What is the funniest fiction you've ever read?

[eleny]

I mean a book that you had to keep putting down to wipe your eyes because you couldn't see the pages for the tears.

I recall one book that had that effect but it was non fiction - Memoirs of An Amnesiac by Oscar Levant. It was in the late 60s when the paperback came out. A laughing out loud, tearful read. But I can't think of a fiction where I had that kind of reaction through so much of a book.

I think the first chapter of Hissy Fit had me laughing out loud. But the rest of it was more subdued.

Thanks

[Demit]

1. Donald Westlake and his Dortmunder capers. The best!

[matt819]

51. Agreed

These characters are a riot. Good light fiction, fun stories, insane situations.

[ET Awful]

2. Douglas Adams of course :)

Great stuff.

[The Doctor.]

7. These are all good suggestions, but I have to give props

to DA.

Anytime a hyperintelligent ship responsible for the life-support systems of an antagonist decides to commit suicide based of the reasoning, "What's the point?", you know you've got a gem.

[ET Awful]

10. Hell, a manic depressive robot who just calls to wash his head in a bucket

for your amusement is comedy gold :)

[ExclamationPoint]

114. F*** yes!

:D

[Patiod]

61. Plus sparing a planet to save Dire Straights

not the worst reason

[YankeyMCC]

30. Dido

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Catch-22. I have read it 4 or 5 times, and it never loses its humor and

irony.
You can start the book at any chapter and read it thru from there, and it will be just as good and make as much sense and be as meaningful.

[lakemonster11]

60. That's what I was going to say.

I read Catch-22 once on a plane and had to put it down because I was laughing so hard I was making everyone nervous.

[ikat381]

254. I had to put down catch 22 on the bus because my laughing drew attention (nt)

[ruthg]

94. It is not only my favorite funny book, it is my favorite book....

I re-read it every year. It keeps me sane.

[Democrats_win]

179. Reading Catch-22 is like reading about Bush's war in Iraq.

The book was a farce about WW2, but became an accurate description of Bush's folly.

Major ___ de Coverly drives into Rome while people are throwing flowers at the victorious troops. One Roman deliberately throws a rose that strikes him in the eye because the major looked so glum. This is sort of like the "flowers" they threw at us in Iraq. Actually, the Major just got caught in the parade; he was looking to rent a whorehouse for his squadron.

Milo Minderbender had his own syndicate that even contracted out airplanes and crews to the Germans to bomb the American air base! He makes it sound as if it's more important the syndicate make money than anything else.

Milo even tried to unload his Egyptian cotton as chocolate covered food so that he wouldn't take a loss. This in spite of the fact that it made him sick when he ate it.

Then there's Captain Black who made everyone sign a loyalty oath every time they flew. Sometimes this prevented the men from properly preparing for the mission, but they had to make sure no one was a communist.

There is an important quote that a gung-ho Captain misquotes: "It's better to die on one's feet than live on one's knees." A Roman corrects him, "It is better to live on one's feet than die on one's knees."

Reading this book, you never really know quite where you are in the story. It's a little like bush not knowing why we went to war in the first place.

Major Major not seeing anyone is like Bush not answering any questions.

[MrModerate]

4. It's been many years, but . . .

"Bill the Galactic Hero" (Harry Harrison) is way up there.

[Pharlo]

87. Harrison's 'Bill the Galactic Hero' has

nothing on his Stainless Steelrat series.

[Webster Green]

5. Tom Wolfe's 'Bonfire of the Vanities' comes to mind....

And anything by Tom Robbins.:rofl:

[spiderpig]

183. from the opening chapter

when he's walking the "little beast". I was in tears in my hotel room in Indianapolis. And not just because I was in Indianapolis!

[DrZeeLit]

6. The Mouse That Roared by Leonard Wibberly ... and

... the early Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich
#1 - #2 - and #3 which is my personal fav.... I nearly wet my pants on a plane -- I got to giggling and couldn't get down the aisle to the rest room, and when I did, I had to wait. So, the flight attendant and I began to talk about the books --- she also loved them

I think Evanovich has just cranked 'em out of late. We're onto #11 this summer. I'll see. I'm always willing to give her the benefit of the doubt since she's made me laugh so much.

[The Doctor.]

36. She is good...

"the cat Who" ... I love it.

Did you know that "The Mouse That Roared" became a film?

and what a commentary it was.

[Tess49]

8. A Confederacy of Dunces

Great, laugh out loud book.

[Itchinjim]

25. I'll second that.

One of my all time favorites and funny as hell too.

[Rowdyboy]

32. I join your second with a "third"

Funniest book I've ever read and absolutely brilliant to boot! An amazing piece of fiction and a tragedy that the author never knew how special it was.

[2bfree]

47. Count me in as well...........

I loved the quote: "Her brown wedgies squeaked with discount price definace......" or when Ignatius told his Mother that he had an "apocalyptic battle with a starving prostitute and she had limped away with her gladrags askew". :)

[mpyle27]

54. I concur. Dunces was great!

[RLS21]

237. I Give a Tie to Catch 22, Dunces and Catcher in the Rye

[jonnyblitz]

106. i love that book. it's the first one that popped into my head

also when i read this post..

[klook]

116. An absolute scream

I've read a lot of funny stuff, but nothing else has made me laugh my head off, hopelessly gasping and cackling wet-eyed, more than A Confederacy of Dunces.

[Thirtieschild]

119. Loved it the first time

Didn't hold up the second time I read it, many years later. Don't know if it was me or the book.

[Beaverhausen]

123. I just started it...it seems great so far

I want to learn more about the author. Such a shame he killed himself.

[JVS]

146. I loved the way he started that letter to the complaining customer

"Mr. I. Abelman, Mongoloid, Esq."

[LWolf]

150. This book has resonated with many.

I'm not one of them. I felt irritation and frustration, not amusement, reading it. I don't know why what so many others love leaves me uninspired. I passed it on through bookcrossing.com, hoping it would find a welcome audience.

[Bullwinkle925]

151. I agree with you.

I found many of the passages very witty, but I also found it a bit tedious at times.
Could very well have been whatever mood I was in during the time that I read the book.
I tossed it into my bag o' books to take to the discount bookstore.

[terrya]

156. I'm reading it now. I agree with you.

It does have some hilarious moments. I just think Ignatius J. Reilly is one of the most repellent characters in American fiction.

[freesqueeze]

197. I loved the book

but, to me, not so funny.

I notice the things people point out that they find funny are some angry sarcastic terms the protagonist uses. So maybe it's funny in language and not in plot.

I dunno.

[RetroLounge]

163. haven't read that yet.

but found it yesterday, so it's in the read-next pile...

:hi:

RL

[susieq1001]

232. I loved Confederacy of Dunces

Great book.

[nuxvomica]

252. Oh gosh yes!

I read it on a plane and the woman next to me asked me what I was reading because I was obviously trying to control my laughter.

[kliljedahl]

9. Anything by Dave Barry

but especially "Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States"


Keith’s Barbeque Central

[matt819]

52. If you're going to add Dave Barry, you can't forget Carl Hiassen

Where does he come up with this stuff? I'm not sure if his latest is his funniest or best, but it is pretty damn close to a laugh every page or so.

[hippiegranny]

85. yes!

I laughed out loud reading "Skinny Dip."

[jayctravis]

118. Dave Barry Does Japan.

When he interprets the plot of the Kabuki opera he attended...everyone whining about not having money to pay for hip ointment, so the sister sells herself into prostitution and an uncle suddenly (which is to say in less than five minutes) commits suicide...

