Can you recommend a funny (as in lol while reading) book for me?

[Stacia]

I'm between books & want to start another one. My brain is fried these days (we've had some stressful things going on lately) & I really would enjoy a fun & funny book to read. I'd love to find something that could make me lol while reading. :001_smile:

 

My normal reading mode is historical fiction, fiction (both 'classic' & more modern), some biographies, a mystery once in awhile. I think the last book I read that actually made me lol was "The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear" by Walter Moers. And, even though it has scathing moments, I found a lot to lol at in "Fear in Loathing in Las Vegas" by Hunter S. Thompson. For funny things, I'd prefer one complete story (vs. a series of funny essays or short entries). Zany, off-the-wall humor is welcome too.

 

I soooooooo need a funny book right now. Please!

 

Thanks for any ideas!

[nukeswife]

I'm currently reading it for the 2nd time and I've never laughed so hard in my life. My dh thought I was going crazy the first time I read it as I've never laughed out loud so hard or long when reading a book. I will warn you though that the ending is a bit sad, but still worth all the laughs.

[nmoira]

 

• Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchett
  
• To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (especially if you have read Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome)
  
• P.G. Wodehouse

 

[Parabola]

Have you read Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? Funniest. Book. Ever. Actually he's got a whole series, thats the first one.

 

Mil Millington also writes some hysterical stuff. A Certain Chemistry was my favorite.

 

Kurt Vonnegut is also funny, but in a very different kind of way.

 

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller is another funny one.

[nmoira]

 

Have you read Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? Funniest. Book. Ever. Actually he's got a whole series, thats the first one.

OOoh, and his Dirk Gently books... It's probably been 20 years, but I still spontaneously chuckle over the couch on the stairwell. :)

[3lilreds in NC]

If you haven't read Jan Karon's Mitford series, I loved them! I used to laugh so much that I would have to get out of bed and go into the bathroom so dh could sleep. Of course, I was pregnant, which seemed to add to my normally "easily amused" state of being. :D

 

I laughed out loud a LOT when I read Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss. I do love grammar, but I think anyone would get a kick out of this book.

 

If you're at all outdoorsy, or can at least imagine camping, I highly recommend Pat McManus. I laugh to the point of tears reading his stuff. He has some books about a sheriff (Bo Tully) that are funny, but not hysterically so. You want to get his books titled things like The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw and They Shoot Canoes, Don't They? A good one to start with is Into the Twilight, Endlessly Grousing. Oh, my goodness, I'm getting the giggles just thinking about these books!

 

I laughed a lot when listening to James Herriot's books - I don't remember them being quite so funny when I read them, but the narrator does a great job.

 

HTH! I hope you get ahold of some McManus. Well worth it for the laughs!

[Mama Lynx]

Besides Douglas Adams (Especially the Dirk Gently books - someone else mentioned still chuckling over the sofa, I still chuckle about the college dinner and the whole horse in the bathroom incident.) ... perhaps some Jasper Fforde? He's my new favorite fun writer. He has two series, the Thursday Next series (the first one is "The Eyre Affair"), and the Nursery Crime series ... um, I've forgotten the first one of those.

 

"The Eyre Affair" won me over with a scene in which people attended an audience-participation version, Rocky Horror-style, of "Richard III." Absolutely brilliant!

 

P. G. Wodehouse (Jeeves and Wooster) is also great for light, entertaining reading. I only laughed out loud once or twice, but was always amused.

[nakitty]

It's a book of short stories called "Never Sniff A Gift Fish" by Patrick McManus...I love this book and have loaned it out and never had it returned...so others must love it too??? LOL I just recently bought it for the 4th time! LOL

[Perry]

The funniest thing I've ever read was Winterdance, by Gary Paulsen. I've recommended this book to so many friends and every one of them has thanked me afterward. I couldn't put it down and think I read it in one sitting.

 

I also think Bill Bryson's books are funny.

