Funniest Books You've Read

MarcoAntonio23 · 19-05-2016 12:53PM

Anything by Spike Milligan or Dr. Seuss

Ragnar Lothbrok · 19-05-2016 12:53PM

I remember reading Tom Sharpe's Wilt for the first time and laughing out loud. I read all his others in quick succession and found that I got quite bored of them by the end.

Bill Bryson is always good for a laugh too, particularly "Down Under".

the evasion_kid · 19-05-2016 12:55PM

Noo wrote: »

I read this on holiday 13 years ago (oh crap that makes me feel old) and remember really enjoying it. I cant remember any particulars so i must give it another read.

“The harp player had just fallen off the stage and cracked his head on an Italian tourist’s pint. There was a big cheer, and Con the barman rang a bell on the counter.”

Think this was the opening sentence of the book,Tony hawkes travels around Ireland with a fridge has that same kind of situational humour

Badly Drunk Boy · 19-05-2016 12:58PM

mud wrote: »

Most of Kurt Vonnegut's books are hilariously dark.

That's who I was going to recommend. Something like Breakfast Of Champions might be a good start.

I'll second Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman, or any of his stuff.

Boom_Bap · 19-05-2016 12:58PM

For laughs in your face laughs I like to read the Ross O Carrol Kelly books. I find Bukowski to be really funny as well, but it's a strange type of humour.

Conall Cernach · 19-05-2016 12:59PM

“Jeeves, I'm engaged."
"I hope you will be very happy, sir."
"Don't be an ass. I'm engaged to Miss Bassett.”
― P.G. Wodehouse, Right Ho, Jeeves

“She fitted into my biggest arm-chair as if it had been built round her by someone who knew they were wearing arm-chairs tight about the hips that season”
― P.G. Wodehouse, Carry on, Jeeves

check_six · 19-05-2016 01:02PM

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson is bonkers, hilarious, and, frankly, terrifying. Thompson was sent to cover a motorbike race and decided to travel to Vegas with his lunatic lawyer mate and enough drugs and booze to sink a battleship. The book tells the story of his various crazy misadventures that inevitably followed.

StupidLikeAFox · 19-05-2016 01:05PM

The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman

I had stopped reading for years and ended up randomly getting in to this. Its really excellent. It occurs in Germany around the war but the main character is going around blissfully unaware of whats happening. Its very good.

Living in Berlin just before the second world war, everything goes wrong for Egon Loeser, and it has nothing to do with the Nazis. In Ned Beauman's terrific second novel, longlisted this week for the Booker, his protagonist, a German set designer, is too sex-starved, self-pitying and, usually, hungover to notice that history is happening all around him.

Zaph · 19-05-2016 01:16PM

It's already been mentioned, but Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman is the funniest book I've ever read. And obviously The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy is a work of genius. But if you decide to read all the Hitch Hikers books, do not under any circumstances go near the one written by Eoin Colfer. It's the biggest streaming pile of sh*te ever committed to paper. Douglas Adams was probably spinning at high speed in his grave after it was published.

mud · 19-05-2016 01:23PM

Zaph wrote: »

It's already been mentioned, but Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman is the funniest book I've ever read. And obviously The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy is a work of genius. But if you decide to read all the Hitch Hikers books, do not under any circumstances go near the one written by Eoin Colfer. It's the biggest streaming pile of sh*te ever committed to paper. Douglas Adams was probably spinning at high speed in his grave after it was published.

100% agree on all the above. Why couldn't they just leave it alone?

OP if you're into graphic novels check out the Preacher series by Garth Ennis. It's about to start airing as a TV show on AMC but the novels are ace and the humour is outrageous

Douglas Adams also wrote a book with Mark Cawardine called: 'Last Chance to See' and it is brilliant, Adams' style of writing is sublime.

‘So what do we do if we get bitten by something deadly, then?’ I asked.
He blinked at me as if I were stupid.

‘Well what do you think you do?’ he said. ‘You die of course. That’s what deadly means.’

Easy Rod · 19-05-2016 01:27PM

El Weirdo wrote: »

I, Partridge.

The audiobook version.

Even the paperback is hilarious, audiobook adds an additional layer but you read it in Partridge's voice regardless.

Birneybau · 19-05-2016 01:39PM

The Charlie Brooker collections of articles, both on t.v. and general life, are pretty damn funny.

Liam28 · 19-05-2016 01:41PM

holy guacamole wrote: »

Although they tend to deal with quite serious subject matters Irvine Welsh's earlier works are some of the funniest books I've ever read. From Trainspotting through to Ecstasy, The Maribou Stork Nightmares and Glue, he creates worlds and characters that'll have you laughing out loud every few pages.

+1 for Irvine Welsh. Filth is funny as f#@k.

Howard the Duck · 19-05-2016 02:25PM

holy guacamole wrote: »

Although they tend to deal with quite serious subject matters Irvine Welsh's earlier works are some of the funniest books I've ever read. From Trainspotting through to Ecstasy, The Maribou Stork Nightmares and Glue, he creates worlds and characters that'll have you laughing out loud every few pages.

Another hilarious book which follows a similar style of humour is Kill your Friends by John Niven. Again, the comedy is as black as coal but so long as you'e not easily offended you should love it.

Love Irvine Welsh though i am a couple of books behind . I love his sense of humour but some of the stuff is really dark and messed up not sure it's holiday reading material for me. I'll check out John Niven too, thanks.

the evasion_kid wrote: »

“The harp player had just fallen off the stage and cracked his head on an Italian tourist’s pint. There was a big cheer, and Con the barman rang a bell on the counter.”

