| Funniest book you’ve read. 19:21 - Oct 26 with 18560 views | Mick_S |
Cheers Bristol!
We’ve both mentioned Spike Milligan’s war memoirs. I’m a bookshop mug when I read “ the funniest” etc on the sleeve because they rarely are, but it’s too late as it’s in my bag. I think my favourite may be A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. He killed himself because initially people didn’t get his work and when they did it was a bit on the late side. [Post edited 26 Oct 19:23]
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| Did I ever mention that I was in Minder? |
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| Funniest book you’ve read. on 07:35 - Oct 27 with 2926 views | rbee |
Another vote for Spikes war memoirs. Google says that there were seven books in the series so I don't think I read the last couple.
From the same era David Nivens autobiographies are very funny
The Moon's A Balloon
Bring On the Empty Horses |  | | |
| Funniest book you’ve read. on 07:37 - Oct 27 with 2915 views | qprxtc |
Catch 22 |  | | |
| Funniest book you’ve read. on 07:40 - Oct 27 with 2899 views | Paddyhoops |
Roddy Doyle’s books were outstanding . |  | | |
| Funniest book you’ve read. on 08:33 - Oct 27 with 2806 views | dmm |
| Funniest book you’ve read. on 07:37 - Oct 27 by qprxtc |
Catch 22 |
How could I forget that book! An utterly brilliant comedy satire. |  | | |
| Funniest book you’ve read. on 09:04 - Oct 27 with 2752 views | Esox_Lucius |
Roddy Doyle The Van & The Snapper
Spike Milligan Puckoon
Tom Sharpe Indecent Exposure, Riotous Assembly, Wilt & Blott On The Landscape.
I have laughed out loud in public reading all of those. Riotous Assembly was one I had to stop taking with me to read outside. |  |
| The grass is always greener. |
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| Funniest book you’ve read. on 09:26 - Oct 27 with 2710 views | R_from_afar |
When I was a teenager, I thought "Cricket mad" by Michael Parkinson was hilarious but I haven't read it again recently, so perhaps it hasn't stood the test of time (to be honest, I'm not sure I've stood the test of time either  ).
The Tim Moore books about cycling the three grand tours on decrepit, period bikes - all of which I have read recently - are a hoot. They all have multiple strands: His fitness and equipment challenges, a travelogue element and a lot of historical analysis, both of the races and of major events in the countries. The works are "French Revolutions," "Gironimo," and "Helta Vuelta". |  |
| "Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1." |
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| Funniest book you’ve read. on 10:07 - Oct 27 with 2644 views | HoosWho |
Hard to add to this really when two of my favourites have already been mentioned.
Confederacy of Dunces is a fabulous book, although I now worry about my valve.
Portnoi's Complaint really put me off Xmas dinner.
The Average American Male by Chad Kultgen is a quick read and reminds me of a good pal of mine which might be why I find it funny. It's incredibly laddish and crass but worth a try. | | | |
| Funniest book you’ve read. on 15:49 - Oct 27 with 2430 views | kensalriser |
Italy for Beginners by George Mikes.
It helps if you're somewhat familiar with travelling in Italy and with the style of guide books. |  |
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| Funniest book you’ve read. on 16:16 - Oct 27 with 2377 views | OldPedro |
Atkinson For England: A Tale of Mistaken Identity, the England National Team & Plumbing
I first read this on a flight to the Lanzarote and my wife kept telling me off for laughing and disturbing the person sat next to me. |  |
| Extra mature cheddar......a simple cheese for a simple man |
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| Funniest book you’ve read. on 16:18 - Oct 27 with 2376 views | bosh67 |
Forrest Gump by Winston Groom. The original Phonetic edition was the funniest book I ever read. A million miles from what the film became with a really hilarious sub plot that see Forrest continually in the same place as Raquel Welsh with disastrous outcomes. I was told to be quiet for laughing too much reading it on a plane. I was on my way to meet my new inlaws in France and I didn't speak any French. They found it really funny that every time I sat down to read it I would laugh almost to collapse. They found this odd book reading laughing Brit quite amusing. But it is a masterpiece of character writing and even though it is so different to the film you can hear Tom Hanks narrating it in your head in that southern accent. |  |
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| Funniest book you’ve read. on 16:30 - Oct 27 with 2332 views | Third_Division_South |
Catch 22, the only book I’ve ever had to stop reading on a train because I couldn’t stop laughing. The soldier in white | | | |
| Funniest book you’ve read. on 19:49 - Oct 27 with 2144 views | themodfather |
most tom sharpe books are funny but riotous assembly and indecent exposure are hilarious. | | | |
| Funniest book you’ve read. on 20:15 - Oct 27 with 2103 views | NewBee |
Agree with a lot of the nominations, esp Milligan and Catch22.
Would also add PJ O'Rourke's travel books (hope they haven't dated since I read them 30-odd years ago)
Another read is McCarthy's Bar, by the late Pete McCarthy, where he visits bars named, well, McCarthy's. Not sound too interesting? Trust me, it's priceless, he really was a beautiful writer, actually quite "English" in his humour, but with an ear for Irish comedy.
He did a follow-up, "The Road to McCarthy", likely due to it being part of his publishing deal, which although ok, could never stand up to the original.
But I quote it because near the end, it has an account of a random encounter he had in a bar in Fethard, Co.Tipperary, which is indubitably the funniest thing ever written in the English language. I still take my well-thumbed copy off the bookshelf from time-to-time, it opens at the required page, and I laugh myself silly. Every. Single. Time.
