Books laced with humour

[Prrambulate]

I’m looking for books that genuinely made you laugh or smile - the humour can be dark, sardonic, sly, as long as it’s there! I don’t mind the genre. I’ve loved the Strike series partly for this reason, but others too recently - the First Law fantasy series, Exit by Belinda Bauer, Eleanor Oliphant, the Hawthorne novels by Horowitz, and others.

I don’t know why, but I’m struggling with humourless fictional worlds/characters recently. Would love some recommendations.

I adore the Slow Horses series by Mick Herron. They are proper old school well written, great character development, lots of intelligent humour. Can't think of another series I've enjoyed so much. Brilliant.

Bill Bryson has a very dry sense of humour with his travel series

Chris Brookmyre’s books are full of humour

These are older, but they're very funny:
Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim; David Lodge, Changing Places or Nice Work.

Satsuma complex by Bob Mortimer. If you go on audible he reads it out. He's one of the funniest people alive imho.
Second Chris Brookmyre who I've just discovered. A big boy did it and ran away is the one I'd say is most humorous of those I've read

Sweetpea by C.J Skuse. It's a whole series a female serial killer but with some excellent dark humor and a very sympathetic murderer. It's actually going to be a TV series with Ella Purnell.

Edit: Forgot to recommend Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman it's ltRPG featuring a talking cat, a screaming goat and so many other hilarious and well written characters. Think we're waiting on book 8 coming in October!

John Boyne- The Hearts Invisible Furies. But be prepared to be laughing uncontrollably one minute and sobbing the next!

How to Kill your Family by Bella Mackie - dark but has a lot of subtle humour.

Agree re Slow Horses.

Nonfiction- Unruly by David Mitchell, about Kings and Queens of England.

A Good Man in Africa by William Boyd

Ben Aaronovitch Rivers of London series...so clever and funny...x

Gold by Dan Rhodes. Really funny.

I'm part way through Monsters if Templeton by Lauren Groff which is a nice dry read

I was about to say exactly that.
Marian Keyes is also a bit off the wall at times.

Marian Keyes made me laugh until I cried with a scene in one of her books, I think it was This Charming Man, iir the name correctly.

I second Bill Bryson. I also found Cold Comfort Farm properly laugh out loud funny. Even Little Dorrit was funny in places, which surprised me as I normally just find Dickens quiet... heavy.

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Frank and Stan’s bucket list were good.

Also Tom Sharpe ‘ Blot on the landscape’.

Helen Macinnes, Friends and Lovers

I don't remember anything about this book (which I read in about 1987 - certainly online summaries mean little to me) but I remember writing to someone about it "you realise half-way through that parts of it are hilarious"

Although a review I've just read says it lacks the humour of one of her other books...

Chronicles of St Mary's, starting with Just One Damn Thing After Another. Madcap historians investigating major historical events in contemporary time (don't call it time travel!) until something goes wrong. And it always goes wrong. But some genuinely laugh out loud humorous writing.

I'm presuming you've encountered Wodehouse, Pratchett and Heyer?

Tom Holt and Jasper Forde. George MacDonald Fraser - the Flashman books, but also The Pyrates and The Reavers.

Spike Milligan's books about his war service are hilarious

The Colour of Heaven by James Runcie - I've just read the summary I wrote at the time and I put "with the occasional amusing remark", and it's a lovely book I recommend.

Apparently I also thought Go Set A Watchman had its amusing side... but bear in mind that I ended with "I'm glad I read it, but I wouldn't recommend it to a teenager"

I really want to say Giovanni Guareschi's Don Camillo books, although (need to read them again, it's been a while) I don't know whether they're funny as such? just kind of joyful

Ditto the Cadfael mysteries - I don't think they've ever made me laugh, but I always feel better for reading them. Dorothy L Sayers has the same effect.

Sandwich by Catherine Newman. Lots of dry humour amid the emotion. Loved every page of this book.

I really want to say Giovanni Guareschi's Don Camillo books, although (need to read them again, it's been a while) I don't know whether they're funny as such? just kind of joyful

I've not read them for a while but I'd have said they're funny.

My taste definitely leans to the humorous, as my NN indicates, I'm trying to re-establish a reading habit with a Discworld re-read.

The Tent, the Bucket and Me by Emma Kennedy is funny and sweet book about the holidays she went on with her family when she was young.

The Decade in Tory by Russell Jones is a weird mix of both fantastically funny and incredibly infuriating. It covers UK politics from 2010 to 2020. I love it because he's a genuinely entertaining writer but I can only read so much in one go because being reminded of all the bullshit that went on leaves me a bit cross.

The Universe Vs Alex Woods, made me laugh out loud.

Cooking with Fernet Branca is very funny