BARBELITH underground
 

Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.


Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Funny books

  
  

Page: (1)2

 
 
William Sack
12:54 / 28.03.03
Perhaps it's the war, I don't know, but I really need to read a book that will make me laugh. Classics, contemporary, whatever.

Two I really enjoy; one old, one new:

Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith. Male Bridget Jones of the 1890s. Actually, not at all, but it's in diary format as the title suggests, and you will not find a finer comic creation than the self-important yet unselfaware Charles Pooter.

Anthropology by Dan Rhodes. 101 stories of love and loss, each 101 words long. Here are a few of them, but my favourites are not there. As with much great humour, sometimes it's not what he says that's funny, but what he leaves to your imagination.

What are the funniest books you have read?
 
 
Kit-Cat Club
13:12 / 28.03.03
I'm laughing a lot at Nicholas Nickleby actually... especially Mr Mantalini, demnition.

But yes, The Diary of a Nobody is a classic, as is Three Men in a Boat. And The Autobiography of Augustus Carp, Esq., by himself or whatever it's called... Also the four Molesworth books, hem hem.
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
13:12 / 28.03.03
Intentionally?

Well, I must admit that I'm one of the few people on the board who likes Terry Pratchett books or the ouevre of Robert Rankin. Michael Marshall-Smith's 'Only Forward' is great for being an extremely funny, serious sci-fi tale.
 
 
rizla mission
13:41 / 28.03.03
Books can make me laugh much, much more than films, TV etc. I tend to find myself collapsing in absolute hysterics at just one choice phrase or weird idea pretty frequently..

Often whilst reading the works of;

Robert Rankin
Flann O'Brian
GK Chesterton
Steve Aylett

As to a "funniest book I have read", that honour would probably have to go to Catch-22. I'm sure you all know the reasons why. The way that book can plunge the reader from delirious hysterics to absolute horror and despair in the space of a sentence is just incredible.

I also found 'The Crying of Lot 49' pretty funny, probably because I couldn't connect very well with the more serious themes of the book and so just sat back and enjoyed the dumb, mad stuff that kept happening.
 
 
Whisky Priestess
13:55 / 28.03.03
Got to go with the good old standby Douglas Adams - Dirk Gently or Hitchhiker, they're both great.

Also Stephen Fry's The Liar is hysterical at points, although I still think The Hippopotamus is his best novel.

For Christ's sake don't read any Kathy Lette.
 
 
Ethan Hawke
14:22 / 28.03.03
Mark Leyner's books are hilarious.

A Confederacy of Dunces - and it's good for you, too.

I was reading Jonathan Ames's "what's not to love" on the train the other day, and parts made me laugh.
 
 
Ethan Hawke
14:27 / 28.03.03
Oh, and Woody Allen's "Without Feathers," "Side Effects," and the other one I can't remember are stellar examples of humor writing.
 
 
rizla mission
14:31 / 28.03.03
Yeah, 'Without Feathers' is an absolute hoot.

Though oddly, I've got another Woody Allen book (which I don't remember the name of) compiled along identical lines, which I didn't think was very funny at all.

As if he'd put all the great routines in one book, and all the ones that didn't quite work in the other.
 
 
Ethan Hawke
14:45 / 28.03.03
Yeah, I don't remember which bits were in which book - I think I may have liked one better than the other, as rizla sez. there's a lot of stuff in there that will be immediately recognizable, as they're very often stolen from/referenced.

I think there exists some stand-up records on him doing bits from the books, or at least stand-up from the same era, which is priceless.
 
 
kid entropy
15:27 / 28.03.03
the circus chapter in bigot hall by the aforementioned steve aylett,good lord,what larks
 
 
William Sack
15:30 / 28.03.03
Flowers: Intentionally?

Know what you mean - I don't think I have laughed more per page than the first 50-odd pages of I Owe You Nothing, Luke Goss' autobiog. 50 pages is enough though, as life's just too short.
 
 
lolita nation
20:54 / 28.03.03
Maybe Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead?
 
