# Books that make you laugh



## bmd (Oct 14, 2011)

I've found David Sedaris quite by chance through downloading a job lot of Kindle formatted books. His books make me laugh out loud like I've never done at any others. His humour is quite catty and that's right up my street.

I am now on the search for other humorous authors. I've tried Dennis Leary, who was in with the job lot but he's rather tiresome and that's about where my knowledge of them ends.

Who has made you laugh at their writing? Please feel free to put your hilarious suggestions about serious writers in here too.


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## weltweit (Oct 14, 2011)

A Book of Miliganimals by Spike Milligan


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## Mrs Magpie (Oct 14, 2011)

I love David Sedaris too. Also anything by Tim Moore, although my favourite is French Revolutions.


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## weltweit (Oct 14, 2011)

Dear Me, by Peter Ustinov


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## weltweit (Oct 14, 2011)

Down Under - Bill Bryson


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## weltweit (Oct 14, 2011)

Moab is my Washpot - Stephen Fry


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## quimcunx (Oct 14, 2011)

The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody - Will Cuppy.


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## 100% masahiko (Oct 14, 2011)

The Extra Man - Jonathan Ames.


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## Mrs Magpie (Oct 14, 2011)

quimcunx said:


> The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody - Will Cuppy.


Ooh, never heard of him but a recommendation from one of the wittiest women in London has me zooming to abebooks.co.uk and has also reminded me to mention Stephen Leacock (vaguely similar dates of birth to Cuppy).


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## Zabo (Oct 14, 2011)

War With The Newts and The Heart Of A Dog. Also Alan Alda's biography - Never Have Your Dog Stuffed. As funny in real life as his Hawkyeye Pierce character. All of Milligan.


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## bmd (Oct 14, 2011)

This is great, thanks. Keep 'em coming!


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## Pickman's model (Oct 14, 2011)

the good soldier svejk


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## sheothebudworths (Oct 14, 2011)

Mrs Magpie said:


> Also anything by Tim Moore, although my favourite is French Revolutions.



That's exactly what I was going to say (and the same book, in particular).


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## Pickman's model (Oct 14, 2011)

hamlet


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## Mrs Magpie (Oct 14, 2011)

This is only tenuously related to BMD's opening post, but it's to do with books and has just had me weeping with laughter. It's one of the winners in the New Scientist caption competition.







* No, we haven't had any Shakespeare yet. It's mostly just been Dan Brown...*


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## Zabo (Oct 14, 2011)

Most of Mark Steele especially: _Vive La Revolution and What's Going On?: The Meanderings of a Comic Mind in Confusion._

_Julian Barnes - A History of the World in 10½ Chapters. Funny and informative._


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## Pickman's model (Oct 14, 2011)

Mrs Magpie said:


> This is only tenuously related to BMD's opening post, but it's to do with books and has just had me weeping with laughter. It's one of the winners in the New Scientist caption competition.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


rather surprisingly those monkeys aren't hurling books off the shelves


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## Mrs Magpie (Oct 14, 2011)

sheothebudworths said:


> That's exactly what I was going to say (and the same book, in particular).


I've known his Mum since I was a teenager and he was very funny even when he was at primary school.


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## weltweit (Oct 14, 2011)

I have found some Tom Sharpe books very amusing. The last one I read was Riotous Assembly - I found it very readable and also amusing.


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## DotCommunist (Oct 14, 2011)

Good Omens- Pratchet/Gaiman

Stalin Ate My Homework- Alexi Sayles biography

The Brentford Trilogy- Robert Rankin

Another shout for Spike Milligan.


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## Pickman's model (Oct 14, 2011)

oscar wilde - plays and eg canterville ghost


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## DotCommunist (Oct 14, 2011)

weltweit said:


> I have found some Tom Sharpe books very amusing. The last one I read was Riotous Assembly - I found it very readable and also amusing.


 
Got kicked out of south africa for writing one of them.

I like Wilt and Blott on the Landscape.