And how everyone is polite.

Big Trouble is reeeeeally funny if you've lived in South Florida. Goats really do cause traffic jams down there at the airport.

I also laughed out loud at THE PRINCESS BRIDE.

[The Doctor.]

11. "Toxic Spell Dump" by Harry Turtledove...

Perhaps not the most intelligently humorous book, but it is so rife with pungent puns as to send the most verbally vigorous to the loo.

[krispos42]

157. Oh thank God, somebody else who read "Toxic Spell Dump"

I've read it over a dozen times, no hyperbole, and each time I read it I find another few funny parts, parallels to our universe, or just simple obscure references.

The first person writing is great. Not the funniest book I've read, but up there.

[babylonsister]

12. I really enjoyed Terry McMillian's writing, though it took

some getting used to, especially 'How Stella Got Her Groove Back'. The first book I read of hers was 'Waiting To Exhale'. Loved them!

[catnhatnh]

13. Non-fiction and slightly republican...

...But "A Parliament of Whores" or anything by P J O'Rourke.

[NewHampshireDem]

23. Anything by PJ O'Rourke

And I'd also add "Three Men in a Boat" by Jerome K. Jerome

[leftchick]

14. Anything by Carl Hiaasen....

But especially his last one Skinny Dip. My husband kept looking at me as I laughed and laughed....

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Carl_Hiaasen.htm

From Publishers Weekly
Hiaasen's signature mix of hilariously over-the-top villains, lovable innocents and righteous indignation at what mankind has done to his beloved Florida wilderness is all present in riotous abundance in his latest. It begins with attractive heiress Joey Perrone being tossed overboard from a cruise ship by her larcenous husband, Chaz—not for her money, which she has had the good sense to keep well away from him, but because he fears she is onto his crooked dealings with a ruthless tycoon who is poisoning the Everglades. But instead of drowning as she's supposed to, Joey stays afloat until she is rescued by moody ex-cop Mick Stranahan, a loner who has also struck out in the marriage department. Then the two together, with the unwitting aid of a suspicious cop who can't pin the attempted murder on Chaz, hatch a sadistic plot to scare that "maggot" out of what little wit he has. Even Tool, a hulking brute sent by the tycoon to keep an eye on Chaz, eventually turns against him, and much of the fun is in watching the deplorable Chaz flounder further and further in the murk, both literally and figuratively (Chaz's job, as the world's unlikeliest marine biologist, involves falsifying water pollution levels for the tycoon). Hiaasen's books are so enjoyable it's always a sad moment when they end. In this case, however, sadness is mixed with puzzlement because the book seems to end in mid-scene, with Chaz in trouble again—but is it terminal? We thought at first there were some pages missing, but Knopf says that was the ending Hiaasen intended.



An oldie but goodie for me was Big Fish by Thomas Perry from 1985. It was a sort of Nick and Nora Charles of the eighties intrigue. That one was all about the snappy, witty dialogue. Very funny!

And this one by Peter Benchly is a hoot!....



http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Peter_Benchley.htm

Library Journal
When Timothy Burnham, a minor White House speech writer, unexpectedly becomes the President's chief political confidant and all-round advisor he also receives the attention of the Soviets, who see him as a conduit to Oval Office secrets. Jolted out of a humdrum existence when his wife sends him packing, Burnham struggles to cope with his failing marriage, the demands of a garrulous President, and the charms of Eva Pym, an irresistible and unwilling Soviet agent. Author Benchley deploys his skillfully drawn characters in an intriguing plot using just the right amounts of suspense, action, and humor to provide a very readable and thoroughly entertaining spy thriller. Enthusiastically recommended for popular fiction collections. Brian Alley, Sangamon State Univ. Lib., Springfield, Ill.

[anitar1]

38. Skinny Dip made me laugh out loud. I love his books.

[Stockholm]

139. Carl Hiaasen is fantastic

Other jewels are the Flashman books by George MacDonald Fraser - Hillarious history revionism.

[codjh9]

256. Yes, I LOVE Hiaasen, and he's a major environmentalist to boot.

[vixengrl]

268. I've only read "Sick Puppy"--but that's one of the funniest

books I've read--I'm planning to get some of his more recent books.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

15. Gentleman Jim by Kingsley Amis , The Diary of Adrian Mole by

Sue ?Adams(Not sure), Thank you for Smoking by Christopher Amis (?), (I remember the books but not the authors too well) All the Lucia books by EF Benson. Those were the first that came to mind

[Czolgosz]

66. Thank You for Smoking was by Chris Buckley

[Captain Hilts]

131. The Diary of Adrian Mole was wonderful. "The Queen and I" also is good.

Sue Townsend's "The Queen and I" is the Windsors being kicked out of the Buck House and forced to live in pubic housing.

A nice satire, without being biting. A fun read.

[MISSDem]

142. The Diary ... is funny. I was trying to think of ANY funny

book I've read when I saw your post. I tend to read not funny books.

[Botany]

16. MASH

outstanding book.

(Also funny fiction W got into and made it through 2 Ivy league schools
on his on merits)

[Patiod]

62. The scene where Trapper John thinks he's Jesus playing golf

made me cry

[hobbit709]

17. The Light Fantastic

by Terry Prattchett

[HawkerHurricane]

21. Terry Pratchett in general...

The only book that's funnier in the footnotes.

From Pyramids...

It was a well known fact that successfully assassinating your finals teacher was a guarenteed pass. Trying and failing would, of course, result in loss of priveledges.*

*Like breathing, for one.

[NuttyFluffers]

76. third that, love me Terry Pratchett

he's an absolute gas.

[ladeuxiemevoiture]

81. Oh, yes! Pratchett is brilliant -

I literally couldn't stop laughing and snickering while reading "The Light Fantastic". :D

[Orrex]

97. I've read every Pratchett book through Monstrous Regiment

Even the non-Discworld stuff, but for me he jumped the shark around Reaper Man. I don't know if he gained (or maybe lost) some new degree of creative control, but after that the books just seemed like more of the same, over and over and over and over and over and over. I think that he's called upon the Watch a few too many times, and he even dragged out poor Rincewind at least once too often (three, if you count Eric).

Don't get me wrong--I'll always consider myself a fan, but he's no longer what he once was. Simple editorial gaffes and narrative choices have seemed weaker and weaker over the years, and I long for what is, to me, the "old" Pratchett.

Of course, I found Truth to be delightful just about from start to finish, so...

[closeupready]

115. This happens, sadly.

It's commerce corrupting a good idea. "If a little is good, let's milk it for all it's worth."

[Shadowen]

173. You cannot beat the surreality of this:

"Dr. Cruces has fallen in the hoho."

[TheWraith]

208. "He didn't start talking to trees, even when trees had started talking to him."

That's a good one. Right up there with the book preceeding it, "The Colour of Magic," which set up the characters. Hard to say which is better, I think, but TLF has some things going for it, like a single narrative--TCoM is three inter-connected stories taking place one after the other.

[longship]

18. A short list

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
The movie's trash, don't bother seeing it.

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Off the wall irreverent ridiculousness about the end of the world.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Nuf said about this, it's classic.

A Fistful of Fig Newtons by Jean Shepard
Ah! Boom-O-Lax--Tastes like a bon-bon, goes off like an atomic bomb.

...in no particular order.

[Patiod]

63. Oooo - Shepard - Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories

Great stuff

[Captain Hilts]

130. Jean Shepard's "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash" is great!!! nt

[loftycity]

19. "Fierce Invalids from hot Climates" by Tom Robbins

Too Funny...the best.