 
Pirate Ven Will Teach You To Lambada (The Forbidden Dance)
21:19 / 28.03.03
The "Goats March" and "Simon Moon vs. The Cookie Glitch" bits in Schrodinger's Cat (Robert Anton Wilson/no Shea, yeah?) induced more than a few giggles. But I am an immature fuck.
And pretty much all of "Good Omens" (Neil Gaiman/Terry Pratchett), especially near the end, I found pretty funny.
I think I had another one ready, poking about in the back of my head, but I'll be damned if I can remember it now.
 
 
The Strobe
22:01 / 28.03.03
Hmn, what's made me laugh recently...?

Well, for a start, Lucky Jim, which is just wonderful, and has the world's greatest description of being drunk (and subsequent description of hangover) ever.

Just got my copy of The Last Samurai back which is very much comfort reading for me, and it still makes me giggle and chuckle like an idiot.

Umm... The Rachel Papers was far funnier than I remember it, and funnier than it had any right to be.

Other than that, Joe Queenan makes me laugh, I laughed quite a bit in Tristram Shandy, Ted Heller's Slab Rat was quite amusing, and (when it was funny) Eggers' AHWOSG was worthy of lots of laughter.

Comic authors who make me laugh? Jasper Fforde. Not ashamed at all.
 
 
Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo
03:56 / 29.03.03
I like the Myth books by Robert Asprin, but they are horridly cute and stuffed with puns.

And I second the Woody Allen collections...most of them are stories he did for the New Yorker, and they are brilliant in their relentless pursuit of a laugh. He used to be funny before people told him he was brilliant.
 
 
grant
04:13 / 29.03.03
Spike Milligan wrote a couple good ones.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
07:30 / 29.03.03
This seems to be my answer to pretty much every books thread, but...

Martin Millar. Especially "Ruby and the Stone Age Diet". Or possibly "Milk, Sulphate and Alby Starvation." Fuck, any of them. They're all good.

And Magnus Mills. Again, any of them.

Oh, and the wonderful "The Peculiar Memories of Thomas Penman" (I think I got the title right) by the equally wonderful Bruce Robinson (director of the so-wonderful-it-should-be-illegal "Withnail and I".)
 
 
Eloi Tsabaoth
09:44 / 29.03.03
Agree about Marshall-Smith, Rankin and Fforde. Just have to add Mark Leyner, whose book Et tu, Babe is one of the funniest things to grace this Earth. It's like a battery from a parallel universe where funny is used as an alternative fuel source.
 
 
that
10:26 / 29.03.03
Definitely Molesworth, as any fule kno, chiz. Also agree with 'Three Men in a Boat'. Read 'The Importance of Being Earnest' - much better than going to see it performed.
I also find Joseph O'Connor's 'The Irish Male at Home and Abroad' really funny, in a comfort-reading sort of way. It's a collection of articles, very self-consciously funny, and that doesn't always work but I actually laugh out loud at several points, and that's v. unusual for me. I used to read 'My Family and Other Animals' by Gerald Durrell all the time, because it is comforting and quietly funny.

Might give some of the books you lot have mentioned a go...
 
 
Foust is SO authentic
11:57 / 29.03.03
I'll second Eggers' book. I don't think I've ever laughed so uproarously over a book.
 
 
Pirate Ven Will Teach You To Lambada (The Forbidden Dance)
23:01 / 29.03.03
Also: the bit where Frank's piss drunk and rambling on about, well... Don't want to ruin the best part of "Wasp Factory" (Iain Banks).
And nearly any of the Erik phone calls.
 
 
Catjerome
05:00 / 30.03.03
I usually end up laughing out loud when I read Neil Simon plays.
 
 
A
05:31 / 30.03.03
Douglas Adams is always good for a laugh, but I imagine you already knew that.

Kinky Friedman's novels are always quite amusing, too.

