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Lough out loud fiction/non-fiction?

73 replies

FriedSprout · 17/05/2013 18:46

Wonder if anyone could recommend their favourite funny books?

We are going through a tough time at the moment, and I can't remember when I last indulged in a good side-splitting roar.

If it helps I found Tom Sharpe's Wilt funny, Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams too.

Want to do lots of these Grin

Thanks

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BlueEyeshadow · 17/05/2013 19:33

PG Wodehouse
Jasper Fforde

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LovelyMarchHare · 17/05/2013 19:36

David Sedaris

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cocolepew · 17/05/2013 19:38

Another vote for David Sedaris.
Stephanie Plum books.
Spike Milligans war diaries.
Bill Bryson.

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Sidge · 17/05/2013 19:39

This book had me in stitches, real LOL funny!. It's not highbrow literature but will make you giggle.

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MartyrStewart · 17/05/2013 19:39

Bill Bryson
Christopher Brookmyre

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theoriginalandbestrookie · 17/05/2013 19:40

Bill Bryson - The Life and times of the Thunderbolt Kid.
Laughed so much at this pool side that a man asked me what I was reading so he could go and buy a copy too.

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Primadonnagirl · 17/05/2013 19:44

Just finished "The Supremes at Big Earls All You Can Eat"...there's a wedding scene that I laughed at hysterically..luckily I was on my own..it's a fab book by a first time novelist..if you liked The Help you will love this

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FriedSprout · 17/05/2013 20:24

Some really exciting suggestions here, heard David Sedaris on radio didn't realise he wrote books Blush now on my list. Spike Milligan? Not read anything of his for years, do they stand the test of time I wonder? Only one way to find out.
PG Wodehouse, Bill Bryson, yes,yes, yes
Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs: (She Thinks I'm a Piano Player in a Whorehouse) WTF - am buying that one for the title alone Grin

Christopher Brookmyre, not ringing any bells, but quick look on Amazon and am liking look of "Quite Ugly One Morning" - the title of which IS ringing some bells!
The supremes at big earls all you can eat not stocked by Amazon which means I will have to outside - Yikes!

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, am looking forward to many Tena Lady Moments very soon Grin

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Primadonnagirl · 17/05/2013 20:38

Fried I got the supremes at Waterstones if that helps

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GnocchiGnocchiWhosThere · 17/05/2013 20:43

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GnocchiGnocchiWhosThere · 17/05/2013 20:45

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Primadonnagirl · 17/05/2013 20:56

Snorting inappropriately on public transport is the ultimate test!!Also..annoying your partner by reading bits out loud..which of course they don't find funny cos they haven't read the rest of the book !

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ariadneoliver · 17/05/2013 20:59

The Battle for Room Service: Journeys to All the Safe Places possibly a bit dated now, but still funny. The chapter on Switzerland is the highlight in my view.

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Thewhingingdefective · 17/05/2013 21:02

Anything by Charlie Brooker or Caitlin Moran.

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A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon was the last fiction that made me laugh.

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juneybean · 17/05/2013 23:31

Sophie Kinsella's books make me laugh but they really are chicklit

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HeavenlyYoni · 17/05/2013 23:34

Catherine Alliot

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ItsallisnowaFeegle · 17/05/2013 23:42

I'm really struggling to enjoy Christopher Brookmyer's 'A big boy did it and ran away', despite being Scottish (I know it has nothing really to do with anything. I'm just homesick).

I keep meaning to get back to it, as I hate not seeing a book through to the end.

YY, Bill Bryson is great! I'd also recommend Russell Brand's 'My Booky Wook'. I really started to like him when I was reading it.

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DuchessofMalfi · 18/05/2013 06:24

Bill Bryson's Notes From A Small Island had me crying with laughter.

I keep recommending Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series - they are so funny. One For The Money is the first in the series.

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ravenousbugblatterbeast · 18/05/2013 06:37

Tim Moore's French Revolutions makes me weep, and Emma Kennedy's The Tent, the Bucket and Me.

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NotTreadingGrapes · 18/05/2013 06:42

Anything by Bill Bryson.

Stuart Maconie is my hero.....laugh out loud and lovely little tender bits as well.

(now I was recommended David Sedaris after lending my friend BB and I hated him....)

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lljkk · 18/05/2013 08:13

How to Talk to a Widower, Never suck on a dead man's hand.

I know it's a kid series, but the Donut Diaries are pretty funny, too.

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Ulysses · 18/05/2013 08:18

Loads of people have beaten me already to suggest Bill Bryson.

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notnowImreading · 18/05/2013 08:21

I know a lot of people don't like her on here, but I absolutely (almost literally, had to cross legs and really concentrate) pmsl at India Knight's first two books, My Life on a Plate and Don't You Want Me. It's her similes that get me. They are quite smug, though, which doesn't bother me at all but I know bugs a lot of readers.

Wise Children by Angela Carter is wonderful. It's proper literature but also really funny with an elderly ex-chorus girl narrator who can 'still kick a leg higher than the average dog'.

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lljkk · 18/05/2013 09:39

Actually, probably another down market one, but "A Tiny Bit of Marvellous" (Dawn French) is very droll in its own way, too.

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MiddleAgeMiddleEngland · 18/05/2013 18:19

Yes to Bill Bryson, especially Notes From A Small Island, makes me giggle every time I read it. (And he says something very nice about the place I live in Smile)

The other book which makes me laugh is Down to Earth: The Year of the Cornflake by Faith Addis. There was a tv series years ago, but this is better. Faith and her husband set up a sort of holiday boarding house for children in the summer of 1976, the year of the great drought. Very funny in places, but also interesting, they'd never be able to do it now, far too many restrictions, although the place they ran was clearly fantastic.

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