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Which books have made you laugh out loud?

123 replies

Shandyleer · 02/03/2009 14:57

Have just been re-reading the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, and had forgotten how much they made me giggle. Tried to explain to DH what was so funny but he just looked bemused. Which books have made you laugh?

OP posts:
LyraSilvertongue · 02/03/2009 19:08

Any Bill Bryson.
Starter for Ten (I saw the film recently and it wasn't half as good as the book).

twinsetandpearls · 02/03/2009 19:10

Joseph Connelly or is it Connolly?

ahundredtimes · 02/03/2009 19:11

Lorrie Moore makes me laugh out loud.

Itsjustafleshwound · 02/03/2009 19:13

'Don't tell mum I work on the Rigs' was good for a laugh ...

janeite · 02/03/2009 19:15

Bill Bryson frequently makes me splutter, especially the bit in "The Lost Continent" about being scalped by a polecat.

Re: Pratchett - That bit in "Weird Sisters" when the witch say, "When shall we three meet again?" and the other one says something like "Well I can do next Thursday" had me in bits for some reason. Writing it down now, it doesn't seem anywhere near as funny as it did on first reading.

HeadFairy · 02/03/2009 19:20

Unreliable Memoirs - Clive James (his other memoires are pretty good too, but this one just made me snort with laughter)

Holidays in Hell - PJ O'Rourke, including the best put down ever by an American surrounded by braying Hoorays

All the old Gerald Durrell books about life in Corfu.

snigger · 02/03/2009 19:25

Another vote for Three Men In A Boat - I have a brilliant memory of mockingly reading aloud the Uncle Podger excerpt to DH as he hung from a stepladder in our first home trying to affix wallpaper to a tricky corner with a broom tied around with a tea-cloth, we cried with laughter, then gave up the diy.

Maveta · 02/03/2009 19:27

russell brand´s autobiography - not a fan of the guy and wasn´t interested in reading his book but a friend lent it to me and as i had nothing to read... found myself snickering away to myself frequently and often got to the point of tears of laughter.

TheMoistWorldOfSeptimusQuench · 02/03/2009 19:28

Any of PG Wodehouse's Jeeves & Wooster books, but especially The Code of the Woosters

Giggling in the Shrubbery sounds good

MrsGuyOfGisbourne · 02/03/2009 19:31

Yest another vote for Bryson - was literally crying with laughter the other day at notes from a big country, and many years ago fell in the gap between the platform and train at Clapham Junction foolishly reading a bryson as I got on the train.
Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano books.
another vote for 3 men in a boat
@The art of coarse Sailing'
Mark Steel's book about the French Revolution - can't stand the man's politics, buit boy is he funny....
The Oxford Learning Tree one about the dads doing a barbecue...

MrsGuyOfGisbourne · 02/03/2009 19:33

Yes another vote for the My Family & otehr animals. Read it on a rainy holiday in Greece, hystercial with laughter so DS1 read it after me, and then HE was hysterical with laughter...

Itsjustafleshwound · 02/03/2009 19:36

another vote for Bill Bryson - his autobiography and his collection of his weekly Daily Mail columns..

Goober · 02/03/2009 19:41

Catherine Alliott- The Old Girl's Network.
Tis quite an oldie now, but I sprayed many time over this book. Very very funny!

MayorNaze · 02/03/2009 19:42

gervase phinn

nancy mitford

have just ordered giggling in the shrubbery from amazon based purely on this thread (had never heard of it before!) so damn you all it had better be good

Mithered · 02/03/2009 19:47

Catherine Alliott - Rosie Meadows regrets
Bill Bryson and Terry Pratchett
May Contain Nuts - John O'Farrell

MayorNaze · 02/03/2009 19:49

the old girls network by catherine allison is worth a titter

paula yates' biog is also a good giggle

MayorNaze · 02/03/2009 19:50

alliot dammit

inaliffey · 02/03/2009 19:54

The old girl network was hilarious.

Later books, her last few books, yawn!

Like sophie Kinsella, she's gone downhill. and it's not that I'm getting older and crankier!

MayorNaze · 02/03/2009 19:57

whatever happened to margo is another durrell one written by...margo!

any molesworth too.

hairygodmother · 02/03/2009 20:20

Am with your original post Shandyleer about the Stephanie Plum books, they are absolutely hilarious. Always desperately waiting for the next one to come out.

Also loved The Eyre Affair and the others in the series by Jasper Fforde. V funny and completely off the wall.

PlumpRumpSoggyBaps · 02/03/2009 20:26

Oh MayorNaze I would bet my life on you enjoying 'Giggling in the Shrubbery'!! I must go and dig it out again myself now....

JazzHands · 02/03/2009 20:31

PG Wodehouse
Terry Pratchett

Have we had Douglas Adams yet? Hitchhikers has to get a vote

tesslovesangel · 02/03/2009 20:34

Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer

Onlyaphase · 02/03/2009 20:40

Yet another vote for Bill Bryson - his books make me laugh aloud, and cry with laughter. Not to be read on the train, especially the bit where the seagull craps on his friend, twice.

And Pratchett

And the earlier Mill Millington ones - "Things my Girlfriend and I have Argued About" especially, though DH finds this funnier than I do

badassfeline · 02/03/2009 20:40

Yet another Bill Bryson fan here.. I still snort in inappropriate places when I think of passages from Notes from a Small Island. And I can never look at Panda Cola the same. .