Laugh Out Loud Funny

lol

I know Pratchett has been brought up before but i wanted to get my two cents in. He is the best in the humor genre right now and there are elements of deprecation, blended with subtle moralising, yet conveys a non hubrimental world view in a very tragi-comic fashion. Yes Minister is another must read, if you like Pratchett.

I totally concur with Three Men in a Boat. Excellent book.

The First Book of Tasteless Fortune Cookie Fortunes

my friend has this book and it's freeking hilarious

I know they aren't meant as comedy books but i've always found Irvine Welsh's books laugh-out-loud funny. I think Filth was the one that I laughed at most. Probably features some of the most vile and despicable characters ever to grace book form but certain scenes and situations tickled me!

magemanda said:

"the person who unfailing has me in stitches is Bill Bryson. My favourite is 'Notes From a Big Country', which is bite-sized essay-style writing that you can dip in and out of."

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I totally agree!! Over the years I've come back to this book countless times, but it still makes me laugh even now. I love the chapter entitled 'Your New Computer' (p.309); "Congratulations. You are ready to set up your new computer. If you have not yet acquired a degree in electrical engineering, now is the time to do so."
'Stupidity News' (p.365) is a great one to read just before exams, it always makes me think 'Well I may not be a genius but at least I can explain something better than this...; "Here is the actress Brooke Shields, without any help from grown-ups, explaining to an interviewer why you shouldn't smoke: 'Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life"!!!!!!!
(The really scary thing is that kind of thinking really reminds me of someone rather powerful; "If we do not succeed we run the risk of failiure" etc. Know what I mean?)

I'm new here, and I can't believe I have finally found people with my sense of humor!!! First of all:
Jazzrose17... I laughed too when I read Angela's Ashes. He was a funny man, and you have to give him credit to still be able to chuckle about his life after what he went through.
prglegal... wow, its nice to hear I'm not the only one who wasn't impressed with Hitch-Hikers. I tried many of times, but couldn't get into it.
Also, I Love Christopher Moore. You have to read Lamb and The Stupidest Angel. They're great.
Martin... Eyre Affair was really good, but I'm worried about reading the others because I haven't read the books that they are about. Does that make any sense?
I think someone mentioned Tom Robbins, and if they didn't, he needs to be on the list of awesome authors. Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates is great along with Villa Incognito. He's up there with Christopher Moore.
One more thing... Calvin & Hobbes has got to be the greatest comic ever written.
Thank you for listening to me ramble.

Martin said:

Hi,

A simple question for you Book-Addicts out there. Here it comes.

Name the one book that made you laugh out loud the most times. I, also, am addicted to books, but I find books that actually make me laugh quite rare, so I hope you'll have some recommendations for me.

Can't wait, so think about it, hit the reply-button, and let me know.

Cheers, Martin

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I'm new to this site, a hard core reader, and a big fan of humorous books. Scanning my bookshelves, here's a list of some of my favorites funny books/writers.

Douglas Adams - Anything
Kingsley Amis - His early stuff
Wilton Barnhardt - "Gospel" - a forgotten treasure of a book and very funny
Dave Barry - Anything
T. C. Boyle - "Water Music" one of the 2-3 funniest books I've read
- "Budding Prospects" a couple of slackers try their hand at pot farming
Christopher Buckley - "No Way to Treat a First Lady" and "Thank You for Smoking" Very funny and underrated
Augusten Burroughs - anything - disturbingly funny
Tim Cahill - anything - very funny travel adventure
J. P. Donleavy - anything
Bill Fitzhugh - "Pest Control"
Jonathan Franzen - "The Corrections" - squirmingly funny
Steven Fry - anything
Tony Hawks - "Round Ireland with a Fridge"
Tony Hendra - "Father Joe" - as touching as it is funny
Carl Hiaasen - Prolific and consistently hilarious, maybe start with "Double Whammy" or "Skin Tight"
Nick Hornby - anything, wryly humorous
John Irving - "A Prayer for Owen Meany" - his masterpiece, and pretty darn funny
Charles Johnson - "Middle Passage" - believe or not, a very funny story that takes place on a slave ship, modern day Mark Twain
Pete McCarthy - "McCarthy's Bar" - the most consistently funny book in a long time
Magnus Mills - "Restraint of Beasts" - surreally funny
Christopher Moore - anything - I'm happy to see him several times in this forum
Tim O'Brien - "Tomcat in Love" - very serious writer tries his hand at humor
Redmond O'Hanlon - "Into the Heart of Borneo" - self deprecatingly funny travel adventure
P. J. O'Rourke - anything - maybe the only funny American conservative
T. R. Pearson - "True Cross" - much funnier than "A Short History of a Small Place"
Tom Robbins - anything
David Sedaris - anything - just hilarious
Tahir Shah - "Sorcerer's Apprentice" yet another very funny travel adventure
Tom Sharpe - the best of them all!!! - "Riotous Assembly" - my vote for funniest book of all time, but they're all great
Hunter S. Thompson - "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" - crazy and gut bustingly funny
P.G. Wodehouse - consistently chuckle producing
Tom Wolfe - "Bonfire of the Vanities" - a huge hilarious masterpiece.

