# 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:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**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 20, 2005, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/41 "2005-04-20T22:55:43Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > Speaking of “hot off the presses,” have you read much Mark Twain? He can be hilariously funny, or viciously depressing, or both. Absolutely. I read _Roughing It_\* for the first time last year, and i was laughing out loud in places. ---
**Author:** ![YellowTail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5ac83/32.png) [@YellowTail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YellowTail)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/42 "2005-04-21T00:21:08Z")
Recent: CEO of the Sofa by P.J. O’Rourke Old: John Mortimer’s Rumpole stories. And Robert Heinlein’s novels can be pretty funny. And I second the Bill Bryson suggestions. I was reading Lost Continent on a plane once, unsuccessfully trying to keep my mirth to myself, and a stranger tapped me on the shoulder wanting to know what was so funny. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Big\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@The\_Big\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Big_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/43 "2005-04-21T00:35:15Z")
> [@Torgo ate my hamster](#): > > Ben Elton - screenwriter for The Young Ones, Blackadder and Thin Blue Line. Amazing satirist, I recommend _This Other Eden_ and _Dead Famous_. I’d add **Inconceivable** , by him also. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/44 "2005-04-21T00:46:19Z")
[_Pest Control_ by Bill Fitzhugh.](http://billfitzhugh.com/pest_control.html) ---
**Author:** ![wonderwench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/35a633/32.png) [@wonderwench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderwench)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/45 "2005-04-21T00:49:11Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > 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. That was going to be my recommendation as well. But I am tempted to recommend some old classics: anything by P.G. Wodehouse. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/46 "2005-04-21T01:03:18Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > Speaking of “hot off the presses,” have you read much Mark Twain? He can be hilariously funny, or viciously depressing, or both. Twain’s a great one; people thinkg, “Oh, that’s old _classic_ stuff,” and don’t realize how actually funny and readable he is. Ditto for Jonathon Swift. I’ve been reading P.G. Wodehouse for quite a while, and he’s clearly the precursor to the screwball comedy (although the novels do tend to go on a bit long; start with the short stories, which are just the proper length for a good cup of tea), and my newly-renewed passion is for Joseph Heller, whose _Catch-22_ may be the best satirical novel ever written. Douglas Adams is great, especially if you know enough about evolutionary theory and quantum mechanics to really pick up on some of the jokes he slides in; for an English major(?) he was surprisingly technically literate. I found Chaucer quite a lark, too, but he’s not light reading. As for more modern reading I’m a bit at a loss; Bryson only amuses me for about three chapters, then his self-deprecating tone grates, and David Sedaris, who everybody seems to be so crazy about, just bores me insensate after ten pages or so. I get some chuckles out of Stevenson’s _Cryptonomicon_ but not enough to recommend slogging through it. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/47 "2005-04-21T01:49:27Z")
Speaking of Christopher Buckley, I thought [\*Little Green Men](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060955570/qid=1114048181/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/104-8388086-3622309?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)\* was funnier than _Thank You for Smoking_. ---
**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 21, 2005, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/48 "2005-04-21T03:05:36Z")
**Wodehouse** I would like to find ( via the library) but it and the system don’t seem to have any.And the local bookstores don’t even have him, unless I am looking in the wrong section ( Humor or Literature.) Nuts. There are a couple of well written scenes in: **A girl named Zippy.** Especially the one in dealing with a neighbor who was complaining about their dogs barking, who really weren’t a problem and how her dad solved the problem. Very funny. I think **Larry Mudd** is a Hidden Persuader for Quarrington. 😃 I have just book marked this list so I can add most of these titles to my amazon wish list, which grows immensely everytime lists like this come up. I am so far behind…like 4 years worth of " Recommend me a good X book". You buttheads. 😃 ---
**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 21, 2005, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/49 "2005-04-21T03:33:00Z")
I must give props to **Athena** for directing me to this gem of a book: [Clara: Her Early years. the story of a pug that ruled my life.](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452281369/qid=1114054395/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-3802887-9024113) There were many scenes in the first couple of chapters that I was laughing so hard that it turned to tears. ( Esp how Clara walked her ‘sister’ dog out the door to get rid of her…dragging her by the lease.) If you are a dog person , this is a good book. If you aren’t a dog person, you might not get the ‘my dog runs my life’ mentality. ---
**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 21, 2005, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/50 "2005-04-21T03:46:51Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > **Wodehouse** I would like to find ( via the library) but it and the system don’t seem to have any.And the local bookstores don’t even have him, unless I am looking in the wrong section ( Humor or Literature.) > > Nuts. You can get a whole bunch of Wodehouse completely free at [Project Gutenberg](http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/w#a783). I’m no expert on him, but i’m sure that someone else can recommend some good titles from 35 or so available online. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/51 "2005-04-21T03:46:54Z")
Another old one: _Lucky Jim_ by Kingsley Amis (Martin’s dad.) If I had to take all the funny books, T.V. shows, movies, stand-up acts, and any other funny things you can think of and put them all together to pick the funniest thing ever, this would be it. I must have read it forty times and it still makes me laugh so hard I have to put it down to catch my breath. It has the best description of a hangover ever written. It is a bit dated (1956), very British, and slightly misogynistic (very slightly), but you should really give it a shot. If you’ve ever struggled with academic politics, you’ll definitley love it. If you’ve ever had to please a boss who you secretly despised and who kept dangling vague promises of advancement without actually committing to anything, you’ll love it. If you like great funny writing you’ll love it. ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/52 "2005-04-21T05:17:34Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > I’m not a huge fan of David Sedaris, but I will say that “You Can’t Kill the Rooster” from _Me Talk Pretty One Day_ is probably the single best essay ever written. I also thoroughly enjoyed his adventures with the French language. For example, the beginning French class trying to explain Easter to the Muslim student. I also heartily second _Roughing It_. ---