[starlashine]

I'll second Terry Pratchett, really any of the Discworld series is good. I'll also recommend Janet Evanovich. Total fluff, but some of the funniest stuff I've read in years.

[Guest vsb]

You might want to try David Sedaris. Everyone that I have given his books to has complained about being embarassed on a train or airplane because they couldn't hold in their laughs. I reccomend Naked or Me Talk Pretty One Day. I also LOVE Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals. This is the story the Durrell family's time spent in Corfu when he was a boy. It is hilarious.

[SFP]

Straight Man by Richard Russo.

[Spy Car]

If your sense of humor runs to towards the dark and somewhat perverse, you might find "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole to be one of the funniest books ever written.

 

Bill (who'se afraid he slipped into the "passive voice")

[lynn]

Darwin Awards

anything Janet Evonavich(sp)

[Michelle T]

If you like chick fic, I love Sophie Kinsella's book, "Can You Keep A Secret?" I laughed out loud several times reading it. I haven't read her Shopaholic books yet, but one is waiting at the library for me.

 

Bill Bryson's book on walking the Appalachian Trail, something like A Walk in the Forest, is very funny. Actually, most of his books are funny.

 

Dave Sedaris is funny. I find Dave Barry funny too.

 

Hmmm. I think I need to read more funny books too!

Michelle T

[Mrs Mungo]

You've received lots of good suggestions, already, many of them were what I was going to suggest but I do have a couple more:

 

Good Omens is a joint effort by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. It's a funny book regarding an angel, a demon and the apocolypse.

 

Helen Fielding is also really funny she wrote Bridget Jones's Diary and its sequel. There is a scene in the sequel that had me *rolling*. She also wrote Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination which is a James Bond spoof. I really loved it but I've read all of the James Bond books.

[3lilreds in NC]

The funniest thing I've ever read was Winterdance, by Gary Paulsen. I've recommended this book to so many friends and every one of them has thanked me afterward. I couldn't put it down and think I read it in one sitting.

 

I also think Bill Bryson's books are funny.

 

I like Bill Bryson, too! A Walk In The Woods was hysterical! I loved reading about his hiking partner bringing donuts and lightening up his pack. :lol:

[3lilreds in NC]

Dave Barry is really a hoot - although I would avoid his fiction stuff. Not funny and not terribly well-written, either.

[LNC]

Kristin Billerbeck is a Christian chick lit writer. The Ashley Stockingdale and Spa Girls series are laugh out loud funny!

 

http://www.kristinbillerbeck.com/

[happygrrl]

Besides Douglas Adams (Especially the Dirk Gently books - someone else mentioned still chuckling over the sofa, I still chuckle about the college dinner and the whole horse in the bathroom incident.) ... perhaps some Jasper Fforde? He's my new favorite fun writer. He has two series, the Thursday Next series (the first one is "The Eyre Affair"), and the Nursery Crime series ... um, I've forgotten the first one of those.

 

"The Eyre Affair" won me over with a scene in which people attended an audience-participation version, Rocky Horror-style, of "Richard III." Absolutely brilliant!

 

 

 

All the Thursday Next novels are brilliant, and so so so funny. I quote them (as best I can...) all the time. My dH thinks I am absolutely nuts!

[Zoraida]

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. This is an autobiography of a young girl growing up in a dirt poor family with two eccentric parents. There were several laugh out loud scenes in this book. My favorite scene was when the family would have a nightly cockroach killing spree in the kitchen.

 

How to Be Good by Nick Hornby about a husband who drives his wife crazy by trying to be perfectly good all the time.

 

I agree with the other posters about the Terry Pratchett books. One of my sons is a huge fan of Terry Pratchett. I haven't read any of his adult books but he does have a children's series that takes place in Diskworld (Pratchett's universe) This would be a good introduction to Pratchett's books if you have never read him. You would need to read these books in order since the heroine ages in each book. The order would be The Free Wee Men, A Hat Full of Sky, and Wintersmith.