[Don Claybrook]

186. Just finished reading this one

This was my first Tom Robbins novel, and it makes me wonder why I waited so long. I'm ripping through Jitterbug Perfume now, with Even Cowgirls... and Still Life... coming up soon.

[OnionPatch]

194. I loved it!

I can't wait to read the rest of his books, too.

[rhett o rick]

210. High on my list. nm

[phaseolus]

20. "Good Omens", Pratchett & Gaiman

wherein a demon and an angel prove they're the lousiest employees in all creation when their bosses decide it's time for Armageddon, and the Anti-Christ just wants to be a regular kid. One of my favorite books...

[Hun Joro]

69. I love Good Omens!

I agree, it's the funniest thing I've ever read as well, followed closely by Pratchett's Discworld books.

[Withywindle]

90. I can never run the risk of taking fundies seriously ever again...

Thanks, Neil and Terry! :hi:


Of course, now I also have to deal with the fact that every time I have a particularly crucial, delicate, important, life-changing, ethically fraught decision to make, the metaphorical demon and angel on my shoulder sound exactly like Crowley and Aziraphale.

[ruthg]

92. Yup....

My favorite thing was the Biker Of The Apocolypse who named himself " Things That Won't Work Even After You Thump Them"

I am giggling as I type this.

Pratchett is hilarious and Gaiman is , of course, well...amazing on so many levels.

[Withywindle]

95. It's hard to pick a favorite thing...

...but the Buggre Alle This Bible is up there too.


Sincerely,
The Auxiliary Apocalypse Biker known as "Decaf".

[Rhythm]

166. another vote for "Good Omens"...

This is the only book that i have bought at least a dozen separate times... not because i 'lose' it or anything, but it always seems that something happens to it. I keep making the same mistake over and over: 'loaning' it to people who need a good laugh, and the buggers never seem to return it!

I was tickled when is was re-released in hardcover last year, and had to have it in both cover varieties.
Miraculously, i've even managed to keep them both. *L*

Now if those tapes in the car would quit turning into "Queen", i'd be all set!

[MadAnne]

193. My very favorite

religious book.

[loudestchick]

202. Another vote for good omens! American Gods has some really funny schtick as well.

[4bh0r53n]

206. an another vote for good omens

n/t

[MountainLaurel]

214. That was my first thought

Second up was anything by Christopher Moore.

[mcctatas]

217. I laughed so hard I woke up my husband...

been passing it around to everyone I know since then!

[vixengrl]

267. I honestly read this one something like five times over a three-week

vacation. I got to where I was trying to mentally cast "Good Omens: The Movie." (I'm not an obsessive reader, I just seriously misjudged how many books I'd actually need to bring with, and kind of forgot I was going somewhere where I couldn't just pick up a book in English at the drugstore!) But it didn't get old through the multiple re-reads.

[EndersDame]

271. You might also enjoy a Job by Heinlein

he also has a great end of days comedy. This one centers though on Loki, Satan and his annoying older brother, God

[Gato Moteado]

22. "the great american novel".....

....by phillip roth. "portnoy's complaint" is also unbelievably hilarious.

[Yellow_Dog]

24. State of the Union Address - 2005

in a sick kind of way

[eleny]

29. We love satire - yes we do!

[catnhatnh]

26. Any of Mark Twain's later writings...

...But especially "The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyville" and "The Adam and Eve Diaries"...

[superconnected]

227. Yes! Definitely Mark Twain!

[catnhatnh]

27. Sorry-Dupe.

[catnhatnh]

28. And, Oh yeah...

...early John Irving...158 Pound Marriage and Water Method Man....

[saltpoint]

31. Gore Vidal's LIVE FROM GOLGOTHA ranks high --

-- and A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES is a lot of fun, too.

[NuttyFluffers]

77. Live from Golgotha had me in stitches at the word go!

omg, i can't believe i lived so long and only recently stumbled upon it. screw the modern pulp trash, get me some good books at the library!

[akarnitz]

107. I really dig "Live...", too.

You can never take enough shots at St. Paul! There are many reasons I'm an ex-catholic and Saul of Tarses is right at the top of the list.
I've gotta give "Confederacy" another chance. I got about 100 pages in the first time but got nothing from it.
Seeing as I just finished "Band of Brothers" (for the third time),I'm gonna fall asleep with "Live..." tonight.

[Zorro]

33. S. J. Perelman's stuff

He's probably unknown to anyone born after 1970, but his collections of short vignettes are the funniest writings I've read.

He was a writer for the New Yorker from the 30s to the 60s, and combined an erudite writing style with some wicked humor (especially on then-contemporary fashions and events). His pieces were rarely over about 5 or so pages, and to me are rare gems of style and prose.

[peacefreak]

34. Island of the Sequined Love Nuns

by Chris Moore. Lamb was a close second.

[intheflow]

43. The Lust Lizard of Melancholoy Cove

by Chris Moore. But you're right on with Lamb as the close second. I read both books last vacation. I'll have to get the Sequined Love Nuns this summer.

[hedgehog]

162. I was scrolling down to the bottom to add Christopher Moore!

His is the best kind of humor. He sees everyone's flaws and loves them just the same.

[Dr. Strange]

191. Yep, Christopher Moore

Very funny stuff. I loved "Blood Sucking Fiends."

[mcctatas]

224. I just started reading Lamb...

the story of Jesus' lost years from the perspective of his best friend "Biff"...pretty funny stuff! "You Suck" was damn funny too!

[Dr. Strange]

273. I'm finally reading "You Suck."

Good Lord, the writing is hilarious. I gotta put some of this material in the Lounge!

[abluelady]

240. I Just Discovered Christopher Moore

and finished "A Dirty Job" and "The Stupidest Angel." I can't believe how much I laughed outloud!

[The Doctor.]

35. What a wonderful list of great literature...

I'm bookmarking this so I can, umm... mark books I'd like to read.

But as far as non-fiction goes; I just had an astounding laugh at the top Ten Conservative Idiots.

[jobycom]

37. Aside from Mark Twain and Douglas Adams, Craig Shaw Gardner

wrote a series of fantasy novels that I read many years ago, and almost hurt myself laughing. I don't remember the order or which was funniest, but they were: A Disagreement with Death, A Difficulty with Dwarves, A Multitude of Monsters, and Malady of Magics.

No idea if I'd still find them funny...

[Richardo]

39. Many of these, plus Robert Benchley (the Dave Barry of the 20s and 30s)

His collections are hilarious:

"My 10 Years in a Quandry, and How They Grew"
"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, or David Copperfield"

[China_cat]

40. The bible

[mpyle27]

55. LOL!!

[Czolgosz]

67. A funny book ruined by too damn many characters to keep track of.

[Uncle Roy]

41. Joe Keenan's "Blue Heaven"; Joe Orton's "What the Butler Saw"

I read "Blue Heaven" while on a canoe camping trip in Maine. The titters, giggles, snorts, guffaws and occasional loud howls coming from my tent got all the loons up and down the lake laughing too, and our sounds echoed off the surrounding mountains and bounced back and forth across the lake. Mooselookmeguntic rocked that night...

Orton's piece is a play, but it reads well too. I've seen it on the stage three times and read it twice, and it wrecks me every time. "Let us put on our clothes and face the world" indeed.

[yellowdogintexas]

42. "The Joyous Season" by Patrick Dennis, author of Auntie Mame

and of course, "Auntie Mame" itself.