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| Funniest book you’ve read. on 20:51 - Oct 27 with 2068 views | Mick_S |
Agree with that NB - the first is a wonderful book. Must dig the second out and reread the bar bit if I can find the blooming thing. | |
| Did I ever mention that I was in Minder? |
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| Funniest book you’ve read. on 21:09 - Oct 27 with 2049 views | QPRJill |
Popular Music From Vittula is a very funny book about the author Mikael Niemi`s upbringing in Pajala in the north of Sweden. Just read it and enjoy.  | | | |
| Funniest book you’ve read. on 09:25 - Oct 28 with 1807 views | derbyhoop |
If you fancy something that combines humour and football, try
The Ripple Effect by Dominic Holland.
See if you can identify the/any team it was based on.
As a teaser it starts and ends with a doughnut. [Post edited 28 Oct 10:08]
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| "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the Earth all one's lifetime." (Mark Twain)
Find me on twitter @derbyhoop and now on Bluesky |
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| Funniest book you’ve read. on 09:27 - Oct 28 with 1802 views | CroydonCaptJack |
| Funniest book you’ve read. on 20:18 - Oct 26 by scot1963 |
Trying to remember as there have been books that have made me laugh out loud but I don't think any of them are recent reads. Tom Sharpe - I read those a long time ago. The Flashman series of course and that was a long time ago as well. Maybe, from memory, the most recent was The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared. [Post edited 26 Oct 20:26]
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I lent one of those Tom Sharpe Wilt books to my father in law when we were on holiday once, and he laughed so much he made himself ill with indigestion in the night.
I also think the Bill Bryson early books on USA and the UK were really funny. |  |
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| Funniest book you’ve read. on 12:33 - Oct 28 with 1669 views | W4Hoop |
| Funniest book you’ve read. on 09:27 - Oct 28 by CroydonCaptJack |
I lent one of those Tom Sharpe Wilt books to my father in law when we were on holiday once, and he laughed so much he made himself ill with indigestion in the night.
I also think the Bill Bryson early books on USA and the UK were really funny. |
I was just going to post that CCJ. Bill Bryson's travel books are absolutely hilarious. Would recommend "Neither Here nor There" and "Lost Continent".
Also just about anything by Flann O'Brien. "The Third Policeman" and "At Swim Two Birds" come to mind.
[Post edited 28 Oct 12:58]
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| Funniest book you’ve read. on 13:33 - Oct 28 with 1590 views | hubble |
| Funniest book you’ve read. on 12:33 - Oct 28 by W4Hoop |
I was just going to post that CCJ. Bill Bryson's travel books are absolutely hilarious. Would recommend "Neither Here nor There" and "Lost Continent".
Also just about anything by Flann O'Brien. "The Third Policeman" and "At Swim Two Birds" come to mind.
[Post edited 28 Oct 12:58]
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Flann O'Brien's (real name Brian O'Nolan) The Third Policeman (definitely not for the casual reader, but as I said IMO a work of sublime comic genius), is one of those books that 'if you know, you know'. The 'De Selby' asides for example... an incredible work of the imagination.
His first novel that you mention, At-Swim-Two-Birds, I found harder going, but still worth it. I think he only wrote one other book after The Third Policeman, because no one would publish it in his lifetime; one of those tragic realities that seem to dog geniuses, unrecognised by the mainstream until after their death. Although he did go on to have a long-lived and much-loved column in The Irish Times. |  |
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| Funniest book you’ve read. on 13:34 - Oct 28 with 1584 views | Ned_Kennedys |
| Funniest book you’ve read. on 07:35 - Oct 27 by rbee |
Another vote for Spikes war memoirs. Google says that there were seven books in the series so I don't think I read the last couple.
From the same era David Nivens autobiographies are very funny
The Moon's A Balloon
Bring On the Empty Horses |
Totally agree on David Niven’s books: what a storyteller he was!
Funniest publication I’ve ever read was Viz in its prime: me and my mates used to buy copies as soon as they came out and surreptitiously read them at work and we used to cry with laughter. |  | | |
| Funniest book you’ve read. on 14:47 - Oct 28 with 1496 views | BlackCrowe |
Flashman books - particularly the first 4 or 5.
And William Boyd - A Good Man In Africa. |  |
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| Funniest book you’ve read. on 15:11 - Oct 28 with 1453 views | johncharles |
| Funniest book you’ve read. on 13:33 - Oct 28 by hubble |
Flann O'Brien's (real name Brian O'Nolan) The Third Policeman (definitely not for the casual reader, but as I said IMO a work of sublime comic genius), is one of those books that 'if you know, you know'. The 'De Selby' asides for example... an incredible work of the imagination.
His first novel that you mention, At-Swim-Two-Birds, I found harder going, but still worth it. I think he only wrote one other book after The Third Policeman, because no one would publish it in his lifetime; one of those tragic realities that seem to dog geniuses, unrecognised by the mainstream until after their death. Although he did go on to have a long-lived and much-loved column in The Irish Times. |
The Third Policeman is a work of pure genius. On a scale 1 to 10 it comes in about 25 |  |
| Strong and stable my arse. |
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| Funniest book you’ve read. on 19:46 - Oct 28 with 1281 views | Andybrat |
Seems appropriate with the Ashes about to start, “ Penguins Stopped Play” true story of an amateur cricket team that toured the world. You know when you are reading on holiday and the whole family are trying to get you to stop laughing as you are embarrassing everyone. My dad was on the same holiday, started reading it after me and I managed to know exactly where he was in the book so 2 of us basically pissing ourselves even though I wasn’t reading it. Then the family joined in and they hadn’t even read it, have photographic evidence. The joy of laughter | | | |
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