Looking for a funny book... - by the_grip
the_grip on 8/7/2012 at 02:24
Hi TTLG, been a bit, but I am coming down off of a sci-fi/horror novel binge and I am looking for something more offbeat and (more importantly) crazy laugh out loud funny. I know there are a number of readers here with great taste... any suggestions?
demagogue on 8/7/2012 at 03:47
The last book I recall literally laughing out loud was Stephen Clarke's A Year in the Merde. Another offbeat one I read recently was Alduous Huxley's Chrome Yellow. Then there are classics like Catch 22, Confederacy of Dunces, The World According to Garp, anything by Douglas Adams of course, and anything by Kurt Vonnegut Jr like Breakfast of Champions.
LarryG on 8/7/2012 at 06:11
Depending on how funny you want it to be, here are a few that I remember as funny, spanning slapstick to dry humor:
Any of the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett.
Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat I remember as a laugh. Of his Bill the Galactic Hero series.
A Voice for Princess by John Morressy
The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure by William Goldman
The Fallible Fiend by L. Sprague de Camp
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
and I agree about Douglas Adams.
Sulphur on 8/7/2012 at 06:53
It may be a comic strip, but just get the entire Calvin & Hobbes collection if you haven't already. Hell, I think everybody should have it take pride of place in their bookshelves.
Catch-22 and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy are the last two books I remember having the most laughs with. Catch-22's juxtaposition of the serious with the ludicrously absurd might not be to your taste, though. Good Omens and the Discworld novels are fun reads too.
SubJeff on 8/7/2012 at 07:57
The Flashman Papers. Start at the beginning.
Thread over.
N'Al on 8/7/2012 at 11:08
I quite enjoyed Rob Grant's non-Red Dwarf books - (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Grant#by_himself)
Colony,
Incompetence,
Fat (His Red Dwarf books might be good too, but I never read those).
Also, not sure whether they're available in English yet - or whether the humour would even translate - but (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Haas) Wolf Haas' Brenner novels usually have a pretty humorous dark core to them even though they're sold more as detective fiction. Remind me of Dirk Gently, in a way, although they're nowhere near as OTT and fantastical.
Vivian on 8/7/2012 at 11:36
American Psycho. Seriously, it's got some amazingly fucked-up bits in it, but it's also one of the funniest books I've ever read.
The (
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/jul/14/bret-easton-ellis-american-psycho)
Guardian agrees:
"Yet to talk of such weighty matters hardly does justice to the most significant aspect of the American Psycho reading experience: the fact that it's hilarious. As well as being a repulsive nightmare, Patrick Bateman is a comic creation of the highest order. His snobbery, his bad taste, his obsession with Les Mis and ability to take Huey Lewis and the News seriously, his terror when someone has a better business card than him, his constant worry that he has "to return some videos" all add up to one of the funniest comic creations since Bertie Wooster. True, he isn't quite such pleasant company as Bertie, but what did you expect? He's a psycho."
SubJeff on 8/7/2012 at 11:45
Oh, I'll second that. It really is very funny, some of it laugh out loud funny. It's because it's just so preposterous. Come to think of it David Cronenberg's new film - Cosmopolis - has a similar feel.