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## Pickman's model (Oct 14, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> Got kicked out of south africa for writing one of them.


er... tom sharpe wrote them, unless you know better


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## weltweit (Oct 14, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> I like Wilt and Blott on the Landscape.



Yes, I also liked Wilt


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## sojourner (Oct 14, 2011)

The Timewaster Letters were great to start off, had me proper laughing out loud, but the joke wears thin real quick.

My daughter got me a Simon's Cat book - that still has me snorting laughing


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## seeformiles (Oct 14, 2011)

Pickman's model said:


> the good soldier svejk



Great book!

Also:

"Puckoon" - Spike Milligan
"Status Quo and the Kangaroo" - Jon Holmes
"The Dalkey Archive" and "The Third Policeman" - Flann O'Brien


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## Pickman's model (Oct 14, 2011)

the nether world by gissing


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## imposs1904 (Oct 14, 2011)

Spike Milligan's  '_Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall'  _is one of the funniest books I've ever read.


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## weltweit (Oct 14, 2011)

In Peter Ustonov's book he describes how he was recruited into the Army. When asked what section he would like to be in he replied Tanks. He was asked why tanks and he replied, well if I have to go into battle I suppose I would prefer to be sitting down  ..


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## sheothebudworths (Oct 14, 2011)

Mrs Magpie said:


> I've known his Mum since I was a teenager and he was very funny even when he was at primary school.



Did she mercilessly rip the piss out of him as a child? 
(He has the whole self-deprecating humour thing down to a fine art, eh!  )


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## Mrs Magpie (Oct 14, 2011)

No, they just revelled in his sense of humour, and still do. Lovely, lovely family.


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## quimcunx (Oct 14, 2011)

sojourner said:


> The Timewaster Letters were great to start off, had me proper laughing out loud, but the joke wears thin real quick.



I didn't really like them to start with.    Maybe because I read them after Henry Root's letters (some of which I didn't get because before my time)  and  the excellent _PS My Bush Pig's Name is Boris _by JC Wade III  which really did make me laugh out loud a few times.


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## billy_bob (Oct 14, 2011)

Woody Allen's Without Feathers.  Full of lines that make me laugh years after I first read them:

"Of all the wonders of nature, a tree in summer is perhaps the most remarkable, with the possible exception of a moose singing 'Embraceable You' in spats."


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## Thraex (Oct 14, 2011)

Don't know if anyone's already said but Martin Millar's books really do get an out loud chuckle from me. Especially his last two, featuring the lovely, lonely, misunderstood Kalix.


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## JimW (Oct 14, 2011)

Definitely Flann O'Brien, as has been mentioned.


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## The Octagon (Oct 14, 2011)

I find Bill Bryson's stuff makes me laugh out loud whilst reading, particularly the earlier travel books around Europe and small-town USA.


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## rekil (Oct 14, 2011)

The Tetherballs Of Bougainville. - Mark Leyner. All his stuff really but that's the best one.
Well Remembered Days - Eoin O'Ceallaigh/Arthur Mathews. 20th century Ireland through catholic eyeballs.


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## Espresso (Oct 14, 2011)

Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks. That made me laugh like a drain.

A lot of the James Herriot books have fantastically comical passages in them, too.

But PG Woodhouse is the grandaddy of them all for tickling my personal funnybone.


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## october_lost (Oct 14, 2011)

Funniest book I have read is Mark Steels' _Reasons to be cheerful. _Last book I read which made me laugh was _Peace, Love and Petrol Bombs._


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## N_igma (Oct 14, 2011)

Anything by Tony Hawks the man's a stich!


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## quimcunx (Oct 14, 2011)

I might have to get some Mark Steel. I like the stuff I've seen of him on telly.  I like my politics and history delivered in his manner.

Mark Thomas's books also bring humour to shittiness.


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## Kidda (Oct 14, 2011)

Danny Wallace always has me chuckling, he's written quite a few 'Join Me' about how he started a cult, 'Yes man' about how his life changed when he started saying yes to EVERYTHING, 'Awkward situations for Men' and 'Friends Like These'.

