MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
i really need chearing up. thought a good funny read may lift my mood.anything thats been in the shops recently or i wont struggle to find that people would highly recommend?
Cheers!
laughed out loud at a couple of danny wallace books, join me and friends like these.
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The Peculiar Memories of Thomas Penman - by Bruce Robinson.
Great book from the guy who wrote Withnail and I.
Anything by Robert Rankin
Rohl Dahl - My Uncle Oswold - an adult book BTW - lovely!
anything by Christopher Brookmyre.
Not a recommendation, more of a thread hijack 🙂
Can anyone recommend any PG Woodhouse books? Never read any!
Cheers.
The Hungry Years by William Leith.
Very dark in places but extremely funny in others.
+1 for Brookmyre but it probably helps if you understand the standard West of Scotland prejudices
Not sure if he has aged well - but I remember being in stitches on a train in about 1985, reading Tom Sharpes Wilt on High.
Probably "of it's time", but I remember greatly enjoying Sharpe's dark and cutting humour
[url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/Throwback-Tom-Sharpe/dp/0099435527/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284564616&sr=8-7 ]The Throwback[/url] - Probably the most hilarious (and vicious) that I have read. My then girlfriend thought it was deeply offensive.
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Calvin & Hobbs never fail to bring a smile to my face.
And quite aptly this quote could have been writen for some of STW threads.
A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day.
Catch 22 is always worth a read (but nothing else by Joseph Heller)
Agree about Tom Sharpe
Almost anything by PG Wodehouse (Bertie Wooster a good place to start)
Douglas Adams, Stephen Fry, Hugh Lawrie, Spike Milligan all good.
It shames me to say - Bill Bryson.
Danny Wallace - not really funny, but certainly warm and life affirming.
But never touch the autobiography of a funny person. You'll end up hating the miserable sod.
Agree with Bigjohn
Catch 22 is genius! And hilariously absurd
John O'Farrell books are always funny
In a different way - Dawn of the Dumb is genius. Its a collection of all Charlie Brookers columns. Brilliant!!
William Boyd - Armadillo.
Agree about Tom Sharpe, very good.
A couple of classics
Three Men in a Boat - a long standing favourite
The Ascent of Rum Doodle - a recent discovery (to me) and just reprinted
Then
Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island is very good as are Clive James' first couple of volumes of autobiography.
The Flashman Chronicles are also immensely funny and surprisingly educational.
Ones I want to read are Spike Milligan's war Memoirs, very good and very very funny from all accounts.
Also forgot to mention another oldie the collected works of Saki a dark, devious, bitter and equally funny alternative to Wodehouse.
Yup Tom Sharpe and Throw Back being one of the best.
+1 for anything by Tom Sharpe or Robert Rankin..
any of the terry pratchet discworld series.
You'd be better of starting with the coloour of magic and so on in order.
they are fantastic books definitely worth a read
'Sh1t My Dad Says' by Justin Halpern, short, easy to read and laugh out loud funny.
'Good Omens' by Prachett/Gaiman
I won't be popular amongst the intellectual giants on here but the pratchett discworld books are undoubtedly funny..
Sharpe I found to be hit and miss. I'd agree with the suggestions of the Wilt series and The Throwback, but most of his other stuff (that I've read) left me cold. Perhaps I was a bit young at the time.
Pratchett is a difficult one to get started with - you really need to read The Colour Of Magic to get most of the concepts explained, and it's his worst book. After that, continuity is loose.
Big fan of Robert Rankin, but I'd disagree that 'any' is a good start, it's an aquired taste. I'd suggest The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse as a good standalone.
Douglas Adams should be essential reading.
+1 for Christopher Brookmyre, recently discovered him and he's ace. There is a vague continuity again though, worth looking on Wikipedia or somewhere to see what follows what.
Tom Holt, Robert Asprin, Andrew Hardman, all very good.