**Author:** ![Twin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/85f322/32.png) [@Twin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twin)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/53 "2005-04-21T16:49:15Z")
_Kick Me_ by Paul Feig (creator of Freaks & Geeks) is hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/54 "2005-04-21T18:10:29Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > **Wodehouse** I would like to find ( via the library) but it and the system don’t seem to have any.And the local bookstores don’t even have him, unless I am looking in the wrong section ( Humor or Literature.) > > Nuts. Look in “Classics”. :rolleyes: Yeah, he’s only been cold for abut 50 years, and his stuff is really pretty fluffy (but entertaining fluff, damnit), yet he’s a classic. Overlock Press has recently reprinted the entire catalog in hardback, but that’s too pricey for my tastes. [The Most of P.G. Wodehouse](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743203585/qid=1114106007/sr=2-3/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_3/104-5083798-8508730), [Meet Mr. Mulliner](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1585672750/qid=1114106172/sr=5-1/ref=cm_lm_asin/104-5083798-8508730?v=glance), and especially [Young Men In Spats](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1585673374/qid=1114106783/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-5083798-8508730?v=glance&s=books) are good introductions (mostly short stories, except for the short novel _Quick Service_ in the former) and give you a feel for Wodehouse’s inimitable style. (Inexplicably, some find him tedious. Takes all kinds, I guess, but we’re not sure for what.) The “Jeeves” novels are pretty uniformly good, too, but some of his later work was getting rather…um, I’d say repetitive, but that would be true of nearly all of it. Tired, shall we say, and without the energetic wordplay of his earlier stuff. Just don’t make the mistake of trying to converse verbally with other Wodehouse fans until you’ve checked the pronounciation of the names. As a running joke, I don’t think he has a single character (other than Jeeves) whose name can be sounded out phonetically. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/55 "2005-04-23T04:52:51Z")
(bump so I can save this thread in my inbox) ---
**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:** [April 23, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/56 "2005-04-23T15:16:51Z")
I would like to second Patrick McManus. I have all his books and am a huge fan. If you ever get a chance to see one of his readings, do take it in. Folks were literally rolling in the aisles. I just finished Erma Bombeck’s The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank. I must now seek out her other works, I was highly entertained. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/57 "2005-04-23T15:33:45Z")
I recycle this: Donald Westlake Carl Hiassen Bill Bryson Tom Sharpe (South African living in England and may be more to British tastes but I find him consistently laugh out loud funny) Mordecai Richler (Canadian) Philip Roth’s The Great American Novel about a fictional baseball team. Dave Barry. [Here](http://www.bookbrowse.com/browse/index.cfm?category_number=31) is the list of humorous books at Bookbrowse, which is a great site when you are looking for new stuff in a familiar genre. They have heaps of information about all the books, good summaries and usually several pages of excerpt to see if you like the author’s style. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/58 "2005-04-23T15:46:44Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Mike Nelson’s **Movie Megacheese** (but not his other books) I agree with the Megacheese recommendation. **Mind Over Matters** is pretty good, too. Especially his essay on the history of television. I haven’t finished **Death Rat** because it’s such an oddly written book. ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124/59 "2005-04-24T01:27:21Z")
I can’t believe this thread has gotten to two pages, yet no one has mentioned **Augusten Burroughs**! I have never laughed so hard while reading. [Running With Scissors](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/031242227X/qid=1114305749/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-1606015-9783037) - It’s a memoir of his early life. If it weren’t so funny, the reader would be inclined to shoot themselves after reading it. Among other things, his mother gives him to her insane psychiatrist, he becomes heavily involved in drugs and alcohol, drops out of school, and becomes involved with a pedophile. [Dry](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312423799/qid=1114305931/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/103-1606015-9783037?v=glance&s=books) - Somewhat of a continuation of _Running_, although you don’t have to have read \*Running \* to be able to enjoy it. This details his battle with his alcoholism and drug abuse. Again, side-splittingly funny. [Sellevision](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312422288/qid=1114305931/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_4/103-1606015-9783037?v=glance&s=books) - His first fiction work. It takes place behind-the-scenes of a home-shopping network. This one isn’t bitter-sweet like the first two can be - this is simply satire and comedy. I haven’t read his newest one, [Magical Thinking](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312315945/qid=1114305931/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/103-1606015-9783037?v=glance&s=books), yet, but everyone seems to be agreed that it is also very good. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-read-a-very-funny-book-your-recommendation-for-others-requested/300124.md?page=2)