The same goes for Dave Gorman 'Googlewhack' 'Are you Dave Gorman?' and 'America Unchained'.


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## ericjarvis (Oct 14, 2011)

Bob Marley's Dad said:


> Who has made you laugh at their writing? Please feel free to put your hilarious suggestions about serious writers in here too.



Apart from those already suggested.

Christopher Brookmyre. Writes brilliant, and very Scottish, comedy thrillers.

Colin Bateman. Kind of a second division Brookmyre from Norn Oireland.

Charles Stross. The Laundry books are spoof spy stories. The Atrocity Archives is in the style of Len Deighton, then he does the same characters and setting as per the Bond books in The Jennifer Morgue.

Carl Hiaasen. Mostly comedy thrillers and usually set in Florida. Often somewhat surreal.


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## quimcunx (Oct 14, 2011)

Brookmyre's first couple of books are very funny.   I think he went off the boil a bit with 2 or 3 of them but still good enough romps.


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## imposs1904 (Oct 14, 2011)

ericjarvis said:


> Apart from those already suggested.
> 
> Christopher Brookmyre. Writes brilliant, and very Scottish, comedy thrillers.
> 
> ...



Bateman's better than Brookmyre. The Mystery Man novels are recommended.


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## toblerone3 (Oct 15, 2011)

The Wind in the Willows is a good laugh.


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## K1ck3m0n (Oct 15, 2011)

Aother shout for Bateman and Brookmyre, really enjoy them both.
I've also laughed lots at a good few of Robert Rankin's books, particularly enjoyed The Toyminator.


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## Greebo (Oct 15, 2011)

Bits in almost anything by Gerald Durrell, the same goes for Terry Pratchett's discworld series, Bill Bryson, P J O'Rourke's "Holidays in hell", "The sacred diary of Adrian Plass" and the first 3 sequels to it, Richard Gordon, bits of James Herriott, Florence King, Janet Evanovich, Tommy Jaud, Neil Gaiman's "Good Omens", Tom Holt, and Robert Rankin...

There are others, but that's probably enough to be going on with.


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## PandaCola (Oct 15, 2011)

I read War Reporting for Cowards by Chris Ayres on holiday and really enjoyed it- the story of a Times hack who wants to be a Hollywood correspondent and ends up embedded in Iraq. The follow up, where he actually becomes a Hollywood correspondent is not all that.

Like everyone else- I like Mark Steel's books.


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## jakethesnake (Oct 15, 2011)

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole is very funny... he only wrote the one book and committed suicide 11 years before it was published (don't let this put you off).
Less high-brow but made me laugh: Viz's  Roger's Profanasaurus... one of the best bog books ever imo.


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## purenarcotic (Oct 15, 2011)

Almost anything by Roald Dahl (his kids stuff, his adult stuff is alright but not as great).
Anthony Horowitz's 'The Falcon's Malteser' - kids book though it may be it's fantastic, so funny and full of adult references you completely miss as a wee one.
All of Gervase Phinn's books.  If you've never read them they are well worth reading, most of them could lose their actual titles and be called 'hilarious things kids say'


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## quimcunx (Oct 15, 2011)

jakethesnake said:


> A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole is very funny...



No it's not.


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## quimcunx (Oct 15, 2011)

Kidda said:


> Danny Wallace always has me chuckling, he's written quite a few 'Join Me' about how he started a cult, 'Yes man' about how his life changed when he started saying yes to EVERYTHING, 'Awkward situations for Men' and 'Friends Like These'.
> 
> The same goes for Dave Gorman 'Googlewhack' 'Are you Dave Gorman?' and 'America Unchained'.



When I was doing an acting class I did an excerpt from Googlewack, when he discovers the tattoo. Are You Dave Gorman is also v funny.


