# Books that make you laugh **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 20, 2007, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-make-you-laugh/392911 "2007-02-20T02:56:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Phantom\_Dennis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/51bf81/32.png) [@Phantom\_Dennis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phantom_Dennis)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-make-you-laugh/392911/1 "2007-02-20T02:56:39Z")
The title says it all, folks: your favorite humorous novels. I’ll start with **Confederacy of Dunces** by John Kennedy Toole, one of my favorite novels, period. I can’t read more than a page without cracking a smile. Your turn! ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-make-you-laugh/392911/2 "2007-02-20T03:04:20Z")
Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett. Wet-your-pants funny. ---
**Author:** ![Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Metal_Lotus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-make-you-laugh/392911/3 "2007-02-20T03:29:55Z")
I have learned not to read most of Bill Brysons stuff while riding on busses, or otherwise in public. It seems other people are taken aback by a person suddenly bursting into guffaws. Other “Not safe for public reading books”: Cosmic Banditos - A.C Wisebecker First 4 books of Hitchhikers Guide - Douglas Adams Got to put in a second vote for “Confederacy of Dunces” Spike Milligan’s War Memoirs The “Wooster” books (P.G. Wodehouse) There are more… Regards FML ---
**Author:** ![MadPansy64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@MadPansy64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadPansy64)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-make-you-laugh/392911/4 "2007-02-20T03:49:48Z")
Anything by Pat McManus. I have never lived with anyone who didn’t eventually try to forbid me from reading Pat McManus after dark, beginning with my parents and brother at midnight the day I acquired “A Fine and Pleasant Misery.” Twenty-some-odd years later, I still can’t even think about “…two naked and enraged people chasing a hysterical fat kid up the side of a mountain in a blizzard…” without dissolving into giggles. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-make-you-laugh/392911/5 "2007-02-20T03:52:26Z")
See Pratchett, All. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-make-you-laugh/392911/6 "2007-02-20T03:53:22Z")
[QUOTE=MadPansy64] Anything by Pat McManus. I have never lived with anyone who didn’t eventually try to forbid me from reading Pat McManus after dark, beginning with my parents and brother at midnight the day I acquired “A Fine and Pleasant Misery.” Twenty-some-odd years later, I still can’t even think about “…two naked and enraged people chasing a hysterical fat kid up the side of a mountain in a blizzard…” without dissolving into giggles. [/QUOTE] My exact thoughts when I read the title to the thread. I have read all of his books at least twice. Every kid should grow up hanging around a mountain man named Rancid Crabtree. ---
**Author:** ![MadPansy64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@MadPansy64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadPansy64)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-make-you-laugh/392911/7 "2007-02-20T03:57:50Z")
[QUOTE=racer72] My exact thoughts when I read the title to the thread. I have read all of his books at least twice. Every kid should grow up hanging around a mountain man named Rancid Crabtree. [/QUOTE] And a dog named Strange. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-make-you-laugh/392911/8 "2007-02-20T03:59:55Z")
Well, shit. I came to mention McManus and Wodehouse but I see I’ve been scooped. My fave McManus story is the one about the muzzle loader/canon. “What are you boys doing smoking behind this shed?” “Geez officer, you should have seen us while we _were still on fire_!” (I’m guessing at the dialogue, it’s been a while). And of course, anything starring Rancid Crabtree. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-make-you-laugh/392911/9 "2007-02-20T04:04:40Z")
[QUOTE=Full Metal Lotus] The “Wooster” books (P.G. Wodehouse) [/QUOTE] I consider them the Jeeves books 😉 , but it’s irrelevant. They’re ridiculously funny. I’m 1/2 through “Life with Jeeves” for about the 5th time - it’s a 3-book compilation, I think (I’ve actually lost the cover and 1st 12 pages through routine wear and tear). Joe ---
**Author:** ![JCorre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@JCorre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCorre)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-make-you-laugh/392911/10 "2007-02-20T04:07:29Z")
“Budding Prospects” by T.C. Boyle Just about every one of Obrian’s Aubrey/Maturin novels had me in stitches as well. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-make-you-laugh/392911/11 "2007-02-20T04:27:43Z")
_A Gent from Bear Creek_ by Robert E. Howard. Imagine Groo set in the Old West. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-make-you-laugh/392911/12 "2007-02-20T04:30:59Z")
Nick Hornby’s _High Fidelity_ had me pausing every few minutes to either laugh out loud, brood meditatively, or both. ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-make-you-laugh/392911/13 "2007-02-20T04:33:33Z")
Certain Dave Barry books are pretty funny. I liked “Dave Barry Turns 50” quite a bit. I read Chelsea Handler’s book “My Horizontal Life” and was cracking up the whole time. She is just so wrong. David Sedaris has his moments. I’ll catch a sarcastic line or something that just does me in. ---
**Author:** ![Ludy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Ludy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludy)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-make-you-laugh/392911/14 "2007-02-20T04:34:43Z")
Lamb, The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal By Christpher Moore I am re-reading right now. Man I love this book. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-make-you-laugh/392911/15 "2007-02-20T04:44:55Z")
I laughed my ass off at **Catch-22** by Joseph Heller. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-make-you-laugh/392911/16 "2007-02-20T04:53:39Z")
Just to echo some previous posters: Count me among the McManus fans. He often brings me to tears of laughter. I think anyone could appreciate his stories, but if you’ve spent some time in the outdoors going hunting and fishing and camping then McManus is pure comedic genius. If all my books weren’t boxed up right now, I’d read a story or two before bedtime tonight. And I’m working my way through Prachett’s books. I’m pretty much guaranteed many laugh-out-loud moments whenever I crack open a Discworld tale. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-make-you-laugh/392911/17 "2007-02-20T05:07:53Z")
\ Anything written by Cecil Adams… …and I’m serious! ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-make-you-laugh/392911/18 "2007-02-20T05:30:27Z")
[QUOTE=Ludy] Lamb, The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal By Christpher Moore [/QUOTE] Dammit, **Ludy**! That was mine! “Peter, you’re as dumb as a box of rocks…And on this rock…” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-make-you-laugh/392911/19 "2007-02-20T05:36:19Z")
> [@Ludy](#): > > Lamb, The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal > > By Christpher Moore I third that. I also like Robert Fulghum’s stuff. It’s not slapstick funny like McManus (whom I also like despite not liking slapstick) but there are some funny or ironic stories. I especially like Fulghum’s “It was on fire when I lay down on it.” ETA: Oh yeah, and Bill Bryson is good too. I really liked his “A Walk in the Woods.” ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-make-you-laugh/392911/20 "2007-02-20T05:40:36Z")
I recently discovered [Jasper Fforde](http://www.jasperfforde.com/). I laughed out loud at every one of his books I’ve read so far. The _Illuminatus!_ Trilogy and _Schroedinger’s Cat_ trilogy have their moments. Kurt Vonnegut is extremely funny in a very dark and cynical way. I recommend _Slaughterhouse Five_ and _Breakfast of Champions_. Terry Pratchett, of course. _Anansi Boys_ by Neil Gaiman was quite funny. Definitely Douglas Adams. Woody Allen’s _Getting Even_ is excellent. That’s a pretty good start, I reckon… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-make-you-laugh/392911.md?page=2)