# funniest book **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 11, 1999, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-book/9372 "1999-10-11T18:03:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@cody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cody)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 1999, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-book/9372/1 "1999-10-12T05:45:00Z")
What’s the funniest book you’ve ever read? I vote for A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES by John Kennedy Toole and THE GOOD SOLDIER SCHWEIK by Hasek ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 1999, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-book/9372/2 "1999-10-12T05:50:00Z")
Anything by Fannie Flagg is hilarious beyond belief. _Catcher in the Rye_ is my all time favorite book of humor. The part where Holden is describing the movie that he saw is gut splitting. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 1999, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-book/9372/3 "1999-10-12T05:51:00Z")
Thats easy.Or not. Birchism Was My Business by Gerald Schomp. Even Amazon doesn’t have it listed.He was a John Bircheer and went thru fun experiences before he realized what a bunch of nuts they were. ---
**Author:** ![J\_String](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@J\_String](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_String)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 1999, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-book/9372/4 "1999-10-12T05:58:00Z")
“Good Omens” by Neil Gaiman (sp?) and Terry Pratchett. Can’t really describe it, you’ll just have to read it yourself. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-book/9372/5 "1999-10-11T18:03:00Z")
The first four Hitchhiker’s books, and the two Dirk Gently books by Douglas Adams. * * * Chaim Mattis Keller [ckeller@schicktech.com](mailto:ckeller@schicktech.com) “Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible. The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.” – Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-book/9372/6 "1999-10-11T18:13:00Z")
P.G. Wodehouse. Top choices would be THE CODE OF THE WOOSTERS or RIGHT HO, JEEVES. The latter contains one of the funniest set-pieces in comic-novel history, Gussie Fink-Nottle’s speech at Market Snodsbury Grammar School. Michael Dirda, the very fine book critic at the WASHINGTON POST, lists Terry Pratchett and Donald E. Westlake as runners-up to Wodehouse for best 20th century comic writer, and I won’t argue with him. Stephen Leacock is also good. And A.J. Liebling. * * * Uke ---
**Author:** ![neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neuro-trash_grrrl)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-book/9372/7 "1999-10-11T18:18:00Z")
Catch-22. Anything by Douglas Adams. And, if you’re a Star Trek fan, or better yet, if you’re not, then check out an Original Series novel called “How Much for Just the Planet”. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-book/9372/8 "1999-10-11T18:18:00Z")
_Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady_ by Florence King. Or really anything by King, but _Confessions_ is the best place to start. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-book/9372/9 "1999-10-11T18:19:00Z")
Bored of the Rings. “Argle bargle morble whoosh.” ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-book/9372/10 "1999-10-11T18:22:00Z")
Adams’ Hitchiker series Close second Robert Aspirin’s Myth series * * * Tenacious, like a coonhound tracking a poodle in heat. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-book/9372/11 "1999-10-11T18:31:00Z")
Another vote for _Catch-22_ as the funniest overall. However, if you like moments of grinning humor in an otherwise tragic novel, I recommend _The Prince of Tides_, by Pat Conroy. All of Conroy’s books are great, but this one is stellar. Ignore the crappy Mecha-Streisand movie and get the book. I still rate it as the best book I’ve ever read. ---
**Author:** ![Dirty\_Devil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Dirty\_Devil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dirty_Devil)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-book/9372/12 "1999-10-11T18:55:00Z")
For light, topical humor, you can’t beat Dave Barry. His early books are the best (Taming Of The Screw, Babies & Other Hazzards Of Sex, Dave Barry Slept Here, Homes & Other Black Holes, etc.) If you’re in the right mood, these are hilarious. Not very intellectually stimulating, but funny nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Fyodor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/958977/32.png) [@Fyodor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fyodor)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-book/9372/13 "1999-10-11T19:09:00Z")
I know this is going to sound intellectually pretentious but I am pretty sure the funniest book I ever read was “The Poor Mouth” by the Irish humourist Flann O’Brien. Originally written in Gaelic it is a tale of a poor Irish boy’s life. There is no Gaelic in my heritage but I thought this was extremely funny. My second choice would be a P.J. O’Rourke book. I guess I’m Irish on St. Patrick’s day. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-book/9372/14 "1999-10-11T19:20:00Z")
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, by Anita Loos Show Girl, by J.P. McEvoy any Robert Benchley collection The Portable Dorothy Parker Little Me, by Parick Dennis ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-book/9372/15 "1999-10-11T19:32:00Z")
I’ve read {i]Little Me,\* Flora; I’d love to find a copy of it with the endpapers intact (Belle has her boobs immortalized at Graumann’s Chinese Theater!) One could _expect_ a ridiculous book when the woman who posed for the shots (Jeri Archer) actually did develop a womanly figure by the age of _twelve!_ My vote would be for _The Mark Twain Comic Reader;_ especially the stories “When I Edited an Agricultural Paper” and “Punch Brothers Punch.” * * * “If you drive an automobile, please drive carefully–because I walk in my sleep.”–Victor Borge ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-book/9372/16 "1999-10-11T19:34:00Z")
Dirty Devil mentioned Dave Barry, but I would like to suggest a different Miami Herald writer: Carl Hiassen. I think his best work is probably _Double Whammy._ * * * “The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind.” - _Humphrey Bogart_ ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-book/9372/17 "1999-10-11T19:39:00Z")
If you want a funny ‘comedy’ book, may I suggest, “Lose Weight Through Great Sex With Celebrieties (The Elvis Way)” by Colin McEnroe. I also heartily recommend just about anything by P.J. O’Rourke. For light fiction, I always liked the Stainless Steel Rat books. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-book/9372/18 "1999-10-11T19:40:00Z")
Dave Barry’s _Book of Bad Songs_ has to figure here. It’s a sidesplitter–especially with the chapter about songs people get wrong; he says the Beach Boys’ song “Help Me Rhonda,” which he likes, sounds as if it begins: “Well since she put me down, there’s been owls pukin’ in my bed.” (To _me_ the refrain sounds like “Happy Hanukkah, Hap-,hap-py Hanukkah…”) 😉 * * * “If you drive an automobile, please drive carefully–because I walk in my sleep.”–Victor Borge ---
**Author:** ![Pixoid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pixoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixoid)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-book/9372/19 "1999-10-11T19:43:00Z")
Ike: Second you on the Wodehouse. Bertie and Jeeves are two of my favourite characters… Seconds on the _Catch-22_ and _Catcher in the Rye_, too. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-book/9372/20 "1999-10-11T19:46:00Z")
_Thank You for Smoking_ by Christopher Buckley. Read it now and thank me later. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-book/9372.md?page=2)