Funny book for sick friend

Thank you for starting this thread, great idea and thanks to everyone for the recommendations, I am also going to look.some of these up for a friend due to undergo cancer treatment.

Unreliable Memoirs by Clive James

There is a sadness to it as his father didn't return from war but the stories of his childhood are so funny and its very touching too

I have given the book as a present a few times and always had back great reports

Strong female character by Fern Brady.
Probably have to be quite broad minded for this. Includes drugs,drink,polledancing …

Amazon says - Customers find this book to be an incredibly powerful and insightful read that opens their eyes to autism and society aspects related to it. Moreover, they appreciate its humor and entertainment value, with one customer noting how it helps move understanding forward.

i see it has won awards. I listened to an audiobook and loved it.

Nothing beats P. G. Wodehouse. Right Ho Jeeves is his masterpiece. Not only funny and beautifully written, but utterly joyful.

Evelyn Waugh is darker and nastier, but also very funny. The Sword of Honour trilogy would be my recommendation.

Patrick Fermor's A Time of Gifts is a joy as well.

And Brian Blessed's autobiography had me in stiches (if possible, get your friend to listen to Blessed reading his own book).

Audiobooks are ideal. Stephen Fry has recorded P G Wodehouse. And Michael Maloney does a brilliant reading of Evelyn Waugh.

Agree re Bill Bryson, as well as a Walk in the Woods, the Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is hilarious- its the story of his childhood in 50s America.

Ghost thread, but thank you. Also have a friend who has just been diagnosed with bowel cancer 😕.

Bill Bryson is very funny. A Walk In The Woods had me in tears laughing!

The funniest book I’ve ever read is The Hundred Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared. We’re talking full belly laughing that woke my mum up one night and I couldn’t even explain why I found it so funny, so I just had to lend it to her to read for herself when I’d finished 😂 same reaction!

Tim Moore’s book French Revolutions is very funny (it’s about his attempt to follow the Tour de France route). There’s another one too about doing the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela with a donkey that is v funny too

P. G. Wodehouse. No one even comes close. Sublimely beautiful language, very funny, and amazingly joyful. Somebody once said that Wodehouse's world is like Eden. It's how the world would be if Eve hadn't eaten the apple and got us kicked out of paradise. There's no death, no pain, no sadness, nothing horrible. Somebody else described reading him as "like swimming in champagne," which is wonderfully accurate. He's perfect. If your friend isn't up to reading him, I'd recommend the Stephen Fry audiobook. Fry really brings him alive.

Evelyn Waugh is also very funny – but nastier and darker.

Oh, and the Ladybird Books for Grownups series is hilarious.

I hope your friend is OK. She's lucky to have somebody like you in her life OP x

While you’re deciding, send a link to the thread about the embarrassing Facebook mistake, so funny!

When it first came out there was a scene in it where an older boy put a pencil in the narrator’s bum. I found it really disturbing. It didn’t sit well with the tone of the book.

Not sure that link works.
Try this one.

44 Scotland Street: Series 1-3
By Alexander McCall-Smith
Narrated by Crawford Logan, Carol Ann Crawford, full cast

Listen on Audible:
https://www.audible.co.uk/pd?asin=B01NCVA76B&sourcecode=ASSORAP0511160006&sharee_location=pdp

A very easy read and so witty - Bossypants by Tina Fey. It's her autobiography but full of laughs.

Georgette Heyer's Regency romances? Fun and witty with heroines who know their own minds, and often very entertaining secondary characters. .

Also love these Scotland street stories. Ideal for audible which may be better for when your friend doesn't have the energy to read.

https://www.audible.co.uk/pd?asin=B01NCVA76B&sourcecode=ASSORAP0511160006&shareelocation=libraryoverflow 

Wwhhaat? I don't remember the pencil episode. Unless you mean the French method of taking a temperature?

The Tent, The Bucket & Me is my recommendation too, also love a reread of that one!

If an autobiography is an option then I'd suggest the audio version of Peter Kay, absolutely brilliant. I've read the book and it was great but he reads the audio version himself and there's lots of extra bits because he goes off on a tangent and makes extra comments while chuckling away. Very good!

The Tent, The Bucket and Me has a disturbing scene involving a pencil being put into a place no pencil should be, though.

I had to stop reading it after that. Just not funny.

What about the early Adrian Mole books? PG Wodehouse is an absolute ray of sunshine, too. Or James Herriot.

Tom Sharpe?

I was just coming to suggest The Tent, the Bucket and Me @paisley256
So funny, how can so many misfortunes befall one family? 😂

though*

I read The Tent, The Bucket and Me whilst in hospital for breast cancer having a mastectomy. I never laughed as much in all my life even thought what I was experiencing was deeply traumatic. I still read it from time to time for the laughs.

I don’t read nearly enough so don’t have anything to contribute there I’m afraid. I read the thread though and just had to say; you’re a fabulous friend and it’s heartwarming that you’re making this effort and being so sensitive to her needs. I hope your friend has the best outcome possible and that you’re doing ok (given the circumstances) xxx

I had to ban DH from reading 'Man Walks into a Bar' in bed as the laughing made me seasick. It's a joke book so nice for short reads.