"Life Among the Savages" & "Raising Demons" by Shirley Jackson.


"The Egg & I" especially Ma & Pa Kettle


One chapter of "Little Altars Everywhere"(author also wrote "YaYa Sisterhood) nearly killed me...the story of what the kids did to Buggy's dog...I hurt for an hour after reading that


anything by Tim McManus ("Grasshopper Trap)
anything by Dave Barry
anything by Carl Hiaasen
anything by Stephanie Evanovich

oh yeah, what about Jeeves and Wooster...the author slips my mind, but the books are a riot, and there are about 50 of them, I think

Oh yeah, the entire Midnight Louie Murder Mystery series.

"A Short History of a Small Place"

[Captain Hilts]

132. That's 'Janet' Evanovich.

The books have gotten too formula for me.

But the first couple I read were fun.

[Captain Hilts]

133. Mapp and Lucia. Make Way for Lucia. Great reads. nt

[Democrats_win]

44. Adventures of Don Quixote Man of La Manche

[Libertyfirst]

263. I agree. Do you think we are the only two people in the world who think so?

[Sequoia]

45. Jitterbug Perfume, by Tom Robbins

[JitterbugPerfume]

71. I like that one too---

as a matterof fact anything by Tom Robbins and Kurt Vonnegut

[Sequoia]

253. One of my favorites.

[seg4527]

46. A Walk In The Woods - Bill Bryson

hilarious story about his hike along the appalachian trail, streatching from george to maine.

[hippiegranny]

48. David Sedaris

anything by him is funny.

I also enjoy Nick Hornby. A local (AZ) writer who does vignettes is a woman by the name of Laurie Notaro - she's riot too.

[EmmaP]

124. Sedaris & Notaro

Both are excellent...but technically they are creative non-fiction, not fiction.

[goddess40]

79. I have this one on tape - hilarious

The reader does a fabulous job. I love the snickers/bear incident

His book about Australia is great too.

[Rob H.]

184. That's one of the first I thought of, too

The chapter on black bears alone was worth the price of the book. "It's not as if they've declared a truce, you know."

[marigold20]

49. My Life and Hard Times by James Thurber

I remember sitting in an airport, wiping tears, trying to keep myself under control. "The Day the Flood Came" is hilarious. And his drawings are great - especially "Have you seen my pistol, honey-bun?"

[Patiod]

64. The Catbird Seat is my #1 favorite

[matt819]

50. The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie

I'm not sure you can even get it in the US. Laurie is a British writer and actor (mainly the latter). Hysterical book.

[AuntieM1957]

113. Isn't he the actor currently playing in that doctor show on Fox? nt

[Forkboy]

187. Yes..one and the same.

Long before he did House he was a very popular British comedian,starring in shows like Fry and Laurie,Blackadder,and Jeeves and Wooster.His book (which he is writing the screenplay for as well) is flat out hilarious.

I'm eagerly awaiting his second book,due later this year.

All you could ever want to know about him;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Laurie

on edit....found this..the first chapter of the book:

Imagine that you have to break someone's arm.

Right or left, doesn't matter. The point is that you have to break it, because if you don't...well, that doesn't matter either. Let's just say bad things will happen if you don't.

Now, my question goes like this: do you break the arm quickly -- snap, whoops, sorry, here let me help you with that improvised splint -- or do you drag the whole business out for a good eight minutes, every now and then increasing the pressure in the tiniest of increments, until the pain becomes pink and green and hot and cold and altogether howlingly unbearable?

Well exactly. Of course. The right thing to do, the only thing to do, is to get it over with as quickly as possible. Break the arm, ply the brandy, be a good citizen. There can be no other answer.

Unless.

Unless unless unless.

What if you were to hate the person on the other end of the arm? I mean really, really hate them.

This was a thing I now had to consider.

I say now, meaning then, meaning the moment I am describing; the moment fractionally, oh so bloody fractionally, before my wrist reached the back of my neck and my left humerus broke into at least two, very possibly more, floppily joined-together pieces.

The arm we've been discussing, you see, is mine. It's not an abstract, philosopher's arm. The bone, the skin, the hairs, the small white scar on the point of the elbow, won from the corner of a storage heater at Gateshill Primary School -- they all belong to me. And now is the moment when I must consider the possibility thatthe man standing behind me, gripping my wrist and driving it up my spine with an almost sexual degree of care, hates me. I mean, really, really hates me.

The rest of the chapter is here:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?z=y&ean=9780671020828&displayonly=EXC

[matt819]

53. Why hasn't anyone mentioned Christopher Buckley?

Okay, ignore his parentage, and I don't know what his own politics are, but he is one funny writer. Little Green Men. No Way to Treat a First Lady. Florence of Arabia. Every one an intelligently written, clever, and very funny book.

[ruthg]

93. He's hilarious. I totally enjoyed No Way To Treat A First Lady.

[luvLLB]

56. A Confederacy of Dunces...cracks me up every time I read it.

[jayctravis]

57. The Princess Bride.

[arikara]

58. I'm partial to Canadian humor

The Bartholomew Bandy series is the funniest that I've ever read.

Book 1: Three Cheers for Me
Bartholomew Wolfe Bandy abandons medical school for the Victorian Light Infantry. He survives the trenches only to be transferred to the Royal Flying Corps after capturing his own colonel in a daring raid on his own lines. He meets his future wife, Katherine Lewis, by crashing in her field, and despite his best efforts becomes an ace. He also lands an aeroplane on the colonel.

And Stuart McLean's Vinyl Cafe books are hilarious. These are short stories about the misadventures of Dave, the owner of the "Vinyl Cafe", the world's smallest record store, where the motto is "We may not be big, but we're small." The stories also features Dave's wife, Morley, their two children, Sam and Stephanie and assorted friends and neighbours. If you can pick up CBC radio, Stuart McLean does a live show about Dave and Morley and its lots of fun.

[MisterP]

59. "Dark Lord of Derkholm" by Diana Wynne Jones

funny little knife-twists

[philosophie_en_rose]

105. Have you read "Deep Secrets?"

Very amusing.

[Patiod]

65. Richard Russo's "Straight Man"

I buy copies of it at book sales and yard sales just to give away to friends. Russo at his funniest - his other stuff is lovely (Empire Falls, Nobody's Fool) but not as side-splitting.

Also Thurber - a lot of comic writing feels really dated, but Thurber stays amazingly fresh. "The Catbird Seat" has got to be one of the funniest stories ever written.

Also agree with those mentioning Jeeves & Wooster, Hiaasen, MASH, Catch-22, Dortmunder, Bryson, and Barry.

[Bullwinkle925]

152. We read "Straight Man" for our book club last year.

I often think of Russo's protagonist (William Henry Devereaux, Jr.) stuck in the ceiling.
I hope there will be a movie made from this book - whom would you choose to portray W.H.D., Jr?
Unfortunately, Jimmy Stewart is no longer with us so I think I would either have to go with Steve Martin or
perhaps George Clooney (for his brooding looks, of course).

[theboss]

68. Several by Chris Buckley

"The White House Mess"
"Little Green Men"
"Thank You for Smoking"

[zinndependence]

70. not quite fiction but.....

I absolutely love David Sedaris...I know most of his stuff is "non-fiction" but he came to mind first. This guy is a genius! I'm madly in love with him... I know he's gay, but I'm still madly in love with him! I love his humor....I mean, I lost track of how many times I had to stop reading and think, "I can't believe he wrote that!" This guy is definitely laugh out loud funny!