 

 

Gil's All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez another funny read about a vampire and werewolf who teams up to help save a dinner from a deadly female ghost.

 

 

 

Blessings

 

Zoraida

 

 

[Tutor]

Anything in the Jeeves & Wooster series of books by Wodehouse is hysterical. Also, many short stories by Flannery O'Connor have made me laugh so hard I cry... especially A Good Man is Hard to Find. (Dh and I tried to read this one out loud to each other and had to give up because the reader ended up laughing so hard at points he/she couldn't speak.) A heads up on O'Connor: although the majority of her stories are very funny, many of them would probably be better classified as classical tragedy than comedy... along the lines of a Romeo & Juliet feel.

 

If you like political humor and can stand some less-delicate humor at points, P.J. O'Rourke's stuff is funny. I especially like Parliment of Whores and Eat the Rich.

 

I also just finished re-reading Tom Sawyer and am currently reading The Best of James Herriot and found them to both to be very entertaining. (I didn't remember Tom Sawyer being so funny when I read it as a kid.)

[Tutor]

You might want to try David Sedaris. Everyone that I have given his books to has complained about being embarassed on a train or airplane because they couldn't hold in their laughs. I reccomend Naked or Me Talk Pretty One Day. I also LOVE Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals. This is the story the Durrell family's time spent in Corfu when he was a boy. It is hilarious.

 

I forgot about David Sedaris. Me Talk Pretty One Day is hysterical! He has a new book out now, too. Thanks for the reminder.

[Perry]

I love reading Sedaris, but I think listening to him read his stuff is even better. The library probably has all his books on tape. He just cracks me up.

[laylamcb]

As others have mentioned, Wodehouse never fails to delight. Some find him mildly amusing; I have trouble eating or drinking when I'm reading him. ;) I love the Psmith books, too, but nothing beats Jeeves and Wooster. They're ALL good. They're what I read and re-read all through both pregnancies and while nursing.

 

If nothing else, do NOT miss The Code of the Woosters. If you don't have time for an entire book, by all means get hold of Right Ho, Jeeves and read the chapter in which Gussie Fink-Nottle gives out the prizes at the Market Snodsbury Grammar School. IMHO, this is one of the funniest chapters in the English language. Just thinking about it makes me shake with laughter. Bwahahahaaa!!

 

Layla McB

[Mama Lynx]

Anything in the Jeeves & Wooster series of books by Wodehouse is hysterical. Also, many short stories by Flannery O'Connor have made me laugh so hard I cry... especially A Good Man is Hard to Find. (Dh and I tried to read this one out loud to each other and had to give up because the reader ended up laughing so hard at points he/she couldn't speak.) A heads up on O'Connor: although the majority of her stories are very funny, many of them would probably be better classified as classical tragedy than comedy... along the lines of a Romeo & Juliet feel.

 

If you like political humor and can stand some less-delicate humor at points, P.J. O'Rourke's stuff is funny. I especially like Parliment of Whores and Eat the Rich.

 

I also just finished re-reading Tom Sawyer and am currently reading The Best of James Herriot and found them to both to be very entertaining. (I didn't remember Tom Sawyer being so funny when I read it as a kid.)

 

Isn't that funny? I just re-read Tom Sawyer too, and I was thoroughly entertained and enchanted by the writing. So much so that I can't wait to read more Twain.

[tibbyl]

I forgot about David Sedaris. Me Talk Pretty One Day is hysterical! He has a new book out now, too. Thanks for the reminder.

 

 

I second the Sedaris recommendation. As a matter of fact, one of our winter holiday family traditions is to attend Sedaris's one man play, "Holidays on Ice," about his experience working as an elf at Macy's. By the way, it is not suitable for the younger set.

 

When possible, we rent or buy Sedaris's books on CD because his deadpan delivery adds so much to the story. On a recent trip, we listened to his latest, "Engulfed in Flames."