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## yield (Oct 16, 2011)

Kurt Vonnegut's Sirens of Titan and Slaughterhouse 5 are a great laugh proper gallows humour.


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## Kanda (Oct 16, 2011)

Douglas Adams.


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## Kidda (Oct 16, 2011)

quimcunx said:


> When I was doing an acting class I did an excerpt from Googlewack, when he discovers the tattoo. Are You Dave Gorman is also v funny.


The tattoo is genius, he still has it.


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## Biddlybee (Oct 16, 2011)

The Octagon said:


> I find Bill Bryson's stuff makes me laugh out loud whilst reading, particularly the earlier travel books around Europe and small-town USA.


First book I tried to read of his he called LFC Liverpool United! Didn't read any further or pick up any of his other books after that


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## DotCommunist (Oct 16, 2011)

Greebo said:


> Bits in almost anything by Gerald Durrell, the same goes for Terry Pratchett's discworld series, Bill Bryson, P J O'Rourke's "Holidays in hell", "The sacred diary of Adrian Plass" and the first 3 sequels to it, Richard Gordon, bits of James Herriott, Florence King, Janet Evanovich, Tommy Jaud, Neil Gaiman's "Good Omens", Tom Holt, and Robert Rankin...
> 
> There are others, but that's probably enough to be going on with.


 
I have a signed copy of Adrian Plass 'The Horizontal Epistles of Andromeda Veal'

To my mind his best work is the far more touching than humerous 'Alien at St. Wilfred's'

It is about loss of faith and death and life. Quite gentle.


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## AverageJoe (Oct 16, 2011)

The end of "Marley and Me" makes me lol


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## colacubes (Oct 16, 2011)

The Dog Catcher by Alexei Sayle.  Great collection of short stories. Dark but very funny.
Also any Jeeves and Wooster.


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## Mapped (Oct 16, 2011)

Best one ever. And it was 50 years old on Wednesday!







"I've flies in my eyes!"


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## goldenecitrone (Oct 16, 2011)

billy_bob said:


> Woody Allen's Without Feathers. Full of lines that make me laugh years after I first read them:
> 
> "Of all the wonders of nature, a tree in summer is perhaps the most remarkable, with the possible exception of a moose singing 'Embraceable You' in spats."



Indeed, Side Effects is another good one by Woody.



> *
> 
> It should be recalled that when we talk of "life" on other planets we are frequently referring to amino acids, which are never very gregarious, even at parties.
> *


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## Dr Alimantado (Oct 17, 2011)

quimcunx said:


> I didn't really like them to start with. Maybe because I read them after Henry Root's letters (some of which I didn't get because before my time) and the excellent _PS My Bush Pig's Name is Boris _by JC Wade III which really did make me laugh out loud a few times.



I can see a lot of the recipients of Henry Root's rapier may be brown bread now, so can appreciate where you're coming from. But, I rate him as the funniest writer I've come across, a notch above Wodehouse even. There were a couple of books by him. Sadly the author Summat Donaldson, who appeared to have a colourful past, died a few years back.

 I'm fairly certain the Timewaster letters would have been inspired by Root. I would recommend visiting the Robert Popper (author of the timewaster letters, co writer of The Peep Show) twitters, his creation Robin Cooper is hilarious. He's made some appearences on Danny Wallaces radio shows amongst others. I have found some of Clive James's ramblings to be very funny & I like Viz for a cheap (well, expensive these days) laugh.


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## Meltingpot (Oct 17, 2011)

Luke Rhinehart - The Dice Man (hilarious, at least in places)

Absolutely anything by Dr Phil (Hammond). The funniest bloke in the country IMO, even though he makes a lot of serious points about the NHS

Cynthia Payne - Call Me Madam

Spike Milligan's war memoirs


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## vauxhallmum (Oct 18, 2011)

Years ago ex Mr VM was reading Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes and laughing his head off all the way through. I was really looking forward to reading this incredibly amusing tome. Imagine my disappointment to discover that the book is infact a total bloody tragedy. That really should have told me all I needed to know about ex Mr VM.


