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Benvenuto Cellini's Autobiography is a hoot because it's probably the biggest piece of  anyone's ever written about themselves, and you can't really tell what's real and what's outrageous ego-stroking. "The Pope totally pardoned me for the awesome murder I committed. In fact, his successor also pardoned my for a different radical organ-ectomy." BravestOfTheLamps fucked around with this message at 21:02 on Feb 10, 2017 |
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Feb 10, 2017 21:00
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If you go in for the lighthearted romp, I enjoyed last year's The Gentleman by Forrest Leo, with a struggling poet who accidentally sells his wife to the Devil.
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Feb 10, 2017 23:21
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Jasper FForde writes funny books for book nerds. The thursday next series is the well known one, but the spin off and slightly less complicated Nursery crime books are the best ones imo. He is a bit of a dick when it comes to starting a series and then abandoning it to start a new one though. The unfortunately titled Shades of grey (published years before the other one) could have been an amazing series but he wrote one and left the ending way open and then that was it.
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Feb 10, 2017 23:33
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I remember someone quoting those Thursday Next books once and it was cringeworthy Troper-style poo poo. Put me off more than the synopsis did.
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Feb 11, 2017 17:36
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You may have to be British to get why stuff like the people's republic of wales is funny.
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Feb 11, 2017 18:04
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Does it make up for naming a character Jack Schitt though? I picked the first book up after someone described it in the SF/F thread and ended up having to force myself through to the end. Would not recommend. e: Admittedly, I'm not British.
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Feb 11, 2017 21:09
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They may be somewhat dated now, but some of the works of Patrick Dennis (including "Auntie Mame", "Guestward Ho" and "Genius" ) can be fairly funny.
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Feb 11, 2017 22:31
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I've enjoyed A. Lee Martinez's books, particularly Divine Misfortune and Chasing the Moon. All his books are in wildly different genres but are funny- if you like one you'll probably like the others.
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Feb 13, 2017 05:57
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TheSmilingJackal posted:I've enjoyed A. Lee Martinez's books, particularly Divine Misfortune and Chasing the Moon. All his books are in wildly different genres but are funny- if you like one you'll probably like the others. A. Lee's pretty hit or miss, I've found. His first book I read was Gil's All fright Diner, which was all right. Divine Misfortune was funny, though. I'd recommend that one - it's cute. He feels like a not as good Tom Holt, maybe? Lisa Lutz's Spellman Files are fantastic books, funny as hell. They center around a dysfunctional family of private detectives, with the elder daughter being the main character. If you like Christopher Moore or James Morrow or Carl Hiaasan or those types, it's really fantastic. Not only is it funny, it's also smart. I really, really enjoyed them. The series is complete - it's like, six books, I think. Walter Moers writes adult novels of Dr Seuss books, but are still fantastic for children. I absolutely loved The 13.5 lives of Captain Bluebear. Historical comedy has some legs with Pyrates by George Fraser. I think it's fantastic. Sometimes the humor can be a bit dry, but there you go. Stephen Brust wrote a really hilarious love letter to Alexander Dumas and the Three Musketeers with his [urll=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/133460.The_Phoenix_Guards?ac=1&from_search=true]Khaavren Romance[/url] series. It's high fantasy detective and court intrigue stuff. Really fantastic. There are some very funny moments, but you definitely won't laugh throughout the entire book/series. Max Barry, of course, has some funny stuff. Jennifer GOvernment is nice, and Machine Man was his most recent I'd read, which was okay, too. And of course Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds stuff is god damned hilarious. Drifter fucked around with this message at 08:43 on Feb 13, 2017 |
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Feb 13, 2017 08:29
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To Say Nothing of the Dog is a time travelling comedy of manners that takes place parallel to the previously mentioned "Three men in a boat" and is quite fun.
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Feb 16, 2017 15:41
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BravestOfTheLamps posted:Benvenuto Cellini's Autobiography is a hoot because it's probably the biggest piece of For more fun things like this, see: Klaus Kinski's memoirs.