Think this was the opening sentence of the book,Tony hawkes travels around Ireland with a fridge has that same kind of situational humour

I'll check that out i liked Tony Hawkes stuff very easy to read and funny.

Birneybau wrote: »

The Charlie Brooker collections of articles, both on t.v. and general life, are pretty damn funny.

That's a good shout i like Brooker's tv stuff especially Black Mirror, looking forward to the new series , think it's gonna be on Netflix.

Rothko · 19-05-2016 02:25PM

The only books I've laughed out loud at:
Catch-22
Trainspotting
A Confederacy Of Dunces
Don Quixote

Boom_Bap · 19-05-2016 02:29PM

Welsh's recent books have less humour I have found.
But his older ones are hilarious at times.

chakotha · 19-05-2016 02:49PM

James Herriot's vet books are full of laugh out loud episodes.

ancapailldorcha · 19-05-2016 02:50PM

Zaph wrote: »

It's already been mentioned, but Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman is the funniest book I've ever read. And obviously The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy is a work of genius. But if you decide to read all the Hitch Hikers books, do not under any circumstances go near the one written by Eoin Colfer. It's the biggest streaming pile of sh*te ever committed to paper. Douglas Adams was probably spinning at high speed in his grave after it was published.

Bought that recently. Good advice!

Buttros · 19-05-2016 02:55PM

Zaph wrote: »

It's already been mentioned, but Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman is the funniest book I've ever read. And obviously The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy is a work of genius. But if you decide to read all the Hitch Hikers books, do not under any circumstances go near the one written by Eoin Colfer. It's the biggest streaming pile of sh*te ever committed to paper. Douglas Adams was probably spinning at high speed in his grave after it was published.

Reading Good Omens at the moment. Very funny. Def one of the funniest books I've read. Very enjoyable.

diomed · 19-05-2016 02:56PM

http://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Dirty-Influence-People/dp/0671751085

harry Bailey esq · 19-05-2016 02:59PM

Howard the Duck wrote: »

So i'm going away for a week soon and i'm looking for funny books to read. If you go into a book shop and go to the humour section it's normally full of joke books and cartoon strips. I'm more into novels or non-fiction. Some of my favourites are Frank Skinner's autobiography and David Sedaris books.

What are some of yours?

Filth,penned by Irvine Welsh.Ive re-read it countless times, the film doesn't do it justice at all

Yurt2 · 19-05-2016 03:01PM

David Sedaris. Humourist with an eye for the odd and often tragic. I remember crying laughing a couple of times.

When You Are Engulfed In Flames and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim are probably his best.

Indricotherium · 19-05-2016 03:03PM

Any shouts for 'the third policeman' by flann O'Brien ??

Certainly the funniest book I've read.

The dalkey archive too

Howard the Duck · 19-05-2016 03:03PM

harry Bailey esq wrote: »

Filth,penned by Irvine Welsh.Ive re-read it countless times, the film doesn't do it justice at all

Yeah that's probably one of my favourites was very excited to hear they were making a movie but yeah it was poor. Loved Glue and Ecstasy as well. I do find his stuff funny but it's also some of the weirdest stuff i've ever read, his mind is completely nuts.

jester77 · 19-05-2016 03:07PM

Bill Bryson is a good laugh, especially when travelling as you can directly relate to some of his experiences. Like ending up in a crappy hotel room in the middle of nowhere with no TV or furniture and nothing left to do except **** into the lone wicker basket.

FanadMan · 19-05-2016 03:08PM

God, so many books mentioned here that I need to re-read.

I'd def give a +1 to McCarthys Bar, Jeeves and Wooster and Hitchhikers.

My own addition is M*A*S*H - really dark humour in a horrible setting.

Autonomous Cowherd · 19-05-2016 03:29PM

At Swim Two Birds...the one Flann O Brien wrote before the Third Policeman. The descriptions of the requirements to be in the Fianna has been soldered into my mind.

No man is taken till a black hole is hollowed in the world to the depth of his two oxters and he put into it to gaze from it with his lonely head and nothing to him but his shield and a stick of hazel. Then must nine warriors fly their spears at him, one with the other and together. If he be spear-holed past his shield, or spear-killed, he is not taken for want of shield-skill. No man is taken till he is run by warriors through the woods of Erin with his hair bunched-loose about him for bough-tangle and briar-twitch. Should branches disturb his hair or pull it forth like sheep-wool on a hawthorn, he is not taken but is caught and gashed. Weapon-quivering hand or twig-crackling foot at full run, neither is taken. Neck-high sticks he must pass by vaulting, knee-high sticks by stooping. With the eyelids to him stitched to the fringe of his eye-bags, he must be run by Finn's people through the bogs and the marsh-swamps of Erin with two odorous prickle-backed hogs ham-tied and asleep in the seat of his hempen drawers. If he sink beneath a peat-swamp or lose a hog, he is not accepted of Finn's people.

etc etc

applehunter · 19-05-2016 03:52PM

Three Men in a Boat by Jerome Klapka Jerome is the earliest book I can remember that really made me laugh out loud.

arybvtcw0eolkf · 19-05-2016 03:56PM

Just about every word of James Harriot (All Creatures Great and Small).

mud · 19-05-2016 04:02PM

applehunter wrote: »

Three Men in a Boat by Jerome Klapka Jerome is the earliest book I can remember that really made me laugh out loud.

This! I found out about this book in the foreword to Jim Moir's (Vic Reeves) book Me:Moir. Another stunning book

Funniest Books You've Read

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