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## ringo (Oct 18, 2011)

_The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time_: Mark Haddon


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## ska invita (Oct 18, 2011)

nipsla said:


> The Dog Catcher by Alexei Sayle.


going to get Stalin Ate My Homework for Christmas.

I really enjoyed the jeffrey bernard collected columns books
Voneggut (Cat Cradle )
Cavin & Hobbes
The first Woody Allen short story The Gossage—Vardebedian Papers cracks me up, and can be read here
http://maxxwolf.tripod.com/woody.html
about a game of correspondence chess. I have a friend like this so it makes it doubly funny.

Dont mean to be contentious but Bill Bryson leaves me cold - his book about Europe is verging on racism. Mother Tongue is interesting though (about the ENglish language)


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## weltweit (Oct 18, 2011)

N1 Buoy said:


> Best one ever. And it was 50 years old on Wednesday!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Bin meaning to get my hands on a copy of this.


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## Sweet Meiga (Oct 18, 2011)

The funniest books I've read are The Twelve Chairs and The Little Golden Calf by Ilf and Petrov. And also the Good Soldier Svejk.


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## Mrs Magpie (Oct 29, 2011)

quimcunx said:


> The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody - Will Cuppy.


Thank you so much quimmy, abebooks has delivered my copy! I just dipped in at random for a quick taster (I'm in the middle of reading something else which is very gripping) and I can tell I'm going to love this writer. I definitely owe you a drink. Several drinks in fact.


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## dessiato (Oct 29, 2011)

All seven of the Brentford 'trilogy' by Robert Rankin keep me giggling


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 29, 2011)

I need some more simple, funny books, preferably with short chapters and not too erm... taxing or intelligent

I'm so crap at explaining things


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## Mrs Magpie (Oct 29, 2011)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> I need some more simple, funny books, preferably with short chapters and not too erm... taxing or intelligent
> 
> I'm so crap at explaining things


Definitely Tim Moore then.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 29, 2011)

Mrs Magpie said:


> Definitely Tim Moore then.



Never heard of him


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## Mrs Magpie (Oct 29, 2011)

He's not Dostoevsky but he can spell and he makes me weep with laughter.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 29, 2011)

Mrs Magpie said:


> He's not Dostoevsky but he can spell and he makes me weep with laughter.



hm, that doesn't help.  Maybe I'll stick with Horrible Histories and joke books


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## Mrs Magpie (Oct 29, 2011)

There you go Minnie.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search/...04&sr=1-2-ent&field-contributor_id=B000APKCU8


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 29, 2011)

Mrs Magpie said:


> There you go Minnie.
> 
> https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search/ref=sr_tc_2_0?rh=i:stripbooks,k:Tim Moore&keywords=Tim Moore&ie=UTF8&qid=1319915204&sr=1-2-ent&field-contributor_id=B000APKCU8



I think too difficult but I can't explain why.  Maybe too wordy


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## quimcunx (Oct 29, 2011)

Mrs Magpie said:


> Thank you so much quimmy, abebooks has delivered my copy! I just dipped in at random for a quick taster (I'm in the middle of reading something else which is very gripping) and I can tell I'm going to love this writer. I definitely owe you a drink. Several drinks in fact.



He is very understanding of his subjects' weaknesses.

Read the Will Cuppy book, minnie.  It's all standalone chapters.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 29, 2011)

quimcunx said:


> He is very understanding of his subjects' weaknesses.
> 
> Read the Will Cuppy book, minnie. It's all standalone chapters.



It's not for me, but I will see if Amazon has "look inside" pages to see if it's any good


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## quimcunx (Oct 29, 2011)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> It's not for me, but I will see if Amazon has "look inside" pages to see if it's any good



Ah.

Well Spike Milligan's earlier war memoirs are short and on a subject people are familiar with.  Bill Bryson's  Notes from a Small Island, Neither Here Nor There, and The Lost Continent were all originally magazine articles or have standalone chapters.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 29, 2011)

quimcunx said:


> He is very understanding of his subjects' weaknesses.
> 
> Read the Will Cuppy book, minnie. It's all standalone chapters.