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Feb 16, 2017 19:02
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Bandiet posted:For more fun things like this, see: Klaus Kinski's memoirs. That book is really funny, and it's basically a novel
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Feb 17, 2017 00:18
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The Pyat quartet by Michael Moorcock definitely has its moments, though Pyat is an absolutely unredeemable racist and pedophile. If you didn't like Infinite Jest, you won't like these novels. Imagine Ignatius but he's an attractive sociopath. Larry McMurtry's western novels are consistently hilarious. Michael Chabon's novels are fairly witty although more roundly emotional. For classical literature, Dickens' novels have the occasional amusing characters, as do Austen and Chekhov's short stories.
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Feb 18, 2017 03:50
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Huggybear posted:The Pyat quartet by Michael Moorcock definitely has its moments, though Pyat is an absolutely unredeemable racist and pedophile
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Feb 18, 2017 05:24
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If you've read a lot of crime fiction Donald E. Westlake can be hysterical. I'd say he's pretty funny without it too. What's the Worst that Could Happen and God Save the Mark are two of my favorites but he wrote oodles of books.
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Feb 19, 2017 03:05
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Roughing it by Mark Twain. Read the coyote excerpt for a taste.
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Feb 23, 2017 14:45
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The audiobook of Three Men in a Boat is narrated by Hugh Laurie and it's amazing.
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Feb 23, 2017 19:49
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White Noise is just as hilarious as it is poignant.
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Feb 25, 2017 06:41
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imo almost all of Charles Portis' novels are quite funny. he is most well known for True Grit which is not a typical example of his work but it's still better than either movie that's been made of it. But he normally writes about more modern times. My favorite books by him are Dog of the South and Gringos. another fairly funny novel I read recently was The Case of the General's Thumb by Andrei Kurkov, this is a great little black humor novel about security, paranoia, and politics in post-Soviet Russia and Belarus.
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Feb 25, 2017 14:28
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The William Books by Richmal Crompton are brilliantly funny, and the audio books narrated by Martin Jarvis (who also did some of the Wodehouse books) are amazing. You won't believe someone can do 20 distinct upper class English voices and have them all sound like utter morons. Spike Milligan's war memoirs (Just the first four if you want to avoid his PTSD and subsequent depression) are very funny. Hard to get at the moment but "The Bagthorpe saga" by Helen Cresswell are books that I had to stop reading in order to breath. "The Good Soldier Švejk" by Jaroslav Hasek is funny in the same vein as confederacy of dunces. "The Fan Man" by William Kotzwinkle is great, so is some of his other stuff (avoid "Dr Rat" unless vivisection is funny) Lastly, The Aubrey-Maturin books by Patrick O'Brian are surprisingly funny.
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May 9, 2017 07:08
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If your sense of humour is pitch black and you can understand Scots dialect then check out Irvine Welsh's collection of work. Particularly the main 'Trainspotting' stuff: Trainspotting, Porno and Skagboys. I've yet to read the Juice Terry books, but I can only imagine how horrific that'll all turn out to be. Not got around to reading Filth either, but seen the film. Avoid 'The Blade Artist' though.
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May 9, 2017 16:16
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learnincurve posted:This next one is Mrs Pollifax series by Dorothy Gilman (written 1966-1990) Just read The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax. It wasn't funny.
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May 13, 2017 03:07
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Jerome Agricola posted:You're forgetting Gaddis, the only author I know of to use 500 pages just to set up a lame pun. Which is hilarious. also, At-Swim-Two-Birds men
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May 22, 2017 11:26
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The Widow's Son is hilarious. Extremely. Doubly so if you've read The Third Policeman.
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May 22, 2017 16:23
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precision posted:The Widow's Son is hilarious. There are a lot of books called that. Which one are you referring to? (The search also turned up Their Son's Amish Baby (Expectant Amish Widows Book 4), which sounds like... something.) Edit: Amazon.com posted:Also in this series:
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May 23, 2017 02:53
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I'd recommend Our Dumb Century by the Onion staff writers. Written when they were at their peak, every page is packed with amazing satire. Excellent attention to detail in how they recreated newspaper styles.snoremac posted:The weird thing with Dunces is that it reads to me like the comedy should have broad appeal, but people come out of it thinking it's hilarious or not funny at all. Likewise, people either love Ignatius or think he's completely unlikable as a character. I liked Dunces especially the main character's long letters. Although some parts haven't aged well, like the idea of an exercise board being inherently funny. Nevvy Z posted:To Say Nothing of the Dog is a time travelling comedy of manners that takes place parallel to the previously mentioned "Three men in a boat" and is quite fun. Good recommendation, Willis is a master. Doomsday Book is also excellent, probably best "realistic" bleak time travel story I've read (although not a comedy.)