 

While we have not been disappointed with any of his books, the stories about his family are the most entertaining by far.

 

In the same vein, you may like David Rakoff and Sarah Vowell.

[tkhmoh]

Helen Fielding is also really funny she wrote Bridget Jones's Diary and its sequel. There is a scene in the sequel that had me *rolling*. She also wrote Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination which is a James Bond spoof. I really loved it but I've read all of the James Bond books.

 

 

I have to second Helen Fielding. In particular the Bridget Jones's Diaries. I have read them many times over and still laugh out loud at certain scenes.

 

I can't tell you how many times I've read something out loud to my husband - only to get a very blank look back.:glare:

[chickenpatty]

Cheaper by the Dozen

[Fourmother]

When possible, we rent or buy Sedaris's books on CD because his deadpan delivery adds so much to the story. On a recent trip, we listened to his latest, "Engulfed in Flames."

 

Sedaris books on audio are the funniest things I've ever heard. Me Talk Pretty One Day made me laugh until I cried. I can't wait to hear Engulfed in Flames.

[Fourmother]

Another big Jasper Fforde fan here. I devoured the whole Thursday next series in a few months. The first book in the Nursery Crimes series is The Big Over Easy, about the murder of one Humperdink Dumpty. See, it's already funny.

[nancypants]

I think anything by P.G. Wodehouse will do that for you... we love Wooster & Jeeves especially.

[Kay in Cal]

How about the Jasper Fforde novels? The Nursery Crime series makes me crack up!

 

 

I'm also a big Wodehouse fan... and I love Connie Willis. Good Omens is fantastic too... heck, pick any one of these!!!

[Liza Q]

Yup - Fforde and Wodehouse and Fielding are all great choices! And I do love Connie Willis but beware Doomsday Book - that one is not one of her funny books! Read that one when you want a fabulous read, not a funny one.

 

My personal favorite Wodehouse is Quick Service - probably because it was the first one I ever read, before I had ever heard of Jeeves and Wooster. I can remember nearly falling off my seat on the subway while reading and laughing loudly enough to annoy the person sitting next to me - maybe because I was an overdramatic teenager but also because it was just.that.funny.

 

The only other book that got me that hysterical was The Princess Bride - I thought it was much funnier than the movie!

[Rhonda in TX]

I don't like her other books so much, but these are absolutely hysterical.

[Lisa at Home]

By A.J. Jacobs.

 

An athiest trying to live out the law of the Old Testament makes for some very hilarious episodes. I very nearly had several personal accidents, and there were several incidents of laughing out loud and nearly choking to death! :thumbup:

 

~Lisa

[Chris in VA]

Traveling Mercies and Bird by Bird are wonderfully funny (some CC, some language). TM is about a single (new) mom who is just trying to hold her life together. Bird by Bird is about taking life one step at a time, and tells of her life with her now older son.

[Obi-Mom Kenobi]

Total chick lit but LOL funny is Unpredictable by Eileen Cook. You won't believe the messes the main character gets herself into. It isn't going to win the Pulitzer by any means but it's absolutely perfect for the beach or for some mental downtime. You can get it on Amazon pretty cheap.

[Stacia]

Thanks so much! I've requested a bunch of these from the library. I really appreciate it! I was already busy laughing at some of the excerpts I could see on amazon, lol. You gals & guys are an awesome bunch. :001_smile:

[kalanamak]

Three Men in a Boat, long out of copyright, so here you go. I just scream over the swans.

 

http://www.forgottenfutures.com/game/boat/boat.htm

 

He did a follow-up, some 20 years later.

Three Men on the Bummel

[Lizzie in Ma]

The Amelia Peabody mysteries make me laugh a great deal and I will go out on a limb here and tell you that the Spencer mysteries have moments that are so funny, (to me) that I have memorized them.

And, of course, there is always Calvin and Hobbes.