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Original poster

Please can you help me find some gentle, very English/UK humour for my elderly dad?

107 replies

BSJohnson · 30/10/2020 15:32

He loved "Travels with Boogie", which I gave him after seeing a recommendation on here, and also "Secrets of a bookseller". He also enjoyed Bill Bryson's books two England books, and "A walk in the woods". I also know he read and enjoyed "three men in a boat" years ago.

He doesn't usually read fiction, but I get the impression he likes gentle, English humour, but clever, not twee. He's sharp as a tack, and grasps contemporary references and modern culture, but doesn't not partake of them! Has anyone got any bright ideas, please? Grin

OP posts:
Notathomenow · 06/11/2020 08:11

Deric Longden has written books that have a funny way of looking at life. But I would steer away from Diana's Story which is about the death of his first wife. A good book, but perhaps not the best one to read first.

I'm going to look up some of these recommendations myself.

Riapia · 06/11/2020 07:38

Don’t Mr Disraeli. By Caryl Brahms and S J Simon.
The funniest book I’ve ever read.
You’d possibly need to look on e-bay.

Talipesmum · 06/11/2020 07:33

I was also going to recommend “the tent, the bucket and me” by Emma Kennedy - very funny! Along the travel lines, Driving over Lemons series by Chris Stewart is a funny series about moving to and living in rural Spain.
And if he hasn’t read Michael Palin’s diaries, there are three volumes and they are wonderful.
For all the James Herriot fans on this thread, I’ve recently listened to all the Christopher Timothy read audiobooks - they’re wonderful to listen to as you potter around. I’m v familiar with the books but it was great to listen to them as well!

Loftyloft · 06/11/2020 07:18

Helen Simonson ‘Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand’.
I’ve given it away for so many secret Santa’s. It’s about an elderly man in a gentle English village and the goings on in the golf club. It’s fantastically written and not at all twee.

noideaatallreally · 06/11/2020 07:14

I'm glad he enjoyed the Boogie books. I always recommend for a good laugh out loud read.

In a similar vein I also really like Tony Hawkes books - Round Ireland with a Fridge is good, also Playing the Moldovans at Tennis and the one where he tries to write a number 1 single - can't remember the name. Good to see the mentions earlier for Stuart Marconie and John O'Farrell - I enjoy their books too.

Maybe not for your dad, but if anyone is looking for a really funny book I loved Emma Kennedy's first book - The Tent , the Bucket and Me, the follow up about her trip to San Francisco was good in parts, but not the same wit as her first.

Inkpaperstars · 06/11/2020 07:01

The Papers of A J Wentworth BA by H F Ellis

HeronLanyon · 06/11/2020 06:46

He/you may now be replete but can I also suggest the Mapp and Lucia e f benson books. Nicely the first two in the series are perhaps the very funniest - laugh out loud.
My own dad when elderly loved Just William - audio books in his case - he loved his little iPod which I used to load up for him.

ChessieFL · 06/11/2020 06:36

Oh yes, The Wimbledon Poisoner is fab. It’s part of a trilogy (although the only thing linking the books is that they’re all set in Wimbledon) but the second two aren’t as good.

ChristmasFluff · 05/11/2020 20:06

I'm always recommending 'The Wimbledon Poisoner' by Nigel Williams - it is so funny, and very English.

Herdwick · 05/11/2020 19:22

Racing Pigs And Giant Marrows: Travels Around the North Country Fairs
by Harry Pearson

Wonderful humourous book about the Britishness and idiosyncrasies of Country Fairs and Agricultural shows in the UK.

HollyandIvyandallthingsYule · 05/11/2020 19:17

It’s not U.K. based, mind. But the stories and the underlying principles are universal.

PhilODox · 05/11/2020 19:16

I was going to suggest Nancy Mitford- very funny. I love Wodehouse, and Bryson too.

HollyandIvyandallthingsYule · 05/11/2020 19:16

@SenecaFallsRedux

Alexander McCall Smith is very good at gently amusing.

I agree. It's gentle Scottish humor, though, rather than English. Smile

Agree. The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency is one of my absolute favourite book series. I would recommend it to anyone, regardless of age.

Very gentle, life-affirming, hopeful books (although he does tackle a lot of big and important issues. But there is always light to balance the darkness).

madamehooch · 05/11/2020 18:48

Middle England by Jonathan Coe

Tinseltrauma · 01/11/2020 19:32

DH read and thoroughly enjoyed this recently. And he's a big Bill Bryson fan!

www.amazon.co.uk/Sunburnt-Penguins-Tour-USA-Englishmans-ebook/dp/B08BXRCZQH

Andante57 · 31/10/2020 22:43

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford

hidingmystatus · 31/10/2020 11:56

Maybe EF Benson's Mapp and Lucia books?

DancelikeEmmaGoldman · 31/10/2020 10:01

Not English, but that kind of wry, off-the-wall observation the English is James Thurber. He’s a favourite of mine. He wrote The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, which is a brilliant short story. Another American I enjoy is Calvin Trillin.

Cattermole · 30/10/2020 18:23

Oh gosh I do hope he's read "England, Their England" by A G MacDonell?
And the Gervase Fen mysteries by Edmund Crispin?

Mochudubh · 30/10/2020 18:20

MC Beaton's Hamish Macbeth or Agatha Raisin books.
The Para Handy books by Neil Munro
The Irish RM stories by Somerville & Ross.
Another vote for Alexander McCall Smith.

One of the funniest series of books I've ever read is By GM Fraser, roughly autobiographical about his time in National Service.
The General Danced at Dawn
McAusland in the Rough
The Sheikh and the Dustbin.

Sunbird24 · 30/10/2020 17:18

H E Bates, The Darling Buds of May etc?

OliveHenry · 30/10/2020 17:18

In non-fiction I've got a book which is a collection of some of Alan Coren's newspaper columns, and it always make me laugh.

Mine is a combination of "Seems Like Old Times" and "More Like Old Times" which I can only find on Amazon for £50 (goodness knows why), or you can buy each volume separately for about three quid!

Xiaoxiong · 30/10/2020 17:07

Has he read Mapp and Lucia?

Original poster
BSJohnson · 30/10/2020 17:06

Thank you so much for the thread and the suggestions, everyone - I love hearing people enthuse about their favourite books!

I think I'm all set now (and got a few ideas for myself, too) Blush

OP posts:
Valmur · 30/10/2020 17:03

Sorry - I was trying to say that the Nigel Barley innocent anthropologist suggestion is brilliant.

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