I've read all of his books, my favorite being Me Talk Pretty One Day...and of course my favorite essay is "Santaland Diaries."

[ExclamationPoint]

72. The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy

"They went into the air exactly like bricks don't."

[MN ChimpH8R]

73. Tom Sharpe

especially Riotous Assembly, Indecent Exposure, Porterhouse Blue and Blott On the Landscape. The first two made me laugh so hard I though I was going to pass out.

[WCGreen]

74. Empire Falls was really funny

as well as this book I picked up at COSTCO Cadillac Beach.....

Bonfire of the Vanities was pretty clever and well written

[Matilda]

75. Catch-22

I used to read it going to work on the tube in London, and laugh out
loud. Very embarrassing.

[Redneck Socialist]

78. A Short History of a Small Place

I can't believe that no one has mentioned TR Pearson yet. Very funny stuff. Anything by Colin Bateman too.

[Patiod]

96. His new one is funny "Glad News of the Natural World"

The son from "A Short History of a Small Place" takes off and moves to New York. One of the reviews I read complained that it "doesn't really go anywhere", but that's exactly what one enjoys about Pearson, isn't it? Very very funny book.

[Flying Dream Blues]

80. Lonesome Dove is LOL funny, but also a great epic. nt

[rug]

82. The Sotweed Factor

[non sociopath skin]

180. Have to say that I found "Sotweed Factor" hard going.

Loved the concept, but Barth milked it a little too much for my taste.

The Skin

[deerhead]

83. Our Hearts Were Young and Gay

...by Emily Kimbrough and Cornelia Otis Skinner. I love this book! It's the story of a European Tour in the 1920's. Cornelia is the not-so-sophisticated daughter of a famous stage actor; Emily is a naive daughter of the Midwest.

[Captain Hilts]

137. I LOVED that book! And the movie!!!!

Charles Kimbrough, who was on "Murphy Brown" is related to Emily.

GREAT read!

[MaineDem]

174. My favorite book ever - but it's not fiction

I read it when I was in high school. I loved the parts about the geyser and the fur wraps.

[HardWorkingDem]

84. The Choirboys

by Joseph Wambaugh...one of the best books on cops and has rip roaring laughs all the way through....

[alarimer]

86. Freddy and Fredericka

By Mark Helprin.

I am less than 100 pages into and I was laughing so hard I scared the cat.

It is a satire of the British Royal Family.
There is one exchange in which Freddy, the Prince of Wales, calles up his mistress, Lady Boylinghotte (LOL) and says he wishes he could be her tarpon. (He had just returned from the Carribbean). Obviously a send-up of Charles and Camilla's infamous conversation.

There is also a scene in which Freddy is calling for a missing pit bull dog named Pha-Kew. The villagers, of course, think he is insulting them! "Well if you don't want to tell me the name of your dog, then fuck you too." It is very Abbott and Costello.

[BreweryYardRat]

88. Tim Dorsey is great...

In my opinion, he's funnier than Carl Hiaasen.

[RaRa]

99. LOVED Triggerfish Twist"; laugh out loud funny. n/t

[Withywindle]

89. "The Fan Man" William Kotzwinkle

Hilarious, over the top East Village hippie culture.

"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" by HST


Gotta second, third, fourth, and fifth the Terry Pratchett love. Sometimes his books are almost difficult to follow the plots because I have to pause and shriek with laughter every other sentence.

"America: The Book" by the Daily Show crew. Believe the hype. It IS that funny.

[klook]

117. The Fan Man is incredible!!

That's a close second to A Confederacy of Dunces for me. Horse Badorties is one of the most amazing characters in fiction--hilarious, ridiculous, pathetic, profound, inspiring, filthy, transcendent... This book turned me on to Kotzwinkle, which has proven to be a great thing.

[ruthg]

91. Good Omens

Probably not the funniest ever but I laughed a whole lot...especially about the names for the Four Bikers Of The Apocolypse.

[mcctatas]

225. I read that awhile ago and have been passing it among my

friends and family ever since...I laughed so hard I woke up my sleeping toddler...hilarious!

[BedRock]

98. The Decameron

by Boccaccio. Laughed my ass off, AND it was thrilling to see the cynical humor of the 1340's still very much applies today.

Honkin' big book, but a real laugh. Read it twice and still howl. Just wish I could get a translation that hasn't been "cleaned up"

[La Coliniere]

100. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Screamingly funny on the page. A tedious bore on the screen.
Who could ever forget Thompson and Gonzo (on acid) visiting Circus Circus while Debbie Reynolds performs in a white afro wig, singing Beatle songs.
R.I.P., H.S.T.

[pokerfan]

248. Agree

Gilliam did an admirable job bringing it to the screen but the book is simply unfilmable. I don't care how many voice-overs you have Depp record. It just isn't the same as reading it.

[unsavedtrash]

101. Douglas Adams of course and Confessions Of A Failed Southern Lady

[Jade Fox]

169. "Confessions.." is great!

Can't remember the author's name.

[AllieB]

102. David Sedaris' "Me Talk Pretty One Day"

and Nick Hornby's "High Fidelity" were two of the funnist reads I can think of off hand.

[hopein08]

103. "The Mammy" by Brendan O'Connell (or Carroll...can't remember) nt

[DemBones DemBones]

238. Have you seen the movie? It's hilarious. But

look for it as "Agnes Browne" in the tv guide or if you want to rent it.

It seems to have been released in the UK as "The Mammy" -- I've seen that title on the screen when the guide said "Agnes Browne" -- but retitled lest Americans think it's racist. Guess if it had been about a poor English mother, they couldn't have called it "The Mummy" because Americans might think it was a horror movie. :shrug:

"England and America are two countries separated by a common language."

Add Ireland and America to that.

Angelica Huston portrays Agnes, BTW, and is excellent.

[McCamy Taylor]

104. Cold Comfort Farm

[Bridget Burke]

108. I MUST get that book.

The movie was excellent & I remember a BBC production that was also fine.

[Captain Hilts]

134. Then read "I Capture the Castle" too.

If you liked Cold Comfort Farm.

"Love in a Cold Climate" might also work for you.

[Lorenzo]

109. Houellebecq's "Platform"

A gigantic laugh. About sex tourism as the cynical but perfect exchange situation for the future of mankind. Hilarious because so sharply written and so true.

[enough]

110. The first few chapters of Everything is Illuminated.

Strange to laugh so hard that you are having a physical relationship with the book.

The rest of the book has a different tone, but I loved the whole thing. I think it had to do with that cathartic laughter of the first part.

[Demeter]

111. Cold Comfort Farm, Importance of Being Ernest

English comedy of manners from the Roaring Twenties

Oscar Wilde is either funny or tear-jerking, but never dull

[Uncle Roy]

112. "To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune..."

"...To lose both seems like carelessness."
- Lady Bracknell, in "The Importance of Being Ernest"

I love Wilde's Grand Dragon ladies, like Lady Bracknell. These monsters also appear, in the form of Terrifying Aunts, in the PG Wodehouse Jeeves/Wooster stories.

[Thirtieschild]

120. No Time for Sergeants

Laugh-out-loud funny. Don't judge it by the movie, etc.

[Captain Hilts]

136. The movie is laugh out loud funny. The sarge is great.

As is Don Knotts as the shrink.

[goddess40]

121. Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

It also is the book that made me cry the hardest.

[frogmarch]

122. Another Pratchett fan here

One of my favs: Wyrd Sisters

Also love Douglas Adams. I read THHG at least once a year. I can't help it. I have to!