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May 25, 2017 20:36
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A forgotten classic: "Augustus Carp Esq, by himself" is fantastic. Get the edition that maintains the pretense that he is a real person and this is his autobiography
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May 26, 2017 01:25
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Hyrax Attack! posted:I'd recommend Our Dumb Century by the Onion staff writers. Written when they were at their peak, every page is packed with amazing satire. Excellent attention to detail in how they recreated newspaper styles. Our Dumb Century is awesome
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May 26, 2017 02:47
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Drifter posted:
Seconding these. I loved them.
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May 26, 2017 04:52
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Tiggum posted:There are a lot of books called that. Which one are you referring to? The one by Robert Anton Wilson. It's book 2 of the Historical Illuminatus series, but can be read on its own because about half the novel consists of footnotes detailing the disputed theories of fictional Irish mystic de Selby.
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May 27, 2017 07:53
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I've been trying to read some books by Tom Holt, currently reading Valhalla, and boy are they loving mediocre. They're not confusing, they're not informationally dense in any way, they're just not funny or particularly interesting. They were sold to me as some type of fusion of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, but NOOOOOOOOOPE. It's weird because I think it was revealed that Tom Holt was writing under the pseudonym K.J. Parker as well. Boy, it sure doesn't seem like they're the same person.
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May 29, 2017 16:27
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george saunders' lincoln in the bardo is, at points, very funny
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May 29, 2017 16:56
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In my experience any time someone says "it's like Douglas Adams" it means "it's bad and I have no concept of what made Adams great"
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May 30, 2017 09:48
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precision posted:In my experience any time someone says "it's like Douglas Adams" it means "it's bad and I have no concept of what made Adams great" I can remember when Terry Pratchett was described in words much like those. Didn't take long before that comparison was obsolete.
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May 30, 2017 10:21
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Groke posted:I can remember when Terry Pratchett was described in words much like those. Didn't take long before that comparison was obsolete. Haha yeah, I started Pratchett when Mort was release in the US and within a couple years he had already blown Adams away, especially since Mostly Harmless was so completely miserable and bad
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May 30, 2017 10:27
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Tim Dorseys books are pretty funny. Theyre about a serial killer and his druggie friend having crazy adventures around Florida.
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May 30, 2017 22:22
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I scanned through the thread and did not find my recommendation, but if it is in here please forgive me. Actually, I'm pretty surprised it hasn't been mentioned... Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better Than Life are two of the funniest books I've ever read. There are 2 other books as well, but they aren't quite as good. Following the last man in the universe, his neurotic holographic "friend," and their super evolved cat friend in their wacky adventures well never not be funny. Oh Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, why did you two have to split up?
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May 31, 2017 02:36
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Pookum posted:Tim Dorseys books are pretty funny. Theyre about a serial killer and his druggie friend having crazy adventures around Florida. Holy smokes, I forgot all about Serge and his adventures. Hammerhead Motel and all that, right? I'll have to hunt those books down again, I remember them being pretty fun. USMC_Karl posted:Red Dwarf Yeah, avoid anything written by Grant or Naylor if it was done solo. I can't remember which is which but they perfectly balanced each other out. One would always try and go extra goofy and conceptual like Adams and the other was an utter misery who would try and locks his stories into a depressing quagmire.
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May 31, 2017 10:47
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Drunken Baker posted:Holy smokes, I forgot all about Serge and his adventures. Hammerhead Motel and all that, right? I'll have to hunt those books down again, I remember them being pretty fun. They are pretty great if somewhat repetitive.
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May 31, 2017 16:25
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Some of Irvine Welsh's novels throw in a lot of humor with the horror; A Decent Ride is probably the best in that regard. It sheds a lot of the heavy-handed class commentary of the previous Trainspotting books and has the most coherent plot of them. By making Juice Terry the protagonist there are plenty of opportunities for humor.
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May 31, 2017 21:35
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