# Recommend some truly funny books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 7, 2005, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420 "2005-07-07T05:48:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [July 7, 2005, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/41 "2005-07-07T19:09:20Z")
**About a Boy** by Nick Hornby is wickedly good. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/42 "2005-07-07T19:49:27Z")
[Silverlock](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0441012477/qid=1120766616/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_ur_1/104-0772517-8779124?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) by John Myers Myers is a very strange and hilarious “fantasy” novel. BTW, who is this “Terry Pratchett” that everyone keeps talking about? 😉 ---
**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:** [July 7, 2005, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/43 "2005-07-07T19:56:44Z")
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:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/44 "2005-07-07T20:10:11Z")
**Who Censored Roger Rabbit?** by Gary K Wolf (no e - not the science fiction author) caused my girlfriend to stare at me several times as I was laughing out loud. NOTE: Other than character names, the book has nothing in common with the Disney film. Fortunately, I read the book first. The sequel, Who P-p-plugged Roger Rabbit, seemed like an attempt to cash in on the movie’s success, and isn’t as good. ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/45 "2005-07-07T20:14:47Z")
Good luck finding it (I got my copy on a whim from a discount bin): William Monahan \Light House\. Mobsters, an adrift artistic type, any number of sexual perversities, all in a Maine B&B. Truly hilarious book by a (sadly) one-attempt novelist. If this guy ever writes anything again, I’m buying it. ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/46 "2005-07-07T20:15:51Z")
> [@Only Mostly Dead](#): > > \Light House\ Bugger. [Light House](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/157322877X/qid=1120768122/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_ur_1/102-6783165-0395313?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) ---
**Author:** ![Hoops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoops/32/6408_2.png) [@Hoops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoops)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/47 "2005-07-07T20:17:17Z")
_Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland_ still holds up very well. The chapter Pig And Pepper is a model of comic timing. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/48 "2005-07-07T20:21:18Z")
> [@Only Mostly Dead](#): > > Bugger. > > [Light House](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/157322877X/qid=1120768122/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_ur_1/102-6783165-0395313?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) How does one do that to a lighthouse? 😃 ---
**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:** [July 7, 2005, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/49 "2005-07-07T20:21:44Z")
Since we’re including nonfiction don’t forget the wry travel writers Redmond O’Hanlon and Eric Newby. Some of Peter Fleming’s travel writings had me laughing out loud. There are lots of funny memoirs too - Augusten Burroughs managed to make a hilarious book (Running with Scissors ) out of a horrendous childhood. The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis is really funny, but a bit too much like a short story collection, I guess. When my daughter was little I read the series of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books out loud too her and both laughed and laughed. They were hysterical. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/50 "2005-07-07T20:24:32Z")
> [@William V.](#): > > Peter David’s “Star Trek: The Next Generation” books have more than their share of laughs. Note that PAD has also done _Star Trek_ original-series, _Deep Space Nine,_ and _New Frontier_ books, almost all of which are equally hilarious. I thought “Rock and a Hard Place” was a dud, but “Q-In-Law” is easily his funniest _Trek_ novel. It’s what I’d pack if I could only take one sci-fi book to a deserted island… For politically-oriented humor, Bob Harris’ _Steal This Book (And Get Life Without Parole)_ comes to mind. Topically, it’s a bit dated now, since most of the material covers the Reagan/Bush Sr./Clinton Presidencies, but the way Bob skewers the hypocrisy and stupidity of '90s politics still holds up well. You’ll be laughing at his delivery even as you’re shocked by the stuff he’s discussing… ---