[tigereye]

261. yeah, it had both aspects, didn't it...

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

125. Bo Fowler's "Scepticism Inc."

quoth the synopsis on Amazon:

"Narrated by a supermarket trolley, this novel is a satire on the lunacies of organized religion."

His second book, "The Astrological Diary of God" is also hilarious and totally recommended. Sayeth Amazon again:

"Japs Eye Fontanelle is an 88-year-old, overweight, retired Japanese Kamikaze pilot who insists he is the rightful king of the Holy Channel Island of Jersey, and Creator of the Universe. He writes his life story under armed guard inside a mobile home where he's being held for the killing of Time."

Sadly that was published in 1999 and he hasn't written anything since.

[terrya]

126. I'm reading Chris Elliot's novel "The Shroud of the Thwacker"

I got this at the library this week. And...I'm laughing my ass off. It's a take of Caleb Carr's book..."The Alienist". Elliot's book is just plain funny. Has his sense of humor all through it. Do read it when you get a chance. :-)

[catbert836]

127. America (The Book)

n/t

[dr.zoidberg]

128. Ball Four.

It's a baseball book, it's really funny, and it's all true.

[Forkboy]

198. Friggin' hilarious book.

One of the best sports books ever.

[Marie26]

129. The Princess Bride or Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

These are the only novels that I remember just laughing aloud at. David Sedaris' memoirs are also very funny.

[Captain Hilts]

135. "Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady." nt

[politicat]

138. The Second Greatest Story Ever Told

It's about the Daughter of God, born in the 70s in Cooperstown, NY to a single mother. The Second Coming likes Tab, punk music, Rolling Rock beer, baseball, and David Letterman.

And the religious right takes an unholy beating. God and the Devil are hilarious.

I'd loan you my copy, but they're really hard to find - it only went through one edition.

Gorman Bechard is the author.

[Strong Atheist]

140. A certain point in the Bone

graphic novel ... "We could have had these eggs in a quiche" ... funniest thing I have ever seen/read.

[japple]

141. Dog of the South by Charles Portis

Lousiana Power and Light by John Dufresne

Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

and, of course, Confederacy of Dunces

[Sequoia]

143. Jitterbug Perfume.

[Thirtieschild]

144. No Time for Sergeants

So much better than the movie.

[niallmac]

148. Ditto. A delight to read.

[niallmac]

149. Without Feathers. Woody Allen.

Very laugh out loud funny for me.

[SoonerShankle]

145. Postcards from the Edge...

kept me smirking under my breath.

[MrSlayer]

147. The Hitchhiker's Guide series by Douglas Adams.

It just so funny and clever. And he somehow manages to make everything fit. It's brilliant, laugh out loud funny.

[MiwSher]

153. The "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" quadrilogy n/t

[CPMaz]

154. Of course

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy would be the easy pick here, but how about dark horse (nobody else seems to have mentioned it) candidate?

I don't think it is in print anymore, and it is NOT the author's most noted work, but I would have to say....

Q-Clearance by Peter Benchley.

It was written in the 1980s, and set in a fictional presidential administration that resembled the Reagan admin. (Pure coincidence, that. :) ) It's not an all-time classic or anything, but I absolutely loved it at the time, and look for it whenever I go into a used book store.

[Wickerman]

155. Towing Jehovah

God dies. He falls to earth into the ocean. The vatican commissions the protagonist to drive an oil tanker to haul God's 2 mile long corpse to the Arctic where it will not decay nor be discovered. Hilarious. James Morrow.

[MrCoffee]

159. The whole Corpus Dei/Godhead trilogy is hilarious.

I'll admit to liking Blameless in Abaddon more than Towing Jehova. The trip through God's brian with St. Augustine has some unforgettable scenes.

[krispos42]

158. "Hanging On" by Dean Koontz

Yes, that Dean Koontz. National bestwelling author of more horror/thriller books than I can shake a stick at wrote a HILARIOUS novel about a combat engineering company secretly dropped behind German lines in World War Two.

The CEs are placed there to secretly build a bridge across a gorge in France shortly after D-Day and hold it so that when the American army reaches the area, they have a bridge that the Germans don't know about to cross the gorge and strategically bypass the German defenders.

Every week, the Luftwaffe bombs the bridge, the colonel in charge of the operation flies in more materials to rebuilt it, the CEs rebuild it, and the Luftwaffe bombs it again. But the Luftwaffe never bothers to tell the Wehrmacht about it.

The characters are hilarious, including a voluptuous dancer the unit "borrowed" after Colonel Blade sneaked them a USO tour once, the man in charge of the unit (I think his name is Major Kelly, but I'm not sure) who eats stewed-tomato sandwiches in a desperate attempt to stave off hair loss, the black bulldozer operator who towards the end of the book winds up impersonating an Waffen-SS soldier as a column of German armor drives past, and Maurice, the mayor of the nearby French village who comes by once a week to blackmail the unit.

This book is maybe the funniest I've ever read. Also:

"Toxic Spell Dump" by Harry Turtledove
"Don't Stand to Close to a Naked Man" by Tim Allen
"America: The Book" by The Daily Show writers,
The five books of the "Hitchikers's Guide to the Galaxy" trilogy, by Douglas Adams
"The Dilbert Universe" and "The Dilbert Future" by Scott Adams

If you're a Trekkie, I seem to remember the Star Trek novel #36 "How Much for Just the Planet?" by John M. Ford was a hoot as well.

[Joe Chi Minh]

160. One or two of Hunter S Thompson's books - can't remember

which I'm afraid - containing anecdotes, apparently true, which had me helplessly crying with laughter, burst after burst.

One concerned an incident in a restaurant, in which a particularly arrogant former astronaut's credentials as an American - never mind the ultimate all-American boy - were called into question by Thompson, who hurled at him, as he was bundled out of the restaurant by security, "If there's one thing I hate, it's a goddam Polack!". He'd been raging at HST and his friends in the band for playing songs of a "leftie", alternative-culture kind - at least in the eyes of a rabid crypo-fascist like our friend.

The other anecdote concerned a lesson HST gave to an arrogant, sneering, smirking Zen guru and his equally nauseous class on what constitutes the sound of one hand clapping....!!!! The Zen "master" ended up immensely more enlightened, thanks to a surprising - not to say striking - version of satori, involving alas, a perforated ear-drum.

Of course there are many other hilarious passages in his book.

[nam78_two]

161. P.G.Wodehouse's books/nt

[LeighAnn]

170. Hysterically funny

Yes, these are some of the funniest books in the world. Pretty much anything with the word "Jeeves" in the title. Never could get into anything Wodehouse wrote in the third-person but Bertie and Jeeves are pricelessly funny. :rofl:

[smoogatz]

178. Funny. Good-natured. Charming. Well-written--

and truly biting satire of the British upper-class. Wonderful stuff. The Jeeves and Wooster novels are my all-time favorites.

[XemaSab]

164. Flashman

Of course, it's not really fiction. It all actually happened. Really. ;)

[hopein08]

165. Brendan O'Carroll's trilogy w/ "The Mammy" & "The Granny"

[sal paradise]

167. Catch-22

is a very funny novel, on top of it being one of the greatest war novels ever. But I may be biased, since he wrote it while a professor at my University.

[TheWraith]

168. I'd have to say it's Big Trouble, by Dave Barry.

Great book. Dave Barry had fallen out of favor with me before that, because his columns always seemed like a retread. But that book was simply excellent. Pity the movie wasn't as good--though the film did have that one brilliant line from the narrator describing Stanley Tucci's character (an obnoxious embezzler) as "one of the few people in Florida who was not at all confused when he voted for Pat Buchanan."

