What books made you weep with laughter?

Has anybody said Scoop? Lots of lols in that!

The Young Visiters by Daisy Ashford made me laugh a lot - I think she was nine when she wrote it - probably even better if you have children around that age.

I think the first three Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich are great - I've continued reading them, but you get to expect the humour, whereas if you are new to them, they are so different from anything else.

Pauline McLynn (Mrs Doyle from Father Ted) has written some good comedy crime too - "Something for the weekend"; "Better than a rest" and "Right on time".

My favourite Bill Bryson is his first "The Lost Continent" - I've never been to the American mid-West, but I felt like I had.

Willy Russell, The Wrong Boy was a good one imo. Made me giggle anyway.

Hitler, My Part in His Downfall made me weep with laughter. I read it on a train travelling through Japan, and when I looked up realised people had moved away from me I was laughing so hard.

Peter Kays autobiography had me laughing out loud on the bus... (also earned me lots of funny looks from other passengers too!)

I like David Nobbs, although he can be a bit hit-and-miss. My favourite is "Second from last in the Sack Race." It has a farting in class scene better than any other farting in class scene I have ever read. And I've read a few.

Perplexed at all the nominations for David Lodge. Is this David Lodge as in Nice Work? Never knew his books were even supposed to be funny.

One by Garisson Keillor which featured a man involved in a war of attrition with a dog made me laugh so much I could hardly walk.

Spike Milligan's Puckoon has its moments. Also the war books are fab.

Love John O'Farrell's: Things can only get better, This is your life and The Best a Man Can Get. Not the newer stuff though.

Any books by Stephen Fry and Julian Clary also make me lol.

The 44 Scotland Street series by Alexander McCall Smith. I have not read any of his ladies detective stuff as I am quite put off by it, but this other series is really very good and makes me laugh out loud. Compulsory reading if you have ever lived in Edinburgh or know people from there!

If he suits your sense SoH, Jimmy Carr's book The Naked Jape will have you pysl. It's a very clever and interesting analysis of what is funny (and what isn't) and why. Read it in bed next to DP to really irritate him with your sniggering!

Also I love Jasper Fforde and Kate Atkinson is kind of wry without necessarily being laugh out loud funny.

Bridget Jones Diary and The Edge of Reason both had me snorting. Defo read them even if you have seen the films.

Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes really made me laugh too.

I really don't find Bill Bryson that funny. Maybe I need to read him again.

Back to Brookmyre - The Sacred Art of Stealing follows right on from A Big Boy Did It And Ran Away. Read the latter first.

Also 1066 & all that, & the 3 others by the same authors (W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman) - And Now All This, Garden Rubbish & Horse Nonsense. They were written in the 1930s & I'm always amazed that people could be just as silly then as now.

Bill Bryson's Notes from a Big Country about his family's return to live in America is his funniest for me - the piece about the number of Americans injured by their clothing or folding money made me laugh so much I couldn't speak

Pratchett! how could I have left him out

I think he gets a bit of a pasting on here, but Charlie Brookers book of his screen burn columns is hysterical.

Am partial to a bit of Pratchett myself

WouldLikeToBeEsmeButKnowsInHerHeartShe'llAlwaysBeGythaTiggaxx

I second Round Ireland with a Fridge, very funny, but also add Dear Fatty by Dawn French, it made me both laugh and cry but the bit where she has to check her mother's fanjo for broken glass is priceless!!

David Lodge
Bill Bryson
Douglas Adams

a few others but these 3 consistently make me laugh

oh and Roberston Davies too unexpected loud explosive and constant amusement

Jux - it's here Maybe it's just me, but I was crying with laughter...

And here's the other one - "Word of Mouth" by Nigel Rees - collection of overheard conversations, malapropisms etc.

One of those books that has a gathering momentum - start of smiling, then build to giggling helplessly.

Unfortunately out of print it seems.

Diary of a nobody by (i think) George and Weedon Grossmith (I may be wrong)

The Unfortunates - in fact all - Laurie Grahams (but particularly the unfortunates.) hsterical.

A book called Round Ireland with a Fridge, which sounds like it ought to be dire (and in truth, hasn't much by way of plot) had me hiccuping with laughter... tricky to read in bed while trying not to wake DH...

Explosive laughter and loud snorts with the books on Cocolepew's list: Carl Hiaasen Bill Bryson & the Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum novels.

The fabulous Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series is my all time favourite though.