Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Original poster

I dont really laugh when reading ..do you?

135 replies

Sidebeforeself · 07/07/2025 17:43

Ive read so many “funny”books but I rarely laugh out loud. Im always disappointed when being told books are funny. Books by Woodhouse and Jerome K Jerome dont raise a smile even though I like them.

I think Ive only ever laughed at two books - Love, Nina and Where D’You Go Bernadette . I did laugh at Adam Kays first book but that was because real life is funny not because of his writing.

Anyone else like this?

OP posts:
Hermiaxx · 09/07/2025 23:06

There are some laugh out loud moments in ‘Travels with my Aunt’ (I don’t recommend reading this book on the 07:50 commute to London Bridge!).

LittleFiendSusan · 09/07/2025 23:01

The Bridget Jones books had me actually laughing out loud so much, my normally history/war/autobiography reading DH couldn't wait to read them after me.
They, and Garfield are the only books to have done that.

HostaCentral · 09/07/2025 22:48

Another Bill Bryson fan here. I have read his books several times over, and still am in stitches. I choose to read them specifically if I need a pick me up 😊

Coolpotatoface · 09/07/2025 22:46

Yes often.

BarBellBarbie · 09/07/2025 22:45

Yes, sometimes. Funny is hard to do though, so but as often as I'd like.

Portakalkedi · 09/07/2025 22:40

Rarely. I do remember laughing at Bill Bryson some years ago. Now I read something and often think, hmm, I can see that is MEANT to be funny, but it isn't. Mostly too contrived I guess.

Sagealicious · 09/07/2025 21:50

My family and other animals made me laugh out loud.

paulhollywoodshairgel · 09/07/2025 21:35

Sometimes I do. I also once burst into tears on the bus at the ending of ‘the road’

EveryOtherNameTaken · 09/07/2025 21:34

Tom Sharpe and Bill Bryson made me laugh out loud.

TonstantWeader · 09/07/2025 21:30

katseyes7 · 08/07/2025 22:17

TonstantWeader
Oh thank you! I was trying to remember McCarthy's Bar!
The bit with the exhaust on the hire car... 😂

@katseyes7 you’re very welcome. Yes, just thinking about the crow in the exhaust had been giggling all over again.

mind you, an early memory is of my mum crying with laughter when reading me ‘Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf’ so it obviously runs in the family!

Pallisers · 09/07/2025 19:51

James Herriot made me laugh out loud - especially the first book.

Bill Bryson also has made me laugh.

Mapp and Lucia too.

Cattery · 09/07/2025 09:37

Notes From A Small Island by Bill Bryson made me cry laughing

Dappy777 · 09/07/2025 08:22

No, I never laugh out loud. Probably the funniest writers in the English language are P. G. Wodehouse and Evelyn Waugh. But even their funniest bits just make me smile. Then again, I'm a quiet introvert, so it's probably part of my character. I smile, or laugh softly, nothing more.

The only time I really laugh loudly is when I listen to audiobooks. Wodehouse and Waugh were made to be read out loud, and if you get a really good reader, the experience can be overwhelming.

I once downloaded Brian Blessed reading his own autobiography. That did make me laugh out loud. In fact, I had to pull the car over I was laughing so much.

Pashazade · 08/07/2025 22:38

@RightOnTheEdge there’s a CK McDonnall podcast with some short stories from the Stranger Times universe it’s good. I enjoy reading the books and do find them funny, I’m not sure if I’ve laughed aloud at them though, although he very much sings the praises of his audible narrator and the podcast has made me laugh.

katseyes7 · 08/07/2025 22:17

TonstantWeader
Oh thank you! I was trying to remember McCarthy's Bar!
The bit with the exhaust on the hire car... 😂

AnniesMother · 08/07/2025 20:38

Bob Mortimer’s autobiography made me snort out my tea about 3 pages in. It’s hilarious

amandanorgaard · 08/07/2025 19:46

the only book I can really remember properly laughing out loud was at the Angus thongs and perfect snogging series I read when I was a teenager.. my mum did too!

Original poster
Sidebeforeself · 08/07/2025 19:26

Myblueclematis · 08/07/2025 18:19

The first book I read where I was laughing so much my mum got cross with me as I kept bursting out laughing was David Niven's, The Moon's a Balloon. I'm not sure if you would be able to find it nowadays but it was so funny. Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals kept me amused as a teenager, I probably read it around ten times.

Off the top of my head, more recent books I've laughed a lot at were Adrian Mole, Carl Hiaasen books, all set in Florida, and Lawrence Sanders the Archie McNally books.

That’s interesting as I only read today that parts of David Niven book were apparently made up ( this was in relation to the current Salt Path hoo-ha)

OP posts:
TonstantWeader · 08/07/2025 19:16

That's spooky - I was just thinking about the Emma Kennedy book! It had me in fits of laughter to the point where I couldn't breathe. I do laugh at lots of books, though. Bill Bryson's book about travelling round Europe had the same effect, especially the bit in Paris where he tries to buy a baguette. Another one was 'McCarthy's Bar' by Pete McCarthy, about his travels round Ireland, and his dodgy hire car.

Other than travel books, Terry Pratchett was also a go to for a good laugh out loud, and ditto Good Omens (before the NG appallingness was exposed). 'The Diary of a Provincial Lady' also had me in fits (the hyacinth bulbs) and Lissa Evans' 'Old Baggage' trilogy is fabulously funny. I get a lot of weird looks on trains for laughing while reading.

Strawberryvodka · 08/07/2025 18:42

The tent, the bucket and me by Emma Kennedy was once confiscated from me in a family hotel room because I was driving everyone mad with my helpless laughter

Strawberryvodka · 08/07/2025 18:37

SisterTeatime · 08/07/2025 14:34

Oh yes and the Just William books

Definitely! Love them, and yes, laugh out loud funny

Myblueclematis · 08/07/2025 18:19

The first book I read where I was laughing so much my mum got cross with me as I kept bursting out laughing was David Niven's, The Moon's a Balloon. I'm not sure if you would be able to find it nowadays but it was so funny. Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals kept me amused as a teenager, I probably read it around ten times.

Off the top of my head, more recent books I've laughed a lot at were Adrian Mole, Carl Hiaasen books, all set in Florida, and Lawrence Sanders the Archie McNally books.

katseyes7 · 08/07/2025 18:02

Yes, sometimes. I'm with two previous posters on this one.
My friend was staying with me and she came to my room to see what l was laughing at. It was Bill Bryson's The Life and Times of The Thunderbolt kid.
Ditto Sarah Millican's How To Be Champion. I'm a Geordie and she looks and sounds exactly like my cousin.

SisterTeatime · 08/07/2025 17:49

I was in a hospital cafe when I read the Hauck stroller thread. I could not stop laughing. Made me feel better all round!

Original poster
Sidebeforeself · 08/07/2025 17:45

Thanks @REP22 - you are right, I do love books ! I especially enjoy reading a perfectly crafted observation. A line or a paragraph that I have to keep reading.

@DirtyBird I dont laugh at MN comments as much as I used to but sometimes I still come across the odd corker and laugh so much DH asks me whats so funny!

OP posts:
Swipe left for the next trending thread