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Recommend comedy books

31 replies

StuH1 · 16/01/2025 11:42

Avid reader here who for a long time has read mainly crime fiction. Last year I read Bob Mortimer's debut novel which was a crime story to an extent but had comedic elements too. Having enjoyed it I now want to branch so does anyone have any recommendations please?

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Resisterance · 20/01/2025 16:04

This series is funny and can be read by adults or young people

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pirates!_In_an_Adventure_with_Scientists

Puppylucky · 20/01/2025 15:15

@AlmostCutMyHairToday we've been to see a couple of his readings - they're great! Although there was a thread on here years ago from a woman who went to see him, queued up afterwards for a book signing and was deeply offended by what he wrote in her book! I don't think she really got him 🙂

AlmostCutMyHairToday · 19/01/2025 08:49

Puppylucky · 18/01/2025 12:44

David Sedaris is absolutely hilarious. My favourite is Me Talk Pretty One Day but they're all good. He's an essayist so his books are always easy to dip in and out of which is another bonus.

Was going to say David Sedaris. He's SO good. He tests his writing out with public readings, so it's genuinely funny. (quite dark as well in parts)

fatedtopretend · 19/01/2025 08:04

Yes man by Danny Wallace is hilarious, may not fir in with the type of book you normally read but it didn't with mine and I couldn't put it down.

Viavitaperro · 19/01/2025 08:01

@Notgoodatpoetrybutgreatatlit thanks for the Dry recommendation. I picked it up yesterday - it's so funny, I've been crying laughing at parts.

ScottBakula · 18/01/2025 14:41

@Puppylucky , I haven't read his books but I really like his radio show , meet David sedaris its on bbc sounds , radio 4 extra.

@CarobyBlobs , I love anything to do with time travel so I will add this to my list , thankyou.

Puppylucky · 18/01/2025 12:44

David Sedaris is absolutely hilarious. My favourite is Me Talk Pretty One Day but they're all good. He's an essayist so his books are always easy to dip in and out of which is another bonus.

ScottBakula · 17/01/2025 18:30

JustCrow · 17/01/2025 00:07

We’ve obviously got similar taste - I love Gerald Durrell too! 😂😂

He is a absolute genius isn't he.
I'd l9ve to go to his zoo .

Durrell Wildlife Camp

https://g.co/kgs/fRq8UuJ

Google Search

https://g.co/kgs/fRq8UuJ

Notgoodatpoetrybutgreatatlit · 17/01/2025 08:22

I always laugh out loud at Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith. It was written in the 1890s but as far as living in London goes it could have been written yesterday, apart from the tech of course. But the work hassles and the tradespeople hassles and just life hassles are so well observed.
A bit random and it might just be me but I loved Dry by Augusten Burroughs, made me howl with laughter. Its not a comedy its about his alcoholism and attempts to quit, but he is so honest and witty, actually it is just a fantastic book and more people should read it!

CarobyBlobs · 17/01/2025 08:05

Just one damn thing after another by Jodi Taylor for something a bit different - it’s about time travelling historians

PlainJaneSuperbrainthe2nd · 17/01/2025 08:03

A few of my suggestions have been done already- how to kill your family and PG Wodehouse. Another to add - Cold Comfort Farm

JustCrow · 17/01/2025 00:07

ScottBakula · 16/01/2025 19:06

I agree with pp , Bill bryony is great my favourite is A walk in the woods, where he walks the appalachian trail

But my all time favorite author is definitely Gerald durral .
His best known book is My family and other animals with imo is absolutely fantastic.
It was made into a TV series a while back which is not a patch on the book.
His other books are all based on his trekking around some beautiful and some godforsaken lands to look for rare creatures.
His obvious love and knowledge of wild animals ( and people) is very apparent.
The way he tells his stories is so immersing and funny they are true pleasure to read

We’ve obviously got similar taste - I love Gerald Durrell too! 😂😂

Dappy777 · 16/01/2025 20:09

Brian Blessed: ‘Absolute Pandemonium’. (I listened to Blessed himself read it and laughed so much at one point I had to stop the car.)

Douglas Adams: Hitchiker books. (Funny and interesting at the same time.)

Evelyn Waugh: ‘Decline and Fall’. (The Michael Maloney audiobook is the greatest reading I have ever listened to).

P G Wodehouse: ‘Right Ho Jeeves’.

Peter Ustinov is a very funny writer, and Kingsley Amis’ Lucky Jim is very good. For my money, though, Evelyn Waugh and P. G. Wodehouse are the supreme comic writers in the English language. I’ve never found anyone funnier. Wodehouse, at his best, is sublime.

squishee · 16/01/2025 20:07

Red Dwarf (the book of the vintage TV show) and Better Than Life (there's a dual edition).
My copy got so dog-eared after laughing my way through so many journeys that I bought a new one.

Not a natrative book, but the Book of Mistaikes by Giles Brandreth. Again, my copy is falling apart.

ScottBakula · 16/01/2025 19:46

Report back @StuH1 and let us know what your read and what you thought of them .

StuH1 · 16/01/2025 19:17

Thanks everyone some great suggestions. I'm going to be busy

OP posts:
Viavitaperro · 16/01/2025 19:09

Bella Mackie - How To Kill Your Family, is perfect for you.

ScottBakula · 16/01/2025 19:06

I agree with pp , Bill bryony is great my favourite is A walk in the woods, where he walks the appalachian trail

But my all time favorite author is definitely Gerald durral .
His best known book is My family and other animals with imo is absolutely fantastic.
It was made into a TV series a while back which is not a patch on the book.
His other books are all based on his trekking around some beautiful and some godforsaken lands to look for rare creatures.
His obvious love and knowledge of wild animals ( and people) is very apparent.
The way he tells his stories is so immersing and funny they are true pleasure to read

TinyMouseTheatre · 16/01/2025 18:55

Douglas Adams: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and sequel Long Dark Teatime of the Soul

Lines from those books occupy way too much of my head space Grin

ShrubRose · 16/01/2025 18:53

Bridget Jones' Diary
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim
PG Wodehouse

usernamesaretoohardtothinkof · 16/01/2025 17:05

The Humans by Matt Haig is hilarious.

merryhouse · 16/01/2025 17:01

The Pyrates by George MacDonald Fraser (he wrote the Flashman books)
The Little World of Don Camillo - actually I'm not sure this counts as comedy, it just lives in the same place in my head
Robert Rankin
Tom Holt - Expecting Someone Taller, and various others
Jasper Fforde - the Thursday Next books, beginning with The Eyre Affair. "comic fantasy alternate history mystery novels" with a Literary Detective as the protagonist.
Douglas Adams: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and sequel Long Dark Teatime of the Soul
Have you read Wodehouse?

Discworld reading order:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Discworld_Reading_Order_Guide_3.0_(cropped).jpg
or https://www.discworldemporium.com/reading-order/

File:Discworld Reading Order Guide 3.0 (cropped).jpg - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Discworld_Reading_Order_Guide_3.0_(cropped).jpg

worrisomeasset · 16/01/2025 15:28

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole would be my desert island book. I found it so funny that as soon as I finished it, I started reading it again.

TinyMouseTheatre · 16/01/2025 15:13

H do you fancy trying modern farce? I quite enjoyed the Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden when I read it in holiday a couple of years ago.

EwwSprouts · 16/01/2025 12:35

Tom Sharpe books are funny but dated. Could watch Porterhouse Blue with David Jason as a quick way to see if your style.

More modern would be Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaassen. Don't let the title put you off it's easy but funny fiction featuring ecology and local politics set in Florida.

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