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Original poster

Recommendations for really funny books

66 replies

christie2 · 14/09/2010 19:35

I got from mumsnet the link to the top 20 BBC recommended funniest books and read alot of them. And they were, funny, more often ironic or wry humour, sometimes dark. More like the ricky Gervais "The Office" kind of funny. Brilliant, but I was looking for laugh out loud funny without the darkside. Any recommendations??? It has been a tough year and I need a good but light belly laugh.Chick lit is ok as long as it is heavy on funny and light on romance.

OP posts:
LittleCheesyPineappleOne · 30/09/2010 20:24

My favourite comic novel is Jonathan Coe's The Rotters' Club which made me snort with laughter (but it's also very sad at times). Nostalgia-rama.

Hullygully · 30/09/2010 20:22

William books by Richmal Crompton, still make me cry.

The Loved one, Evelyn Waugh

DastardlyandSmugly · 30/09/2010 20:20

Oh but if Stars and Bars is the one with the theme hotel then I agree with thighsmadeofcheddar

Hullygully · 30/09/2010 20:20

yy to Stars and Bars. Read it in hospital after an op and got told off for endangering stitches.

A Sign of the Eighties by Gail Parent v v good and funny.

DastardlyandSmugly · 30/09/2010 20:17

The Slummy Mummy book by Fiona Neill makes me laugh out loud every time I read it.

thighsmadeofcheddar · 30/09/2010 20:11

Stars and Bars by William Boyd. Hilarious!

Agree with The Corrections, I love that.

LittleCheesyPineappleOne · 30/09/2010 20:11

I really disliked the the Jasper Fforde books - I really wanted to love them but I found them irritating and smug. I loved the concept, though.

LittleCheesyPineappleOne · 30/09/2010 20:09

David Sedaris - yy

If you want dark, then you can do no better than Kyril Bonifiglioli's Mortdecai Trilogy. They're wickedly funny. Like PG Wodehouse but much much naughtier. DH and I love them.

girliefriend · 30/09/2010 20:02

another Bill Bryson fan, you can't beat him for a good laugh!! Ive just read Gabriels Angels by Mark Radcliffe and that made me lol quite a few times!!!!

WillbeanChariot · 30/09/2010 19:56

Lucky Jim- Kingsley Amis I think. Very very funny. And I love Bill Bryson too, Made in America is my comfort book. I just about know some bits by heart.

BellaBearisWideAwake · 30/09/2010 19:45

Jasper Fforde - the Eyre Affair and all its sequels and spin-offs

Itsjustafleshwound · 30/09/2010 19:39

The Wrong Boy

Puckoon

Douglas Adams - Last Chance to See - so much funnier that the dire series done by Fry ...

Bill Bryson - his travelogue of his journey through America still makes me crease up

William Sutcliffe

aleene · 30/09/2010 19:29

I LOVE David Sedaris. And Augusten Burroughs - read Magical Thinking.

Charlie Brooker also hilarious.

pocketmonster · 30/09/2010 19:20

A second vote for India Knight 'My life on a plate' made me roll - v embarrassing as on an easy jet flight.

Also 'Don't you want me' By the same author.

ElephantsAndMiasmas · 30/09/2010 19:01

Not to everyone's taste but I cried laughing over Julie Burchill's collected guardian columns, she has a touch of the anyfucker about her phrasing :o

moochima · 30/09/2010 13:44

Also love Bill Bryson. Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About by Mil Millington I remember as being very funny. Also, a couple of John O'Farrell's have had me laughing aloud and reading bits to dh, especially The Best A Man Can Get.

ElephantsAndMiasmas · 29/09/2010 22:30

Bridget Jones's Diary can still make me snort hysterically - can read opening bits here.

James Herriot's vet books: If Only They Could Talk, All Creatures Great & Small etc are brilliant, really properly funny (although there are saddish bits too, but "the cow died" type sad, rather than "and I realised my life was shallow and meaningless" type sad :)).

Billy Bryson - the opening chapter of Notes From a Small Island made me weep with laughter. Notes From A Big Country which is a collection of articles is great too, snapshots of life in America, each one quite short but very funny.

Taking The Devil's Advice by Anne Fine is bloody wonderful too - about a philosopher who goes back to live with his ex, her partner and their kids while he writes his autobiography. Gave it to my brother and he's still talking about it :)

5Foot5 · 29/09/2010 20:50

For chicklit that is at least as much humour as romance you could try Trisha Ashley's "Good Husband Material" It is one of her earlier book I think but still my favourite.

The funniest thing I read recently was one of DD's books - "Spud" by John van de Ruit (or something like that)

Oh and another Bryson fan here.

crisproll2 · 25/09/2010 22:11

Clive James Unreliable Memoirs or Memories.. not sure which. I laughed out loud and often had to put the book down I was laughing so much. Just very, very funny. So much better than his programmes on the box.

mrshiccup · 24/09/2010 16:48

Def agree A Short history of tractors in Ukranian, very funny at times, had me really annoying DP by reading out parts of it to him

minipie · 24/09/2010 16:44

I second PG Wodehouse - pure lightness and fluff.

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian I remember being very funny (sequels not quite so much though)

babber · 24/09/2010 16:30

i find the Jasper Fforde 'Thursday Next' books very funny...

Chil1234 · 24/09/2010 05:58

Having just read Bryson's 'Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid' I'd recommend you don't tackle the passage about his granny and the liquorice sweets if you have a weak heart or respiratory problems....

ethelina · 24/09/2010 03:05

Terry Pratchett if you've a bent for the fantasy, the earlier books such as Men at Arms and Feet of Clay.

Douglas Adams Hitchhikers Guide goes without saying.

PG Wodehouse is always worth a good laugh if you like period books.

Also second Nancy Mitford Love in a Cold Climate.

Threelittleducks · 24/09/2010 02:49

David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day.

Gay man who writes about his (true) life stories which are just brilliant. Really endearing and absolutely hilarious. His life really has been a crazy rollercoaster and some of the stuff that has happened really has to be written down to be believed!