# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/81 "2005-07-09T05:59:19Z")
Bridget Jones’ Diary is funny but avoid the sequel. The Adrian Mole series by Sue Towsend is hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![blackhobyah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blackhobyah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blackhobyah)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/82 "2005-07-09T06:24:42Z")
“Love in a Cold Climate” was written by Nancy Mitford … it’s a fictionalised account of her childhood as a member of an aristocratic family. A nice companion piece is her sister Jessica’s biographical account of the same childhoold, I think it’s called “Hons and Rebels”. The whole family were wildly eccentric, particulary the father. Another pigeon pair which make me laugh are Jessica Mitford’s expose of the American funeral industry called, I think, “The American Way of Death” … it’s pretty dated now, but she takes on the funeral industry and, um, buries it. Evelyn Waugh’s, “The Loved One”, is fiction, but it covers the same territory in a way. They’re both classics, and very funny if you enjoy that sort of limpid, understated British humour. I don’t know if it would be available in the US, but John Clarke’s “The Tournament” is a little classic. If you can imagine a series of tennis matches between heavy weight literary and philosophical types, with commentary by Norman Mailer, you might have an idea. Clarke is a brilliant, brilliant comic writer. We’d like to claim him as Australian, but he’s actually from New Zealand. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/83 "2005-07-09T07:11:56Z")
Portnoy’s Complaint The Rachel Papers High Fidelity ---
**Author:** ![itup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b38774/32.png) [@itup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/itup)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/84 "2005-07-09T18:05:50Z")
just started “ **Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs** ” by **Chuck Klosterman**. good summer companion. ---
**Author:** ![Iguana\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@Iguana\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iguana_Boy)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/85 "2005-07-09T22:25:59Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > The second page and nobody’s mentioned George MacDonald Fraser yet? (At least I don’t think so.) Get any of his Flashman books. Or, if you can find a copy, read _The Pyrates_. _The Pyrates_ was the book I immediately thought of when I opened this thread - I can’t recommend this book enough. And if you like pirates, try _The Pirates! In an Adventure With Scientists_ by Gideon Defoe. It is a very short book, but laugh out loud funny! ---
**Author:** ![Enterprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/86 "2005-07-10T20:55:50Z")
> [@Corii](#): > > A third vote for Good Omens, the funniest book I have ever read. 🙂 What better way to spend (sorta) a first (sorta) post than to plug favorite literature. I have to second _Good Omens_, and I’ll add something not yet mentioned. _[The Thirteen and a Half Lifes of Captain Bluebear](http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/0099285320/qid=1121029834/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/028-3589569-5560568)_ is the most amazingly funny, inventive and hilarious book I’ve read in a good long while. I demand you go out and buy it…even though USian Amazon doesn’t seem to carry it. ---
**Author:** ![chefjef](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e480ec/32.png) [@chefjef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chefjef)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/87 "2005-07-11T00:09:22Z")
> [@](#): > > For goofy funny, you might like Laurie Notaro. Her first was Idiot Girls’ Action-Adventure Club. They’re short stories/essays on a theme. Yes! I have this book on my bookshelf waiting to be read. Picked it up at a friend’s house about a month ago. Glad to hear a good testimonial - it might be next. Thx! ---
**Author:** ![Alpine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpine/32/17813_2.png) [@Alpine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpine)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/88 "2005-07-11T02:26:18Z")
A fifth vote for **Good Omens**. I wish this team would do another book. Already mentioned: **Terry Prachett** and **Jasper Fforde**. I’ve enjoyed all of Prachett’s “young adult” books, as well as the Discworld series. Another short but fun **Connie Willis** is **Bellwether**. I think my favorite Dortmunder (Donald Westlake) is **What’s The Worst That Could Happen?** And don’t pass over Westlake’s **Trust Me On This** and **Baby, Would I Lie?** , if you can find them. The wacky world of the tabloid newspaper! Another funny **P.J. O’Rourke** (before he got all vicious): **Eat The Rich** My favorite **Hiaasen** is **Striptease** - the characters and dialogue are perfect. **Jamie Harrison** has written four smacking good murder mysteries, set in small town (but tourist-flooded) Montana. A superb writer, she creates characters whose realistic flaws are good for at least one hilarious (and true) line per page. **The Edge of the Crazies, Going Local, An Unfortunate Prairie Occurrence, Blue Deer Thaw** **Tim Cahill** is a funny travel writer whose articles are collected in several books: **Jaguars Ripped My Flesh, Pecked to Death by Ducks, A Wolverine is Eating My Leg** and more. That’s all for now! ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/89 "2005-07-25T21:08:59Z")