Reckon he could handle that. Had a quick look inside.  Cheers Quimmy


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## SpookyFrank (Oct 29, 2011)

The Octagon said:


> I find Bill Bryson's stuff makes me laugh out loud whilst reading, particularly the earlier travel books around Europe and small-town USA.



I found 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' quite funny. I remember the bit about what happened to someone in an old-school diving suit if the pump failed particularly fondly.

He also wrote one of my favourite lines ever:



> There are things you just can't do in life. You can't beat the phone company, you can't make a waiter see you until he's ready to see you, and you can't go home again.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 29, 2011)

quimcunx said:


> Ah.
> 
> Well Spike Milligan's earlier war memoirs are short and on a subject people are familiar with. Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island, Neither Here Nor There, and The Lost Continent were all originally magazine articles or have standalone chapters.


 
Got him Spike Milligan box set last year because I knew he liked him, but for some reason, he's only managed to get through a couple of them.  He's read Bill Bryson Notes from a Small Island, Catch 22, Jeeves and Wooster, Tony Hawks, James Herriott, P J O'Rourke's "Holidays in Hell", to give you an idea of stuff he does like, but there’s some of those that he’d longer be able to read


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## quimcunx (Oct 29, 2011)

Maybe How to be an Alien by George Mikes or The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook.

Or maybe funny letters books.  The Henry Root Letters & Further letters.  Timewaster Letters (I don't like this one) or PS my bushpigs name is Boris.  (I very like this one)

McCarthy's Bar?  (trip round ireland, superior to tony hawkes imo)


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 29, 2011)

quimcunx said:


> Maybe How to be an Alien by George Mikes or The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook.
> 
> Or maybe funny letters books. The Henry Root Letters & Further letters. Timewaster Letters (I don't like this one) or PS my bushpigs name is Boris. (I very like this one)
> 
> McCarthy's Bar? (trip round ireland, superior to tony hawkes imo)


 
Think he'd get bored with Timewasters Letters.

McCarthy's Bar is sitting in the bookcase next to me 

will google the others


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 29, 2011)

quimcunx said:


> Maybe How to be an Alien by George Mikes or The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook.
> 
> Or maybe funny letters books. The Henry Root Letters & Further letters. Timewaster Letters (I don't like this one) or PS my bushpigs name is Boris. (I very like this one)



Round Ireland with a Fridge got boring once his story had got on Irish radio and everyone knew what he was doing 

PS My Bushpigs Name is Boris - just looked that up on Amazon and I think he'd like that



> This is a collection of more than 100 bizarre letters written by American businessman James C. Wade III, in the tradition of Henry Root, to a wide variety of prominent people and organizations throughout the world - and the replies he received. The correspondents include Edward Kennedy and the Greek Ministry of Culture, and the topics include coughing feet, beauty cream for dogs, Otto von Bismarck's toes, potato-chip-flavoured beer, reversible snow tyres, and the Save the Plankton movement.



Cheers Quimmy.

I'll order that one you suggested further up and that Bushpigs one.  That should keep him busy for a while 

Will have to unwrap the Horrible Histories one and see how long I reckon it'll take for him to read those and see if I need to order more from your suggestions


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## quimcunx (Oct 29, 2011)

the bushpig book proper made me snort.

Although ironically I think the bushpig letter was one of my least favourite.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 29, 2011)

quimcunx said:


> the bushpig one proper made me snort.



Looks funny.  Is it not being published any more?  Everywhere seems to only have second-hand but if they're in good nick, not too bothered


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## quimcunx (Oct 29, 2011)

Oh, and apologies. I said The Lost Continent but I meant Notes from a Big Country.