Well that's it. I would love to hear any recommendations. I've got a list started from the prior recommendations and hope to hear more as they come along.

Pigdog

Jasper Fforde is my new laugh-out-loud funny man.

His Thursday Next series starts with The Eyre Affair.

Mark Twain couldn't put pen to paper without making me laugh. The early chapters of Tom Sawyer are a good example.

I am a HUGE fan of funny books. Here's a quick list of some recent reads that had me laughing:

In Me Own Words: The Autobiography of Bigfoot by Graham Roumieu

Lamb : The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore

The Losers' Club by Richard Perez

Falling Sideways by Tom Holt

And the book I'm reading now, Chris Genoa's Foop!, is also really funny.

Books that made me laugh:

Sir Apropos of Nothing - Peter David
Just a couple of days - Tony Vigorito
anything by Terry Pratchett
anything by Douglas Adams
Winterdance The Fine Madness Of Running The Iditarod -Gary Paulsen

UTSteel, if you liked Just a Couple of Days (which I loved), you should check out Foop! by Chris Genoa. I read it recently and it reminded me a lot of Just a Couple of Days. I think that Vigorito's book is a bit more well written than Genoa's, but for me Foop! is the funnier of the two. I was laughing out loud a lot.

I also crack up at anything by Pratchett and Adams.

They Shoot Canoes, Don’t They? By Patrick F. McManus

Laughed out loud 4 times in the first 20 pages. I was sitting at my daughters karate class during this time....got some looks...that was funny too.....

Motokid said:

They Shoot Canoes, Don’t They? By Patrick F. McManus

Laughed out loud 4 times in the first 20 pages. I was sitting at my daughters karate class during this time....got some looks...that was funny too.....

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what is it about? it sounds like a travelguide or something..

honeydevil said:

what is it about? it sounds like a travelguide or something..

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It's short stories that revolve around hunting, fishing, camping, and the great outdoors. McManus used to write a column in Field & Stream magazine. He still might for all I know. I just borrowed the book based on what I remebered reading years ago from F & S.

Laugh out loud funny for sure. At least for me....

Motokid said:

It's short stories that revolve around hunting, fishing, camping, and the great outdoors. McManus used to write a column in Field & Stream magazine. He still might for all I know. I just borrowed the book based on what I remebered reading years ago from F & S.

Laugh out loud funny for sure. At least for me....

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i know something like that, but it is like a travel guide and there somebody tells you little tales from his/her vacation...

I was wondering why no one has mentioned James Herriot as yet. His adventures as he goes arount the countryside treating cows and horses and dogs, are outright hilarious
All Creatures- Great and Small

Mari said:

Mark Twain couldn't put pen to paper without making me laugh. The early chapters of Tom Sawyer are a good example.

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I heartily agree

Satya said:

I was wondering why no one has mentioned James Herriot as yet. His adventures as he goes arount the countryside treating cows and horses and dogs, are outright hilarious
All Creatures- Great and Small

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Moreover, there is just one obscure reference to P G Wodehouse

I am beginning to wonder if there is something wrong with my sense of humour

I see MotoKid offered his current fare. I haven't read it yet, but am a huge fan of Patrick McManus. He used to write for "Field and Stream" magazine. I used to bust a gut reading his articles, and I am sure that any book he wrote would be equally funny.

He usually does outdoorsy kind of stuff.