[krispos42]

176. It must be a hell of a book, cuz the movie was hilarious

I laughed my ass off at that!

[Codeblue]

171. Actually something my good friend wrote

We just call it "Bible Comedy." He exaggerated the events of the bible and just tore it to shreds. It's about 35 pages worth of stuff.

[Tony Soprano]

172. A Confederancy of Dunces

published posthumously by John Kennedy Toole

[freesqueeze]

196. I see the Toole book mentioned a lot

as LMAO funny, but I found it sad. I would rate this book very high as literature, but funny???

The protagonist was an obese, deluded, disfunctioual chucklehead. (OK that sounds like a pretty funny premise)

I don't mean to put you on the defensive but what was the funny part here? Maybe some of the stuff with the hot dog wagon when he eats all the dogs himself.

I dunno.

Help me out.

[KitSileya]

175. David Eddings is my guilty pleasure.

When I first started reading them when I was 17, the Belgariad and the Malloreon were my favorite, and I can't count the number of times my mom chased me out of the living room because I was sitting reading and laughing and disturbing her. After rereading his (their, as he writes with his wife, Leigh) books, I find myself more enchanted with the other double series he wrote, the Eleni and the Tamuli - theit tone just resonates better with me now. I haven't been able to get into their new series at all.

Other than that, Spider Robinson, of course. His Callahan's series is a hoot - even with the abominable paronomasia ;p

[philosophie_en_rose]

177. .

.

[SteppingRazor]

181. Gotta go Fear and Loathing...

few books have me laughing out loud -- many have caused me to grin or chuckle a bit, but &L was outright guffaws.

Just about everything by Tim Dorsey had that effect too, though.

[Crocodile Hunter]

182. Jean Shepherd

I think Jean Shepherd's books are really funny.

[Rob H.]

185. Joe Lansdales' Hap Collins and Leonard Pine novels are hilarious

He has a way with smart-assed dialog and describing people that never fails to make me laugh. It's been a while since the last one, though, and unfortunately some of the earlier ones are out of print.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

188. I found "An Embarrassment of Riches"

by James Kunstler (the Peak Oil guy) at a used bookshop. Sort of a Lewis and Clark expedition on the cheap. Just started it but it's pretty funny.

[AZBlue]

189. The first Shopaholic book.

Fluff, yes, but funny...if you've ever been (or are still) young and in debt, read it!

[Clintonista2]

190. Ann Coulter's "Godless"

[vanlassie]

192. Anne Lamotte's Operating Instructions

OK it wasn't fiction, but I once fell out of bed laughing about how she was willing to date a Republican, until she found out he was unwilling to do...well...certain things in bed- that was a deal breaker. All her books are so funny and so real.

[freesqueeze]

195. Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

If you ever come across it go straight to the description of the hangover that starts chapter 6.

PRICELESS.

[Fire Walk With Me]

199. Any fans of the "Fletch" books by Gregory McDonald?

Catch 22, Confederacy of Dunces, a couple of bits in Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49, which otherwise is definitely not a comedy; Hitchhiker's Guide, mostly the usual suspects.

[saltpoint]

200. Larry McMurtry's TEXASVILLE.

Or other Larry McMurtry novels.

The man is hilarious. The words he puts in his characters' mouths in TEXASVILLE are some of the funniest ever.

Highly recommended.

[Orrex]

201. I can't believe no one's mentioned Breakfast of Champions

Unless I just missed it.

Very likely the damn funniest thing I've ever read. Hysterical and insane even compared to typical Vonnegut.

[saltpoint]

203. Agree. It's mighty good stuff.

Vonnegut is sorely missed at my house.

[Forkboy]

205. It rings too close to reality.

;)

[rhett o rick]

211. High on my list . nm

[Thirtieschild]

204. No Time for Sergeants

Laughed out loud throughout.

[Captain Hilts]

259. Yes - the book AND movie are bust a gut funny. nt

[TheWraith]

207. Dave Barry's "Big Trouble."

It could most easily be described as a multi-person collision between a divorced dad and his son; an obnoxious embezzler, his wife, and her daughter; very dim criminals; long-suffering arms smugglers; frustrated hitmen; oddball cops; aggressive FBI agents; and a host of minor characters in South Florida.

[goddess40]

209. Angela's Ashes

although I could go from laughing so hard it brought tears to my eyes to actually crying because it was so sad in a matter of one page.

[hippywife]

212. A big thank you to everyone in this thread

who recommended Good Omens! I'm only about a third of the way through it and it's very funny. I just got done reading about the Hound of Hell and what happens to him when he finds his master! That was drop dead funny!
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[sueh]

213. Peter Mayle's "A Dog's Life"

kept me laughing and chuckling all the way through.

[LOCxHippy]

215. Paul Rudnick: "I'll Take It"

This could be the funniest book ever...even if you don't love shopping!
http://www.amazon.com/Ill-Take-Paul-Rudnick/dp/034536225X

One review:
"Flat out hilarious ... Sort of like what I imagine P.G. Wodehouse would have written after spending some time in Bloomingdale's ... For sheer enjoyment, this book is a bargain. Buy two. You can freeze one. You never know." Jeff Danzinger, The Boston Globe

Why no mention of Elmore Leonard? He's a genius; especially his earlier books.

[terrya]

223. I thought I was the only one who loved "I'll Take It"

Thank you for mentioning this hilarious book! I bought a hardcover copy of it several years ago...I'm so glad I did.

I've read "I'll Take It" several times...I keep thinking what a great movie it would make...with Rudnick himself writing the screenplay. The scene with Joe, Pola, Ida and Joe's mom in L.L. Bean alone would be worth the price of admission! :-)

[KatyMan]

216. Bored of the Rings...

is a damn funny book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bored-Rings-Harvard-Lampoon/dp/0575074957/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/026-3445692-0982065?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186931210&sr=8-1

But The World According to Carl Pilkington (http://www.amazon.co.uk/World-Karl-Pilkington/dp/0007240279/ref=pd_bowtega_1/026-3445692-0982065?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186931267&sr=1-1) is absolute GENIUS. My wife made me stop taking it on the train to work after the first day I got it because she said I looked like some kind of weirdo sitting there laughing hysterically. I really really love this book, and the podcasts! Of course, you might have to either 1. be British 2. Live in Britain, or 3. Really understand British life/humour/slang for this to work....Jimmy the Hat (so noted because he never wore a hat), Tattoo Stan (so noted because he did his own tattoos...except since he was right handed, the ones on his left arm were much better than the ones on his right arm)...and Monkey News!

[valerief]

218. Ed Wood's "Killer in Drag"

[Ezlivin]

219. A Prayer for Owen Meany

John Irving created such a memorable character and a very memorable voice for him.

[saltpoint]

220. Yes. The chapters on the Christmas pageant are unmatchable.

Also the chapter with the Volkswagon up on the assembly stage.

[susieq1001]

233. Couldn't get through it

Guess I just didn't *get* this one.

[RobertDevereaux]

221. Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

222. Augustus Carp, Esq. by Himself

It's actually written by Sir Henry Howard Bashford and is his only (hilarious) book. It was published anonymously in 1924 and is illustrated by Punch illustrator Majorie Blood.

It is a Prion Humor Classic that I ordered after seeing it in some catalog and boy am I glad that I did - it is now one of those books that I reread often at any point and will NEVER lend out lest it be lost to me forever. Close family friends may peruse it at leisure in my domicile, but they must know I will frisk them upon exit.

