# I just read a very funny book; Your recommendation for others requested **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 19, 2005, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124 "2005-04-19T20:48:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/1 "2005-04-19T20:48:33Z")
Time to lighten up a bit, I figured. I just finished The Manhattan Beach Project by Peter Lefcourt. It was hilarious. About filming a new reality TV show called “Warlord”, to be shot in Uzbekistan… Here’s a link for more info: [http://www.powells.com/review/2005\_03\_18.html](http://www.powells.com/review/2005_03_18.html) So, has anyone else read a very funny book lately? It’s Spring, after all. Time to de-gloom. All recommendations welcome, but I’d prefer new books, as opposed to classic humor or Confederacy of Dunces (one of my fave books, but I’m looking for something new). ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/2 "2005-04-19T20:53:53Z")
_The Straight Man_, by Richard Russo. Read the preface. If you’re not giggling uncontrollably by the end of it, you don’t need to waste any money on it. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/3 "2005-04-19T20:54:58Z")
For nonfiction – _A Walk in the Woods_ by Bill Bryson – his experiences hiking the Appalachian Trail. ---
**Author:** ![Reloy3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Reloy3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reloy3)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/4 "2005-04-19T22:30:53Z")
Another non-fiction - _Last Chance To See_ by Douglas Adams of Hitchhiker fame. He travels around the world for the BBC to see the world’s most endangered animals. Funny and sad. As for fiction - _The Pleasure of My Company_ by Steve Martin. He’s a wonderful writer. ---
**Author:** ![Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/5 "2005-04-19T22:45:13Z")
Any Douglas Adams, really, though that doesn’t fit into the category of recent. Bill Bryson wrote Mother Tongue: The English Language some time ago. Hell of a read, and sidesplittingly funny at times. I understand, however, from my linguistics professor that a lot of the stuff he describes is slightly off, but that it was “good enough for recreational study.” ---
**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:** [April 19, 2005, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/6 "2005-04-19T22:58:25Z")
Terry Pratchett - Warning! Could be mistaken as Literature! Especially his later works. Robert Rankin - Mondo Wacko. Spider Robinson - Anything involving Callahan’s, Mary’s, The Place, or the Best Little Whorehouse In Brooklyn. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/7 "2005-04-19T23:46:12Z")
P.J. O’Rourke’s _Parliament of Whores_, as well as some of the essays in _Republican Party Reptile_ and _Holidays in Hell_. Written back before P.J. lost his pizzazz. David Sedaris, _Holidays on Ice_. The theatre review of kids’ holiday plays had me in sitches. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/8 "2005-04-19T23:48:14Z")
**Pure Drivel** by Steve Martin. Each ‘chapter’ is a micro story . He’s brilliant. **Dave Barry Slept Here** The history of the US by Dave Barry. The more I read it the funnier it is. **Holiday’s In Hell** PJ ORourke. Travel writing from the political hot spots of the world at the time ( I think about 1988ish), brilliant observations and sarcasm. What more does one need? ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/9 "2005-04-19T23:56:08Z")
One of the strangest, funniest, and most memorable books I’ve ever read is _The Bear Went Over the Mountain,_ by William Kotzwinkle. My sister gave me this book for Christmas a few years ago, and I have enjoyed rereading it several times since. A plot summary does not capture the immense, quirky charm of this book. The story is about a bear (a real, in-the-woods type bear) who publishes a book, and has interesting encounters with various kinds of human beings while on his way to fame and fortune. This is not a kiddie book, and although it is filled with laughs, it is also filled with inducements to deeper thought. Imagine _Being There_ starring Smokey Bear instead of Peter Sellers. ---
**Author:** ![Torgo\_ate\_my\_hamster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/71c47a/32.png) [@Torgo\_ate\_my\_hamster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo_ate_my_hamster)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/10 "2005-04-19T23:59:38Z")
I’ll have to second **silenus** on his first two suggestions (haben’t read the third) plus add: Christopher Brookmyre - comic thrillers/crime fiction. Try _The Sacred Art of Stealing_, and if you’re into FPS games you have to read _A Big Boy did it and Ran Away_. Ben Elton - screenwriter for The Young Ones, Blackadder and Thin Blue Line. Amazing satirist, I recommend _This Other Eden_ and _Dead Famous_. Alexander McCall Smith - _The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency_ series, although I find his\* Portuguese Irregular Verbs\* series funnier. Maybe because I’m into linguistics plus they are reminiscent of classical comic short stories I used to read when I was younger. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/11 "2005-04-20T00:09:07Z")
I’ve recommended this book several times: _Thank You for Smoking_ by Christopher Buckley. It’s about a lobbyist for the tobacco industry. Funny funny book. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/12 "2005-04-20T00:41:58Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > For nonfiction – _A Walk in the Woods_ by Bill Bryson – his experiences hiking the Appalachian Trail. I have to second this one. It’s laugh-out-loud funny. I took it with me to jury duty a couple of years ago and kept giggling out loud in the waiting room. I’m sure everyone thought I was nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/13 "2005-04-20T01:15:58Z")
I agree with the Bill Bryson recommendation and I’d add _The Lost Continent_ as another one I find amusing to read. [The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0575074019/qid=1113959859/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-7071521-0798554) is one that amused me as well. It’s by Robert Rankin. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/14 "2005-04-20T02:08:10Z")
Fiction: _Good Omens_ by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett Nonfiction: _The Gallery of Regrettable Food_ and _Interior Desecrations_, both by James Lileks ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/15 "2005-04-20T02:18:25Z")