Neil Stephenson's first three novels- The Big U, Zodiac and Snow Crash are all pretty damn funny.

I'll post more when I think of 'em.
 
 
straylight
08:49 / 30.03.03
'The Basic Eight' by Daniel Handler.

It's pretty much good for anyone who ever hated or loved anybody else. Or maybe that's just me.
 
 
bjacques
10:02 / 30.03.03
Edgar Allen Poe wrote some funny short stories, like "The Devil in the Belfry," which makes fun of the Dutch, and "The Thousand-and-Second Tale," in which Sheherazade pushes her luck. Also, "Never Bet the Devil Your Head."
 
 
The Falcon
15:46 / 30.03.03
Aylett's The Inflatable Volunteer is also funny.

Don't read Bill Hicks' biography though. It's rubbish.

The Filth is well funny also.
 
 
A
23:53 / 30.03.03
That Bill Hicks bio wasn't so bad, in my opinion. I guess it didn't really give you too much insight into the man and what made him tick, but it was well written, well researched and informative, at least.
 
 
Smoothly
08:16 / 31.03.03
Jeeves & Wooster - perhaps The Code Of The Woosters - for beautifully turned phrases and similes that make you want to hug something. But I've still never laughed as hard as I laughed at the Christmas pageant scenes in John Irving's A Prayer For Owen Meany.
 
 
William Sack
09:01 / 31.03.03
There's some cracking stuff here which I look forward to reading or re-reading. 2 more from me: The Magic Christian by Terry Southern (of Dr. Strangelove fame) about a billionaire prankster, and George Bush: Dark Prince of Love, Lydia Millet's story of a trailer-trash woman's designs to replace Barbara as George Bush senior's First Lady. Some of the funniest bits in it are actual quotes from GB I such as (words to the effect of) "I do have an opinion on the issue. I just don't know whether I agree with it."
 
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
14:31 / 31.03.03
Douglas Adams is a genius and I love him. I just read the hitchhikers series again the other day and I'd forgotten how goddamn good they are. Although, the first ones are better. But it's all good, just a bit lazy nearer to the end.
 
 
The Falcon
23:23 / 31.03.03
That Bill Hicks bio wasn't so bad, in my opinion. I guess it didn't really give you too much insight into the man and what made him tick, but it was well written, well researched and informative, at least.

I really disliked it; it failed to capture any essence of Hicks by dint of being not funny at all. Hence the forewarning...

Thought the prose was pretty leaden, too. But never mind.
 
 
A
05:47 / 01.04.03
Good point, I guess a proper Bill Hicks bio would have been infused with some of his humour and passion. Still, it wasn't a bad way to spend a few hours.
 
 
The Puck
19:48 / 02.04.03
I liked the hicks bio but the pace was a bit slow i thought, but i was incredably intrested in the subject to begin with.

That aside novels by stand up comidians are normally a safe bet, both books written by David Baddiel are laugh-out-load-on-a-bus-full-of-people funny, or try Harry Hills first novel if Harry Hill is your thing.

The book 'are you Dave Gorman?' is classed as travel in some shops and humour in others but is high lare re us and well worth a look, another travel/humour author that normally tickles my fancy is Bill Bryson.

Oh and Colin Bateman deserves a mention although his stuff does get a bit samey after a bit.
 
 
mkt
07:39 / 04.04.03
Try Flann O'Brien. His novels are very funny (but possibly something of an acquired taste, and for the love of God don't go in at the deep end with The Poor Mouth), but every home should have his collected newspaper columns, published under the name of Myles na Gcopaleen. There are two volumes I think, The Best of Myles and Myles Away from Dublin, and they are fine examples of laugh-out-loud surrealism in lovely bite-sized pieces. Ideal toilet reading.
 
 
pomegranate
18:22 / 21.04.03
is no one mentioning david sedaris just cos it's obvious? his shit just kills me, and everyone i know.
 
  

Page: (1)2

 
  
Add Your Reply