This book is best enjoyed by those who read Austen, Thackeray, Eliot, Dickens, Bronte and the like who will scream at the pompous asides and explication offered by our totally self-involved, nitwit narrator.

[superconnected]

226. ah the books that made me laugh

slaughterhouse 5
the strawberry statement (when the group was locked in jail and the guards ask for someone by their name, and someone else yells "He Left!")
A to B and back again - warhol
PS your cat is dead
rosencrantz and gildenstern are dead
flashbacks - timothy learys autobiography
All of douglas adams books - already mentioned

I find Charles Dickens funny - A tale of two cities where dickens is describing the grave robbers, and the woman who goes deaf when the gun goes off was hilarious.

Shakespear of course. Sophoclese(sp?) Oedipus the king was funny (when the fool is giving the guy in the stocks advice and the guy says "where'd you learn that, fool?", and the fool says "not in the stocks fool"!). Lots of that play was funny though, it had me reeling.

Voltaires Candide made me laugh all through it. The minister hitting them on the head with the bible...

Cervantes was funny too. Don Quxiote was very funny with what he was saying and with sanchos retorts.

[regnaD kciN]

229. That section of King Lear...

...is preceded by what has to be the greatest all-purpose insult ever written:

KENT
Fellow, I know thee.

OSWALD
What dost thou know me for?

KENT
A knave; a rascal; an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy, worsted-stocking knave; a lily-livered, action-taking knave, a whoreson, glass-gazing, super-serviceable finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a bawd, in way of good service, and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pandar, and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch: one whom I will beat into clamorous whining, if thou deniest the least syllable of thy addition.

Let's just say I've been sorely tempted to use that on a number of people, many if not all of which were Republican politicians...

[regnaD kciN]

228. Christopher Moore's "Lamb..."

"...The Gospel according to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal."

:rofl:

[Wickerman]

230. Pretty much anything by Lorrie Moore

http://books.google.com/books?as_auth=Lorrie+Moore&ots=Pg43p8MJCx&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=author-navigational

Anagrams is probably my favorite. Her wry sense of humor and ability to punctuate her sentences with that humor is remarkable. I appreciate that her characters are ordinary people living ordinary lives. Somehow she keeps it all interesting.

[Hestia]

231. Has anyone read anything read any books by Jack Douglas - hilarious!

Jack Douglas

[cdsilv]

234. Sut Lovingood - by George Washington Harris....

...written in the early 1800's, US frontier humour written in dialect.

[qwertyMike]

235. Bert Fegg's Nasty Book for Boys and Girls

From one of the Monty Python team (Michael Palin) in the '70's.
Now re-titled and still in funny as before

I think it was re-titled because of Pol. Correctness which didn't exist back in the time.

I still laugh till the tears run down my leg.

http://www.petevincent.com/fegg_index.html

Mike

[WCGreen]

236. Elmore Leonard's Get Shorty mad me Laugh out loud....

As well as his Maximium Bob...

[Enrique]

247. I remember reading "Cat Chaser" on the train

I tried to keep from laughing and looking like a crazy person among my fellow commuters, but I failed.

[Hekate]

239. Gerald Durrell, Carl Hiassen, Terry Pratchett, Christopher Moore, some of Janet Evanovich...

Gerald Durrell's autobiographical books are hysterically funny. There are two about his childhood on a Greek island with his eccentric family. I particularly enjoyed his kid's-eye view of his older brother, pompous twit and aspiring author Lawrence Durrell, because I read The Alexandria Quartet by LD in college and was blown away by it.

Janet Evanovich keeps churning out Stephanie Plum books, but still can build up the absurdity until I laugh my head off.

Pratchett, Hiassen, and Moore are simply masters of the art.

Hekate

[Upton]

241. Body

by Harry Crews. Of course most of his stuff is funnier than hell.

[Puglover]

242. Still Life With Woodpecker

Tom Robbins. I was LOL and I'm not kidding.

[hiaasenrocks]

243. Two writers do that for me.

Peter Farrelly (I just started a thread about his novels).

Dave Barry, both non-fiction and his two novels, BIG TROUBLE and TRICKY BUSINESS.

[MullenBank]

244. Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas

Hunter S Thompson.

[pitohui]

245. tik tok by john sladek

i'm too lazy to make a list of funny novels and i see many favorites already listed but here is one that seems to have been overlooked

[Leeny]

246. "Bleachy Haired Honky Bitch"

by Hollis Gillespie. It was a riot. She has another book that I'm trying to find a copy of entitled "Confessions of a Recovering Slut". She's funny, sad, touches on serious life stuff. I laughed out loud a lot.

[pokerfan]

249. Candide is hysterical 18th century comedy

as well as savage satire:
http://www.literature.org/authors/voltaire/candide/

The Mark Twain short, Cannibalism In The Cars:
http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/1288

Best of all, they are both public domain and can be read at the links above.

O che sciagura d'essere senza coglioni!

[PittPoliSci]

250. "Dead Men Scare Me Stupid" by John Swartzwelder.

He wrote for the Simpsons. This book is absolutely incredible.

[PassingFair]

251. If you liked "The Diary of Adrian Mole", you will LOVE "Youth in Revolt"..

...the Journals of Nick Twisp.

by C.D. Payne

They just finished shooting the movie, and
I can't wait to see it!

[Captain Hilts]

258. I'll check it out - thanks!

[LibraLiz1973]

255. Miss America by Howard Stern

[Rancid Crabtree]

257. all of the above, here's a few more

Good as Gold comes to mind, and for those who can't bear to be away from politics, tis the season after all, this might fill the bill while you're waiting for the latest poll.
The Knockout Artist, Body, Scar Lover, Celebration, and The Mulching of America by Harry Crews, Swiftian satire, if there is such a thing
Mrs. Hollingsworth's Men, Padgett Powell, for a take on the new south...hey Rupert Murdoc (sic?) is in there!!
Midnight's Children, Rushdie, was a hoot, I thought.
The Palm Wine Drinkard, Amos Tuotola, check the spelling there...
A lot of the South American writers have a fantastically funny imagination

[Captain Hilts]

260. I just read Queen Camilla, a sequal to Queen and I by Sue Townsend.

The monarchy is abolished and the Windsors have to go live in public housing.

A couple of lines really got me laughing. A fun read.

[azul]

262. The Crock of Gold by James Stephens

Like delayed laughs that builds up into a joy to read. But I suppose, to each her own.

[Libertyfirst]

264. Am I the only person here who read "The One Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding?

Not politically correct, but I was laughing so hard the librarian asked me to leave. Of course, that has also happened with a couple of others.

[paparush]

265. Terry Pratchett always makes me laugh. Hunter Thompson.

[stlove1000]

266. I Am America and So Can You

An insane viewpoint.

[EndersDame]

269. Job: A comedy of Justice by Heinlein

Imagine Heinlein writing an end of days comedy involving God Loki and Satan (with god being the biggest divine jackass)

[EndersDame]

270. Lady Slings the Booze or any of the Callahan by Spider Robinson

The book takes place in a Bordello owned by Lady Sally (wife of mike callahan owner of Callahan's Crosstime Saloon also a great book) plenty of puns to delight or annoy!

[EndersDame]

272. Old skool satire that earned me no social points in High School:

The Frogs, Lysistrata, The Clouds- Aristophanes
Candide- Voltaire
Tartuffe (every religious nut job should read)- Moliere