# 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:** 9\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![JerH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@JerH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerH)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2005, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/101 "2005-07-29T21:13:23Z")
_[e](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452281881/002-4824244-4311259)_, by Matt Beaumont. It’s a novel in the form of several weeks’ worth of emails at a dysfunctional advertising agency. Roll-on-the-floor funny. I second/third/eighty-seventh (whichever it’s gotten up to for each of them) Terry Pratchett, Christopher Moore, Gideon Defoe, and Jerome K. Jerome. ---
**Author:** ![Indyellen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/indyellen/32/4176_2.png) [@Indyellen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indyellen)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2005, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/102 "2005-07-29T21:42:25Z")
Since no one else has mentioned him, **Spider Robinson** ’s _Callahan_ books are _wonderful_. My favorites are the original (Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon) and the related (but not quite the same) Callahan’s Lady. You have to like puns, though. That’s important. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/103 "2005-07-30T03:38:51Z")
> [@well he's back](#): > > The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis is really funny, but a bit too much like a short story collection, I guess. I had no idea this was a book. I just found out a few years ago, it was a movie before the TV show. My suggestion IF one likes “Hitchhikers Guide” & Wagner’s “Ring”, Tom Holt’s “Expecting Someone Taller”- a modern-day sequel to the Ring Cycle. ---
**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 30, 2005, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/104 "2005-07-30T03:46:54Z")
Most of Tom Holt’s stuff is hilarious, but the man can’t write an ending to save his life. ---
**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 30, 2005, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/105 "2005-07-30T04:39:26Z")
> [@Indyellen](#): > > Since no one else has mentioned him, **Spider Robinson** ’s _Callahan_ books are _wonderful_. Didn’t read post #95 in this thread, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Indyellen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/indyellen/32/4176_2.png) [@Indyellen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indyellen)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/106 "2005-07-31T16:38:23Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#): > > Didn’t read post #95 in this thread, eh? Sorry, it’s what I get for posting from work…sometimes I skim WAY too fast. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/107 "2005-08-01T15:13:11Z")
> [@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_. > > And I’ve mentioned this several times before, but _Thank You for Smoking_ by Christopher Buckley is one of the funniest books I’ve read. I read Thank You For Smoking this weekend and was laughing like a mental patient on the bus. It kept the seat next to me empty, so, for the best. After such a stellar recommendation, Pyrates was also bought. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/108 "2005-08-01T17:31:40Z")
> [@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_. Ditto. _The Pyrates_ is actually back in print, though unfortunately without the anonymous cover illustration of earlier editions. It’s also, for my money, the funniest of Fraser’s books – what constraints of historical plausibility exist in the _Flashman_ books are ignored with abandon here, allowing freer play for Fraser’s wit and prose style. I’ve also failed to find any mention of Tom Sharpe so far in this thread. [_Riotous Assembly_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0871131439/ref=pd_sim_b_1/104-4840935-6183959?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance) and [_Indecent Exposure_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0871131420/ref=pd_sim_b_1/104-4840935-6183959?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance) make the apartheid-era South African police funnier than they have any reasonable right to be. [_The Great Pursuit_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0871131420/ref=pd_sim_b_1/104-4840935-6183959?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance) does the same for the publishing industry. The others are extremely funny as well, but these three are my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Improbability](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Improbability](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improbability)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420/109 "2005-08-02T10:28:56Z")
I’m not sure if it’s been mentioned in this thread before, but I’ve just finished [Vernon God Little](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0571215165/qid=1122978668/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-9152283-7428669) by DBC Pierre, and it was one of the funniest books I’ve read in a long time. Plus, it’s not too taxing if you are looking for something light at the moment. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-truly-funny-books/311420.md?page=5)