I’m not claiming this is the most riotous book of 'em all…but i certainly got some decent laughs out of it: A Walk In the Woods by Bill Bryson.
If you like reading rather than hitchhiking you might try someting by T.C. Boyle. The funniest of his, IMHO, is Budding Prospects, about growing dope in Mendocino County in the early 1980s. Water Music is also very good, but very dark. The recipe the author includes for baked camel is to die for.
If you like history, try one of the Flashman books. The best is the original (Flashamn), but they’re all quite good.
I like the children’s book The Magic Tollbooth
Where a kid gets a tollbooth that’s like Alice’s lookingglass, and lets him into a lot of strange lands where they play word games and have number mines, etc.
Just so clever, and little kids like to hear it, and it’s full of adult things for the reader to catch on to.
(I thought it sounded wrong)
I’ll second Good Omens as one of the funniest books I ever read. Two of the runner ups would be Pest Control, by Bill Fitzhugh, and Blood Sucking Fiends, a love story, by Christopher Moore, IIRC. As for T.C. Boyle, I actually had him as a professor at USC, and he was great. Oh, that reminds me, Glyph by Percival Everett (another prof of mine) is also a great read. Written in a great, very sardonic voice, it’s very witty, if not necessarily ha-ha funny. Well, that’s my $.02.
Yes. And I can’t believe no one has mentioned Double Whammy by Carl Hiaasen. It almost makes me wanna take up bass fishin’.
Double Whammy was great. So were all the Douglas Adams books, and of course, Cecil Adams…but why on Earth has nobody mentioned what is truly the funniest book ever?
Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
All of Charles Bukowski’s novels are hilarious. I’ll nominate Post Office as the most.
I love everything Erma Bombeck wrote. Last night, I reread “A Marriage Made in Heaven or Too Tired For an Affair” and am still giggling.
Anything by P.G. Wodehouse (I can’t believe no one has mentioned this yet).
Also, Bellwether by Connie Willis.
I would go for anything by Terry Pratchett and also the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
Added to this would be the only book I was rendered helpless through laughter ‘Feel This Book’ by Ben Stiller And Janeane Garofalo - the funniest you can get
All right, we’ve got Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Spider Robinson, and (of course) Cecil Adams. Everything I’ve read by these authors has amused me. Unfortunately, Barry Hughart seems to have been overlooked; his Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox (omnibus of 3 novels) still makes me fall over laughing at times–especially Bridge of Birds.
One in recent memory is “Red Lobster, White Trash and the Blue Lagoon” by Joe Queenan. My friend couldn’t breathe while reading some of the scathing reviews of Kenny G, Cannonball Run II, etc., out loud.
And David Sedaris too.
Can you still buy that, Balance?! I borrowed the third book instead of buying it myself, and now it’s out of print and the person I borrowed it from has moved away.
Books that haven’t been mentioned:
Bingo by Rita Mae Brown
Dance Me Outside by W. P. Kinsella
Two very different books which I think are outrageously funny in similar ways. Both examine the minute details of life in a small community. Both had me snorting and chuckling out loud, with an irresistible urge to read my (long suffering) husband the funny parts. Of course, he does the same to me.
They appeal to me in the same way that David Sedaris does, and I can’t think of a better recommendation.
Baja Oklahoma - Dan Jenkins
Probably the best book ever written involving sports (Dead Solid Perfect was pretty good also).
God’s Other Son - Don Imus
Satan would probably like this one. Not for the faint of heart.
The Kentucky Derby is Sick and Depraved - Hunter S Thompson
Anything by Kinky Friedman, Carl Hiassen or any Fletch book by MacDonald works for me as well.
ENugent, the Master Li omnibus is available from Stars Our Destination Books at http://www.sfbooks.com/
They’re sold out right now, but they plan to print more of them.
I’m not a big reader, but Voltaire’s “Candide” is by far the funniest book I’ve ever read. Laughed so damn hard my ass split right in two. Won’t take you long to get through either, so you’ll have time for at least one more recommendation.
I’m not generally a big fan of 17th century French philosophers, but thinking about this makes me want to read it again. It’s been too long…
Hasta.
Lowell
Breakfast of Champions, by Kurt Vonnegut. The way he skewers the absurd condition of the human species made me laugh 'til I couldn’t breath. Also his Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five have sidesplitting moments as well.
And since tak29813 brought up Hunter S. Thompson, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas also gets my nod.
Lunapark - You are correct! I agree that Bukowski is the funniest author I’ve ever read, but I have to say that Factotum my favorite. I laughed so hard and for so long at one chapter (I think it’s chap. 23) that I threw up.
Also, Woody Allen’s books are funny, particularly Without Feathers.