Also try
Who do you think you are? Michael Schumacher
by Ian Stafford
Very funny
Tim Moore - Continental Drifter, Frost on my Mustache, Spanish Steps, French Revolutions are all good.
Are you Dave Gorman? and Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure - both by, erm, Dave Gorman.
+1 for Rankin and Sharpe
also, "Round Ireland with a fridge" - Tony Hawks
I agree with many of these, Pratchett, Holt, Rankin are favorites for me. But the one that consistently, actually makes me laugh, snicker and giggle is Calvin & Hobbs. [url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scientific-Progress-Goes-Boink-Collection/dp/0751504815 ]"Scientific Progress Goes Boink"[/url] nearly made me drown in my own beer once.
Any book by Spike Milligan - especially his army days - hilarious
George MacDonald Fraser's 'Flashman' books are laugh out loud funny and historically accurate. Everybody should read them.
Carl Hiaasen's books also tend to be hilarious, especially his older stuff like 'Native Tongue'.
[url= http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/240924/A-Confederacy-of-Dunces/Product.html ]A confederacy of dunces[/url]
George MacDonald Fraser's 'Flashman' books are laugh out loud funny and historically accurate. Everybody should read them.
Agreed. Totally agreed.
Pick up a collection of the Jeeves and Wooster books if you can, there are several where three or four are in one edition. Sublimely funny writing!
Some others which have made me chuckle (Authors and/or books)
Jasper Fforde - Mad. Utterly mad, but oh so very clever and funny!
"Penguins stopped play" by Harry Thompson - Marvellous. Read right to the end.....
"Attention all shipping" by Charlie Connelly
"Round Ireland with a Fridge" and other books by Tony Hawks. Be sure to check out the website where he replies to letters to Tony Hawk - http://www.tony-hawks.com/skateboarding.php
Calvin and Hobbes fans should invest in [url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Calvin-Hobbes-v/dp/0740748475/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1 ]this[/url].
I bought it for my son one Christmas. He kindly let me borrow it.
Not a recent book, but Gerald Durrell's [i]My family and other animals[/i] always makes me laugh out loud
MrsT
The Road to McCarthy by the late Pete McCarthy. The first few chapters had me laughing in a way I have not done for years.
Oh yes, Pies and Prejudice by Stewart Maconie, also his Cider with Roadies (you can see how his mind works can't you).
This was a good holiday read full of stories and tales
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Hillside-Allotment-Terry-Walton/dp/0593057244
+1 for Danny Wallace
Though I'd recommend Awkard Situations For Men for laughs as opposed to his other books which as someone already said are funny but more on the life affirming side (same goes for Round Ireland With A Fridge).
Also check out Charlie Brooker if you're familar with most stuff on tv and like a funny rants
Bill Bryson - Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid - I found it hilarious in places. Read it on the plane to Munich and had the stewardess check I was okay as my attempts to not laugh too loudly made me look like I was having a seizure apparently. Found his A Short Walk in the Woods similarly funny.
The Hills are full of Swedish Girls - have only just ordered it, but several mates have recommended it. Author's apparently going to be signing copies at the top of the Devil's Staircase on the WHW if you're interested.
+1 for Carl hiassen- I particularly enjoyed 'Skinny Dip.'
P.J O'Rourke is also very funny. 'Age & guile beat youth and a bad haircut' is a great book to start with .
+3 for Brookmyre, very good.
+1 for Pete mccarthy, however I think McCarthy's Bar is funnier, his trip round Ireland re discovering his childhood.
Dave Lee Roth's autobiography. Read it years ago and made me laugh and wonder how Van Halen ever made it to a gig.
go online and read the Sluggy Freelance series.
www.sluggy.com
but you have to start at the beginning
http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/970825
then let it grow on you
+1 for Carl Hiassen, very funny
+1 for Christopher Broomyre - probably helps if you are scottish though his best is "A tale etched in blood and hard black pencil"