I might order a copy of bushpigs myself. I just had a loan of it from someone years back.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 29, 2011)

Has read a Bill Bryson one but can't remember what it's called, the one about language. Started off funny but then got a bit dull from what I remember


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## quimcunx (Oct 30, 2011)

The ones I mentioned are more consistent.   Made in America is good if he's interested in inventions and ting.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 30, 2011)

quimcunx said:


> The ones I mentioned are more consistent. Made in America is good if he's interested in inventions and ting.



You sound Irish 

Small Island and Big Country can both be had second-hand for under £3.  Might get the both of them


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## lau1981 (Oct 30, 2011)

Greebo said:


> Bits in almost anything by Gerald Durrell, the same goes for Terry Pratchett's discworld series, Bill Bryson, P J O'Rourke's "Holidays in hell", "The sacred diary of Adrian Plass" and the first 3 sequels to it, Richard Gordon, bits of James Herriott, Florence King, Janet Evanovich, Tommy Jaud, Neil Gaiman's "Good Omens", Tom Holt, and Robert Rankin...
> 
> There are others, but that's probably enough to be going on with.



Agreed deffo James Herriott and Janet Evanovich - proper laugh books.  More recently Gail Carriger has been amusing me.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Oct 30, 2011)

I don't think I've ever read Gerald Durrell.  How does he and James Herriott compare?


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## Greebo (Oct 30, 2011)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> I don't think I've ever read Gerald Durrell. How does he and James Herriott compare?


Gerald Durrell has a lighter touch, tends to use slightly shorter words, and doesn't wax lyrical about the land to the same extent.


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## Pinette (Oct 30, 2011)

Bob Marley's Dad said:


> I've found David Sedaris quite by chance through downloading a job lot of Kindle formatted books. His books make me laugh out loud like I've never done at any others. His humour is quite catty and that's right up my street.
> 
> I am now on the search for other humorous authors. I've tried Dennis Leary, who was in with the job lot but he's rather tiresome and that's about where my knowledge of them ends.
> 
> Who has made you laugh at their writing? Please feel free to put your hilarious suggestions about serious writers in here too.


My son gave me a book by him and I loved it but can't tell you its name now because I've passed it on to one of my mates.  Really funny! To be honest, I should've kept that book! Another book that made me laugh aloud was That Uncertain Feeling by Kingsley Amis.


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## Pinette (Oct 30, 2011)

The Octagon said:


> I find Bill Bryson's stuff makes me laugh out loud whilst reading, particularly the earlier travel books around Europe and small-town USA.


Oh yes!  I'd forgotten Bill.  Have you read the - oh shit, I can't remember the title - anyway, it's his autobiography and very funny.


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## The Octagon (Oct 30, 2011)

Pinette said:


> Oh yes!  I'd forgotten Bill.  Have you read the - oh shit, I can't remember the title - anyway, it's his autobiography and very funny.



Life and times of the thunderbolt kid, very good too.


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## DotCommunist (Oct 30, 2011)

Bryson is a smartarse with an eye for the absurd and geeky tendency towards fact remembering. This is what makes him funny to read but sometimes I just want to chuck him into a big cold lake to see if he can display some edge rather than affability. Pratchet is the same- sometimes in his more social0-satire works you get a sense of the edge and that but not often enough

That said I have long enjoyed both authors work


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## Mrs Magpie (Oct 30, 2011)

DotCommunist said:


> Bryson.....Pratchet


Can't be doing with either of them.


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## Weller (Oct 31, 2011)

*Unreliable Memoirs series by Clive James the first was the best but all have real laugh out loud moments.*

Used to like him a bit on T.V but was given the first book on holiday once and found it really amusing in some of it a nostalgic growing up way , all very witty and down to earth earlier 2 about his childhood then younger struggling self are funnier though in my opinion all much much better than his tv stuff .

