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Funniest Books You've Read

Howard the Duck

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?

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The King of Moo

The Diary of a Nobody, by George and Weedon Grossmith.

Very witty account of an upwardly-moblie clerk in London.

Despite being published in the 1890s, the humour feels surprisingly modern.

cowboyBuilder

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (War Memoirs)by Spike Milligan

I must check this out !

for me Puckoon also by Spike Milligan had me laughing out loud !

I got it when I was going to America for an internship program and was really nervous - so got this for the flight over , never thought a book could cheer me up so much!

y0ssar1an22

osarusan wrote: »

Catch 22 might be worth a read.

Who da man?

:cool::cool:

mcgucc22

Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs: (She Thinks I'm a Piano Player in a Whorehouse) - Paul Carter

bogmanfan

Already mentioned, but Woody Allen's Complete Prose is absolutely hilarious. Also already mentioned, but The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy is genius. And The Martian is very funny in parts too.

micar

I predict a riot by Colin Bateman

The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy by Douglas Adams

gigantic09

Frank O'Connor's 'my oedipus complex',is hilarious.

ahlookit

The Reginald Perrin omnibus by David Nobbs is the funniest collection I've read. Brilliant from start to finish. The TV series was great, but the books are even better

Just reading Jonas Jonassons books at the moment - very funny Swedish writer. Those madcap Scandinavians are famed for their humour...

Blackhorse Slim

I love Discworld, Hitch-hikers etc but the funniest book I've read has to be Cosmic Banditos by AC Weisbecker.

dundalkfc10

The Bible

Antar Bolaeisk

Kovu wrote: »

I actually found myself laughing out loud at some Discworld books.

There have been points in those points that I've literally had to put them down from laughing too much.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Anything with Bertie Wooster in it from PG Wodehouse.

MilesMorales1

Some of the travel stuff Bill Bryson has written. He's a funny guy.

Arghus

I'll add my voice to all of those recommending P.G. Wodehouse. His Jeeves stories are absolute masterpieces of comic writing. I resisted them for a long long time; my thinking was who possibly would want to read about the adventures of of an idle upper-class English twit. However, obvious genius trumped my prejudice: Wodehouse was so obviously gifted at what he did, that I can't help feel anything but joy when I read him. His prose is so perfect that it's close to musical poetry - I admire him as much as I enjoy him. Give any of the short stories a shot, you won't regret it.

Flann O' Brien is terrific, so absurd, even horrific, but yet bitingly witty and clever too.

Bill Bryson has probably made me laugh out loud more often than any other author, over the years. Some of his books I've read three or four times. He's a great man for filling you in on obscure and daft facts, and people, from history - you'll learn something. Or maybe you'll just think you will; I'm always hard pressed to remember the minutiae of what he was talking about, once I've put the book down. All the details just flow over you, easily and joyfully, but not much actually sticks. He also has got a fair bit more cranky and cruel as he's aged. He seems to really have no time for modern life. I found reading his last book - The Road to Little Dribbling - to be a bittersweet experience. It was great to read Bryson again, but so much of it was focused on him grumbling and doing some hardcore worrying about his own mortality. But that's Bryson I suppose, he can be unexpectedly deep and that doesn’t always mean laugh out loud.

I think I saw another poster mention the Flashman novels by George MacDonald Fraser. It boggles my mind how unread and unknown these books are. I'd nearly claim they are my absolute favorite "funny" novels, but I do know that for many their style of humour may be totally off-putting and even worthy of hate - but if you read one and find it hilarious, then I can guarantee that you'll eat the rest up. The series of novels are an account of the diaries of one Harry Flashman, who is a kind of fictional archetype of the Victorian globetrotting hero; the kind of character that ended up here there and everywhere during the nineteenth century. The central joke is that Flashman is a complete bastard: sexist, racist, selfish, jealous, cowardly and vain. But, he never denies any of this, and happens to also be extremely cunning, withering and astute. His exploits are eventful, to say the least. MacDonald Fraser inserts him into real historical events - The Anglo-Afghan War, The Charging of The Light-Brigade, etc,etc - and he rubs up, often literally, against real historical figures, oftentimes managing to have a pivotal influence of how things eventually turned out - and most of the time emerging accidentally as esteemed hero, because everyone else happened to be killed. These are great books - full of quality writing, tons of historical knowledge and stuffed with vivid characters. Because Flashman is such a piece of work, his enemies tend to be coldly calculating bastards of the highest order. As I've said, the humour will not be to everyone's taste. The tone of the books is un-PC to the extreme. Flashman holds all the opinions you would expect a mid-nineteenth century male Aristocrat to hold. Of course, this is part of the joke, but some might find it a bit too much. But if you aren't easily offended; you'll have a gas oul time.