**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:** [July 7, 2005, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/51 "2005-07-07T20:35:01Z")
Dang - I forgot to mention the funniest book I’ve read lately: The Manhattan Beach Project by Peter Lefcourt, which involves a reality TV show based on the life of a warlord, to be filmed in Central Asia. Complications ensue. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2005, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/52 "2005-07-07T21:04:52Z")
Anything written by Robert Rankin. The dude is seriously weird. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/53 "2005-07-07T23:29:09Z")
Peter David’s _Sir Apropos of Nothing_ series is also mildly amusing. ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/54 "2005-07-08T01:01:32Z")
_[Rubyfruit Jungle](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/055327886X/qid=1120785305/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_ur_1/103-5241779-3388601?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)_ by Rita Mae Brown ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/55 "2005-07-08T01:07:25Z")
[Playing the Moldovans at Tennis](http://www.epinions.com/content_11226222212), by [Tony Hawks](http://www.tony-hawks.com/) – the English musical theater guy, comic writer, and tennis activist, not the American skateboard whiz. Hawks, who also wrote 'Round Ireland With a Fridge, is a sucker for making stereotypically English, extravagantly _eccentric_ wagers. 'Fridge stemmed from a bet over whether he could hitchhike around the entire perimeter of Ireland with a refrigerator in tow; there’s also some buzz about it possibly being made into a movie. Moldovans is about a similarly epic (if pointless) bet, in which he is to beat every member of the Moldovan national soccer team _in tennis_, or stand in the middle of a road in London, stark naked, and sing the Moldovan national anthem. (If Hawks succeeds, his sadistic friend has to do the stripping and singing.) I don’t think you have to be a nutter Anglophile to get into this kind of stuff, although it probably helps. I also liked Carl Hiassen’s Double Whammy, my favorite of his so far. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/56 "2005-07-08T01:09:07Z")
> [@well he's back](#): > > Dang - I forgot to mention the funniest book I’ve read lately: The Manhattan Beach Project by Peter Lefcourt, which involves a reality TV show based on the life of a warlord, to be filmed in Central Asia. Complications ensue. Just took this out of the library – worth reading, eh? ---
**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:** [July 8, 2005, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/57 "2005-07-08T02:39:36Z")
To Twickster - yep, I enjoyed it. Let us know what you think. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/58 "2005-07-08T15:08:52Z")
I recently finished two books by John Moore which were quite funny: [The Unhandsopme Prince](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0441012876/qid=1120836234/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_ur_1/102-9989489-3131315?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) and [Heroics for Beginners](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0441011934/qid=1120836234/sr=8-2/ref=pd_bbs_ur_2/102-9989489-3131315?v=glance&s=books&n=507846). The first pokes fun at the whole “princess kisses a frog” fantasy theme while the second satirizes the “hero and evil overlord” theme. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/59 "2005-07-08T15:15:22Z")
_The Curse of Lono_ by Hunter Thompson is a scream, much funnier than _Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas_, though that ain’t bad either. It’s not a book, but the funniest thing I’ve ever read is [this](http://users.telerama.com/~joseph/cooper/cooper.html) by Mark Twain. I’ve read it a dozen times over the last 30 years, and every time I damn near suffocate. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/60 "2005-07-08T15:29:51Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > Note that PAD has also done _Star Trek_ original-series, _Deep Space Nine,_ and _New Frontier_ books, almost all of which are equally hilarious. I thought “Rock and a Hard Place” was a dud, but “Q-In-Law” is easily his funniest _Trek_ novel. It’s what I’d pack if I could only take one sci-fi book to a deserted island… > > For politically-oriented humor, Bob Harris’ _Steal This Book (And Get Life Without Parole)_ comes to mind. Topically, it’s a bit dated now, since most of the material covers the Reagan/Bush Sr./Clinton Presidencies, but the way Bob skewers the hypocrisy and stupidity of '90s politics still holds up well. You’ll be laughing at his delivery even as you’re shocked by the stuff he’s discussing… Try [Star Wreck: The Generation Gap](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312928025/qid=1120837519/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/102-9913765-4805750?v=glance&s=books) for a wicked & entirely unauthorized (but legal) parody of Star Trek. 😃 Part of a series. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420.md?page=4)