Kate Christensen’s [The Epicure’s Lament](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0767910303/qid=1113963548/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-1425491-0304168) is quite funny is a snobby, cynical way. Imagine Frasier Crane only much more bitter and pretentious. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/16 "2005-04-20T02:22:24Z")
Some offbeat ones: _Three Men in a Boat_ by Jerome K. Jerome is classic. It’s old, yes, but it’s completely fresh and if you haven’t read it you have cheated yourself immensely. _Life Among the Savages_ is Shirley Jackson’s memoir of raising her kids in Vermont. It’s absolutely hilarious, especially if you thought she was some sort of twisted stunted frustrated genius person after reading _The Haunting of Hill House_. You may have read the short piece “Charles”, which is included. _A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush_ by Eric Newby if you like your humor dry and British - a memoir of the author’s trip into Afghanistan in that crazy model of British dilletantism (written in the 50’s, I think) - “Oh, let’s go to some remote corner of Afghanistan. But we have to be mountain climbers.” “Oh, okay. I guess we’ll figure out the mountain climbing part on the fly, then.” Charming, fascinating, and I thought it was hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Scarface\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Scarface\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarface_Z)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/17 "2005-04-20T02:38:32Z")
If you don’t mind fishing books, anything by Patrick McManus or John Gierach is hilarious. Gierach isn’t up front comedy, but he has a wry wit that pops up quite a bit. McManus is just ludicrously funny. So let’s see: _Death, Taxes, and Leaky Waders_ John Gierach _The Grasshopper Trap_ Patrick F. McManus I also read _America the book: A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction_ recently, hilarious. (my sig. is a quote from that book)😃 ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/18 "2005-04-20T03:15:14Z")
I’m a big fan of Mario Vargas Llosa, so I’ll recommend two of his: **Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter** - The main storyline is a young (18 years old) man falls in love with his aunt (by marriage), but there’s a hilarious subplot involving a radio soap opera writer named Pedro Camacho. I definitely giggled out loud reading this one. **Captain Pantoja and the Special Service** - Very funny, but based on a true event. Captain Pantoja here is in the Peruvian army, and his job is to create a “Special Service” of prostitutes to satiate the urgings of the soldiers in the Amazon. 😃 The book is very experimental in style, so if it’s confusing at first, just keep with it. Some of the most hilarious parts are when the situations and updates are written in military reports. They discuss the most absurd things in the most official and beaurocratic manner that it becomes uproariously funny. ---
**Author:** ![Coulbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Coulbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coulbean)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/19 "2005-04-20T05:42:14Z")
\*Good Omens \* by Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett And the not-so-recent _Fried Green Tomatos at the Whistle Stop Cafe_ by Fannie Flagg. The movie was mostly serious, but as I remember the book was mostly laughs. Of course, I have to support the Douglas Adams suggestions… if you can get ahold of a copy in the States, \*The Deeper Meaning of Liff \* is quite funny and makes for good bathroom reading. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/20 "2005-04-20T07:09:55Z")
Also not exactly hot off the press, but I can’t pass up an opportunity to recommend Paul Quarrington’s [_Civilization - (And Its Part In My Downfall)_](http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=0394224450). Paul Quarrington has remarkable way of writing novels that are complex easy reading – farce that is emotionally true and often profound. You’ll laugh until you’ve got skidmarks, and feel ennobled by the experience, despite the laundry issues. _Civilization_ is my favourite, although I strongly endorse everything he’s ever written. He’s a genius. _Civilization_ is a narrative about a couple of young men who make their way west where, (after a series of trials) they become involved in the nascent movie industry. It’s extremely well-researched, and many of the characters and events are recognizable as blown-up versions of real persons, either enduringly famous or relatively obscure. (I suspect that **Eve** would _love_ this book.) You don’t need to get any of the references to enjoy it, though. Oh, and there’s a naked girl in it – with beautiful bubs and milk-white skin. Surely that counts for something. 😃 Also recommended: [_The Life Of Hope_](http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?0679307869&view=print), in which a biblious writer named Paul takes time out in a peculiar town founded by 19th century religious extremists and goes fishing – for a possibly (but probably not) hallucinatory, talking mystical fish. Keep your trousers fastened! You also mustn’t miss [_Home Game_](http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=0679307850), in which a lachrymose ex-baseball star and ex-newsreel journalist acts as a ringer (despite his crippled legs for a stranded troupe of carnival people who’ve settled (literally) in town, arousing the ire of an unusual (and extremely stern and skilled) religious sect that regards baseball as a perfect divine metaphor for life, who’ve talked them into a game to determine which group will be banished from the town forever. If you’ve seen Todd Browning’s _Freaks_, most of the carny people will be familiar. They’re based on folks that are best-remembered for their appearances in that film – the (original, more attractive) Hilton sisters, Johnny Eck, Olga the bearded lady, etc. It’s hilarious, and much much more. And oh, the humanity. Here endeth my plugging for Paul Quarrington. All parties are also instructed to read everything published by Will Self, beginning with [_The Quantity Theory of Insanity_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679750940/104-8510031-3418324?v=glance). (Also not new, strictly speaking.) I also will type “also” once more: Also. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124.md?page=2)