I have to say that I took several of the above suggestions in the last week or two and enjoyed them all. _Evolution Man_ (Roy Lewis) was a fine book, although, for my liking wasn’t really that funny. It was still a breezy, thoroughly enjoyable book which was forwarded onto my friend who has a strange, inexplicable caveman fetish. _The Bear Went Over the Mountain_, on the other hand, was effing hilarious. Highly, highly recommended. So thanks to whoever shot that one my way. And I made another pass at PG Wodehouse, and, well, he rarely misses. Maybe the revival of this thread will drag some new recommendations out as well, but I just wanted to say bravo and well done. Well done indeed. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/90 "2005-07-25T21:27:46Z")
**Full Moon** , the biography of Keith Moon by his personal assistant Dougal Butler is one of the funniest books I ever read, partly due to Moonie’s antics and partly due to the cockney slang it’s written in. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/91 "2005-07-25T21:36:07Z")
> [@well he's back](#): > > To Twickster - yep, I enjoyed it. Let us know what you think. (Re: **The Manhattan Beach** project.) Sorry – couldn’t get into it. I read about 80 pages and didn’t crack a smile, so I gave up. ---
**Author:** ![SpectBrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@SpectBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpectBrain)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/92 "2005-07-25T21:50:12Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Anything written by Robert Rankin. The dude is seriously weird. 😃 I’ll second this. I’ve laughed out loud at “The Witches of Cheswick” , “Armageddon: the Musical” and “The Book of Ultimate Truth’s” wherein we learn why, amongst other things, when, you disassemble and then reassemble something there are always small screws left over. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/93 "2005-07-26T03:02:40Z")
More votes here for Pratchett, and a third vote for George Macdonald Fraser’s Flashman series, but particularly “The Pyrates” which I’m reading now for at least the fifth time. If you love the Errol Flynn movies, you’ll love Fraser’s novel. It is the ultimate pirate book, but he overlays it with a wicked narrative that tweaks the genre, but obviously with affection. It’s saucy and violent and weird and sometimes historically accurate, even if he does mash eras together. If you let it, it’ll take you out of this world for awhile. Also, more votes for “Cold Comfort Farm.” The movie adaptation was great, and the book is better. You gotta love a writer who generiously gives 1, 2 and 3 stars to certain passages she feels the reviewers will love. “Three Men in a Boat” was wonderful as well, an account of an expedition up a British river by three rather hapless men. Great suggestions, everyone. I gotta add to MY list, now. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/94 "2005-07-26T06:52:00Z")
Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series is a real laugh-riot. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/95 "2005-07-27T21:18:38Z")
> [@Alpine](#): > > **Jamie Harrison** has written four smacking good murder mysteries, set in small town (but tourist-flooded) Montana. A superb writer, she creates characters whose realistic flaws are good for at least one hilarious (and true) line per page. **The Edge of the Crazies, Going Local, An Unfortunate Prairie Occurrence, Blue Deer Thaw** I love her books, but they’re getting harder to find. I talked to Jamie about six months ago, and she said she’s (finally) working on a new one! I’m hoping to have her down to my bookstore for a signing soon. I’ve seen lots of great suggestions here. Let me throw in Spider Robinson’s Callahan series (start with _Time Travelers Strictly Cash_ or _Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon_), another vote for the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, and anything by Patrick McManus (he writes contemporary outdoor humor). ---
**Author:** ![mambocrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc348/32.png) [@mambocrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mambocrow)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/96 "2005-07-28T03:57:39Z")
“Candy” by Terry Southern “Catch-22” by Joseph Heller “The Great American Novel” by Phillip Roth ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/97 "2005-07-28T05:10:14Z")
That reminds me, “The Magic Christian” by Terry Southern was pretty damn hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![raz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@raz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raz)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/98 "2005-07-28T06:08:37Z")
Anything by Bill Bryson cracks me up. I highly recommend In a Sunburned Country which, besides making me laugh harder than almost any book I’ve ever read (on the very first page, even!), got my thouroughly obsessed with Australia. I second anything by Adams also. ---
**Author:** ![Large\_Marge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/50afbb/32.png) [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/99 "2005-07-28T06:55:53Z")
_Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them,_ by my hero, Al Franken ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2005, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/100 "2005-07-29T20:38:45Z")
> [@raz](#): > > Anything by Bill Bryson cracks me up. I didn’t find _A Short History of Nearly Everything_ at all humorous. I didn’t even know Bryson wrote humor. Now I’m going to have to find something else of his. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420.md?page=6)