*Always Unreliable: Memoirs seems to be  a bargain now the first 3 in one book *


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## Pinette (Oct 31, 2011)

Weller said:


> *Unreliable Memoirs series by Clive James the first was the best but all have real laugh out loud moments.*
> 
> Used to like him a bit on T.V but was given the first book on holiday once and found it really amusing in some of it a nostalgic growing up way , all very witty and down to earth earlier 2 about his childhood then younger struggling self are funnier though in my opinion all much much better than his tv stuff .
> 
> *Always Unreliable: Memoirs seems to be a bargain now the first 3 in one book *


Oh yes.  Unreliable Memoirs.  Very good.  Forgot.  A long time ago, before the menopause hit and before the whiskers hit my face and before I came to see myself as an ugly old lady I harboured a dream or two about bumping into Clive, somewhere.  Well, I don't have to spell out what happened next, in my dream, surely.  I find him extremely attractive still.  Fancy forgetting Clive!  But, but, still, Mrs Smegma wins in the lol stakes, as does the scene on the bus in the Amis book.  Please read it.


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## equationgirl (Oct 31, 2011)

I really enjoy Terry Pratchett


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## Jon-of-arc (Oct 31, 2011)

Anyone mentioned the Bob Servant emails book, yet?  Dollys Gal still has the copy she bought me for xmas, so I can't personally recommend.  But the reviews are nearly universally positive.

Give it a go if you enjoy Longdogs scam-baiting threads.  More or less the same thing...


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## Cloo (Oct 31, 2011)

Nigel Williams' books are very funny, especially 'The Wimbledon Poisoner' 'They Came from SW19' and 'East of Wimbledon'.

I remember years ago when three of us in our family were reading them on holiday and we were sitting around with them simultaneously laughing our tits off.


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## pennimania (Oct 31, 2011)

Betty MacDonald (the Egg and I,Onions in the Stew,etc) first read asachild, even funnier now -excellent descriptions of recalcitrant adolescent daughters and husbands 

Angela Thirkell -I know her social comedies won't appeal to many here but her dry, well honed use of English still makes me cry with laughter.


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## trevhagl (Oct 31, 2011)

the woman is getting me FRANKIE BOYLE's new one for Xmas !!! Bet you's'll LOVE that!


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## Frances Lengel (Nov 1, 2011)

Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons, can't recommend that enough.

Triomf - Marlene Van De Niekerk.

No Bones - Anna Burns.


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## DotCommunist (Nov 1, 2011)

trevhagl said:


> the woman is getting me FRANKIE BOYLE's new one for Xmas !!! Bet you's'll LOVE that!


 
I read frankie's last one and while I did laugh it was just a series of one liners after the other, which got boring. There was practically fuck all about his upbringing and lie that wasn't there to provide a platform for more jokes. And he recycled a fair few bits of his standup routines in places. I wouldn't mind, but if I'm reading a book by a comedian I do at least expect a bit more meat on the bones rather than just him writing down a load of routines tenuously connected to real life occorunces and thoughts.

Still, I swap/loaned it with my brother so didn't actually pay. He got proffanisaurus and spent the week ringing me up to read out his favourite entries.

Profanisaurus is pretty funny tbf


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## danny la rouge (Nov 1, 2011)

BS Johnson's _Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry_ is very funny.  Just re-read it.


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## susie12 (Nov 2, 2011)

Agree about Nigel Williams, he is laugh out loud funny.  Also Kingsley Amis has made me laugh many a time - 'One Fat Englishman' is good.  And when I'm really down I often turn to the Just William stories.


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## pennimania (Nov 2, 2011)

susie12 said:


> Agree about Nigel Williams, he is laugh out loud funny. Also Kingsley Amis has made me laugh many a time - 'One Fat Englishman' is good. And when I'm really down I often turn to the Just William stories.


 
Just William 

read one recently that made  me laugh so much that i was lying in bed shaking for ages, trying not to wake old husband up


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## Frances Lengel (Nov 2, 2011)

danny la rouge said:


> BS Johnson's _Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry_ is very funny. Just re-read it.


 
Excellent shout.


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## MrSki (Nov 1, 2013)

Anyone got any recommendations from the last couple of years?


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