementioned. How do they compare to it?

I haven't read his other books so I don't know but I get the impression it's different based on the descriptions.

Swiper the fox

The World Cup diary part of The Secret Life of the Irish Male is very good, the book is quite funny in parts.
It is non-fiction so obviously completely different to Star of the Sea(one of the best ever Irish books IMO), Redemption Falls is hard work at the start but is well worth it once the story gets going, Ghost Light is probably the weakest of the trilogy but that's not to say it's a bad book. One of his earlier novels The Salesman is also a cracking read.

I like Ross O'Carroll-Kelly in the Times but I haven't read any of the books, tried to read Triggs recently and it was absolutely crap.

pigtown

BopNiblets wrote: »

Mystery Man by Colin Bateman, a comedy detective tale, his character is one part Bernard Black, one part Dirk Gently.

I second this. Actually had to put the book down on the train because I was laughing too much and getting weird looks. He also has a huge back catalogue so no waiting for the new book to come out.

_Whimsical_

Rachels Holiday by Irish author Marian Keyes is extremely funny. It wouldn't be a genre I'd usually enjoy but I found myself laughing outloud in the middle of the night when I was reading it. It tells a very poignant story,it doesn't shy away from the big issues it tackles but it manages to be absolutely side splitting hilarious at the same time.

Carawaystick

pigtown wrote: »

I second this. Actually had to put the book down on the train because I was laughing too much and getting weird looks. He also has a huge back catalogue so no waiting for the new book to come out.

I predict a riot
Another laugh out loud one, right from the first page, involving yank tourists in the middle of a Belfast riot

Swordfish trombone

Granted its just a collection of newspaper articles, but 'The Best Of Myles' is hilarious, and a book that can be dipped into randomly again and again. It never fails to make me laugh.

For a non Irish read, I have to agree with 'A Confederacy Of Dunces' - an amazing book.

Hermy

The Ginger Man by J. P. Donleavy.

the purple tin

Not Irish but catch 22 by Joseph Heller had some very funny parts.

--Kaiser--

the purple tin wrote: »

Not Irish but catch 22 by Joseph Heller had some very funny parts.

Way too long and repetitive, if it had been edited to half its length and didn't repeat jokes so often it would be a masterpiece

loyatemu

not Irish, but as he died today - anything by Tom Sharpe, particularly his earlier books. Not for the easily offended though.