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What will make me laugh like Bill Bryson does?

55 replies

SouthernComforts · 03/06/2019 22:14

Inspiration needed please! I stopped reading for fun a few years ago due to studying and I need a few books for my holiday. I've read everything Bill Bryson has written, and they made me laugh out loud. Can anyone point me in the direction of something similar? Not necessarily travel books or non fiction but easy to pick up and put down and funny? Thanks.

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AnnaDine · 22/07/2019 17:17

‘Travels with my Aunt’ by Graham Green (don’t read it on the train - is laugh out loud funny!)

DippyAvocado · 22/07/2019 16:57

Nobody touches Bryson, IMO, but I did enjoy Stephen Clarke's "A year in the merde" and "Merde Actually" about living in France.

MedalMedalMedal · 22/07/2019 16:52

Clive James - Unreliable Memoirs

David Niven -The Moons a Ballon, Bring on the Empty Horses

William Sutcliffe - Are You Experienced

David Nicholls- Starter For Ten

Agree about PG Wodehouse definitely ☺️

And not just for children..Just William.

WhenPushComesToShove · 22/07/2019 16:42

The Throwback by Tom Sharpe

Saucery · 22/07/2019 16:20

Thanks to the poster upthread who recommended Charlie Connelly. I bought And Did Those Feet and it was fabulous! Have bought Attention All Shipping for my holiday. Such an interesting read, reminded me of discovering Bryson and Maconie’s books .

msmith501 · 22/07/2019 16:20

Any Tom Sharpe book and if you search links or amazon for "laugh out loud" books and check the star ratings, I would recommend books by Giles Curtis and also Scoundrels 1 and 2 (very funny!!)

Weepingwillows12 · 22/07/2019 16:17

Driving over Lemons by Chris Stewart - I am not sure on laugh out loud but funny and full of observations about moving to Andalucia. There's a few of them. Easy to read.

Callmecordelia · 22/07/2019 16:10

Tim Moore or Pete Mccarthy.

notatwork · 22/07/2019 16:03

Tom sharpe

BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 22/07/2019 15:58

Why Mummy Drinks is quite funny, funnier than I thought it would be

GorkyMcPorky · 22/07/2019 15:55

I found The Tent, The Bucket and Me quite funny.

BogstandardBelle · 19/07/2019 13:20

Maarten Troost - Sex Lives of Cannibals and Getting Stoned with Savages had me laughing out loud. Travel stories, he accompanied his wife when she moved to Kiribati, Vanuatu, Fiji etc in the Pacific. Funny and enlightening. His other books are good, including one about alcoholism, but the first two are the best.

Tim Moore - Spanish Steps (he walks the Santiago de Compostella pilgrim trail through Europe accompanied by a donkey) and French Revolutions (cycling the Tour de France route) are my favourites, and very funny.

LadyBumclock · 11/07/2019 14:10

Second David Sedaris, if you don’t mind it a bit dark at times.

The book I laughed most at, though it’s not my usual style, was the Fish Finger Years by fIona Gibson, which is a very light read about having kids. There’s a bit about a terrible holiday, I was reading it on a train and couldn’t stop guffawing/weeping.

IHaveBrilloHair · 11/07/2019 13:59

Peter Moore's travel books are hilarious.

Babdoc · 08/07/2019 12:24

Lovely thread - reminded me of so many hilarious books I’ve enjoyed over the years.
May I add “Narrow Dog to Carcassonne” by Terry Darlington - his very funny account of a narrowboat trip with his wife and greyhound across the Channel and through France.
And I second “3 men in a boat” (the original novel by Jerome K Jerome, not any books of the tv series). My DD was reluctantly reading it at school on my recommendation, and burst out laughing in the middle of quiet time in class.
The teacher took one look at the book, snorted with laughter and said “Is it the bit about the tin of pineapple?”
DD was in hysterics and could only nod!

Nowisthemonthofmaying · 08/07/2019 12:08

Oh, and Diplomatic Baggage by Brigid Keenan - memoirs of a diplomat's wife and her travels - another book that actually made me snigger all the way through, really funny and fascinating at the same time

Nowisthemonthofmaying · 08/07/2019 12:07

On the travel side, McCarthy's Bar is very funny too, and quite Bryson-ish

Nowisthemonthofmaying · 08/07/2019 12:06

Gerald Durrell's books (My Family and Other Animals et al) are really, laugh out loud funny. Some of them (especially the ones set in Africa) are quite un-PC these days though, just as a warning...

India Knight's first two novels are also v funny if you can cope with chick-lit?

In non-fiction, I really enjoyed This is Going to Hurt

rosegoldwatcher · 08/07/2019 11:58

John O'Farrell's writing is very funny. (He used to be a comedy script writer!) I can recommend his The Man Who Forgot His Wife and May Contain Nuts.

SwedishEdith · 08/07/2019 00:53

David Lodge - again, may have dated but laugh out loud.

Fruittreeorchard · 07/07/2019 22:44

I read an Australian comedian's autobiography many, many years ago...Clive James. Extremely witty and laugh out loud funny at times. I had tears rolling down my cheeks at the idiocy of the using rocks as "land mines" story during his time in National Service.

timeforakinderworld · 23/06/2019 15:08

I agree with P G Wodehouse - and the books are so much better than the tv series (and I love Fry and Laurie).

mimibunz · 23/06/2019 15:01

PG Wodehouse is the Master

MargotMoon · 23/06/2019 14:58

Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks is very funny and similar sense of humour to B.B.

Fluffiest · 21/06/2019 21:55

I've just read Pigs in Clover or How I Accidentally Fell in Love with the Good Life. True story of how a London estate agent left everything to become a self sufficient farmer in Devon. It's really funny and fast paced. I borrowed it from the library but I am considering buying a copy to keep because I think I will want to read it again.

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