240 Robert

Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawke, excellent, very funny true story about a journalist who hitched his way around ireland with a small fridge for a bet.

Hercule Poirot

Frankie Boyles' autobiography, My **** Life So Far, nearly wet myself with laughter

RayCon

Bill Bryson - A Walk In The Woods (don't let the movie put you off)
Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman - Good Omens

... and my absolute all time favourite book :

Giles Smith - Lost In Music

ToddyDoody

That'd be "Why Men Marry Bitches" by Sherry Argov.

Just randonly, title of chapter 2...

"Make him chase you until you catch him"

Chapter 3...

"The sun rises and sets in his boxer shorts"

I'd be very upset if I was a man.

K-9

Spike Milligan as mentioned, Ben Elton isn't bad either.

Ilyana 2.0

The Snapper by Roddy Doyle. An easy, laugh-out-loud read.

Zaph

There's a Texan country singer named Kinky Friedman. As well as being a singer he's also a politician and stood for governor of Texas and did pretty OK. On top of all that he wrote a bunch of detective novels. They're written in the Raymond Chandler "hard boiled" style and are worth searching out as they're very funny. I don't know how easy it is to get print copies of them here, but they should be available for Kindles.

mud

Honourable mention to Trent by padraigg

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055716814

Samaris

Ooh, good one as regards James Herriot (although they can be hard to get these days. Sometimes show up in second-hand bookshops or (weirdly enough) on pub bookshelves in England.

Also...now, what was his name..."My Family and Other Animals", that fella. If you like Herriot, you'll probably like him too.

Howard the Duck

Hercule Poirot wrote: »

Frankie Boyles' autobiography, My **** Life So Far, nearly wet myself with laughter

Yea that's a good one, If you haven't read Frank Skinner's autobiography i'd recommend it. Just as funny but much more honest and open about his life. Both of them ex-teachers

El Weirdo

dundalkfc10 wrote: »

The Bible

Edgy.

Don't be surprised if we see this poster's scribblings mentioned in a similar thread in the future.

trellheim

any of Irvine welsh if you can get past the language

Confederacy of Dunces is not funny its a borefest. Many differ - give it a try

Douglas Adams is funny, Spike Milligan is sublime . Terry Pratchett will always have a place in my heart.
James Herriot is glorious

For pure human funny stuff, John B Keane short stories and "Letters from" is head above anything recent

What hasn't been mentioned yet
Grunts by Mary Gentle. A completely over the top and very funny pisstake of LOtR type stuff you will be laughing - it's essentially unfilmable

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grunts-Mary-Gentle-ebook/dp/B00E9HR030/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1463690461&sr=8-1&keywords=grunts

Edit : Someone mentioned Tom Sharpe Above .. the Throwback was the first book I ever read that had me holding my sides .. as I get older its like a South park episode that start with a simple premise and 10 seconds later its utter chaos.

jaysisjames

Moon the Loon ,by Pete " dougal" Butler.
Very funny account of the life of Keith Moon, by his chauffeur, best mate and dogsbody.

maximo31

Remember getting the Barrytown Trilogy (The Commitments , The Snapper , The Van) for Christmas 1 time and just couldn't put it down. So many laugh out loud moments! Have read it a few times since and still found myself in bits laughing!:D

Yeah_Right

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max. A series of true short stories detailing his drunken escapades. Very funny and he doesn't hold back in humiliating everyone including himself.

[Deleted User]

Tina Fey's Bossypants is well worth the listen. Especially the audiobook version, which she narrates herself.

Amy Poehler's "Yes Please" could have been great, but turned into a, "hey, look what famous people I know" on her audiobook.