Kevin's Watch

Ok 'funny books' are not to everyones taste [and by funny I'm meaning 'laugh out loud' rather than subtle humor] but hell, in this world we can all do with a laugh every now and then. On the basis of this I'm going to spin off a few titles that have had me clutching my sides over the years, and hope that some of you can throw a few more titles my way in return.

Tom Sharpe was always good for a [crude] laugh and his crowning glory must be Wilt - a book so funny in places that it has to be set aside untill the episode passes.

W E Bowmans classic The Ascent of the Rum Doodle is a 'pooteresque' account of the hero 'Binder's' attempt to lead a team of climbers to the summit of the eponymous Rum Doodle.

Augustus Carp esq by Himself; Being the Autobiography of a really good man was published anonymously in 1924 and tells the xtian story of an exeptionally good man who is not in the slightest bit a prig, self-opinionated or a hypocrite of the most egregious kind.

I don't remember much actually about the book - but I do recall A J Wentworth BA by H F Ellis leaving me weak with laughter at the trials of a shortly to be retired public school teacher as he confronts his unruly pupils on a daily basis.

No list of this kind would be complete without a P G Wodehouse title and my choice as a real side-splitter would have to be Uncle Dynamite which relates the story of Reginald [Pongo] Twistleton and his atempts to restrain his positively dangerously manic uncle [Fred], the 5th Earl of Ickenham.

Well, thats about it - not many from a lifetime of reading, but as I say, comedy in reading is a bit of an aquired taste and while I'm not much that way inclined, when I do encounter a real gem, it is an uplifting thing that stays with me for the duration.

I'd be gratefull for any aditions to my [way too] short list.

I like all of Dave Barry's books. Good for a lot of laugh out loud moments.

www.barnesandnoble.com/s/dave-barry-boo ... arry+books

Please.. please read "Let's pretend this never happened". It is like, 99% the funniest book in the world. Literally, it would be an absolute joy knowing that I had passed this book down to someone else. I may not be the most trustworthy guy around.. but I'm being completely serious right now.

Terry Pratchett, both the Discworld books and the one he wrote with Neil Gaiman, Good Omens, the denouement of which had me in hysterics.

The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar had me chuckling, particularly in the beginning. I'd probably have found it even funnier if I knew much of anything about punk rock.

Of course, Jasper Fforde's Tuesday Next series. The first one, The Eyre Affair, is my favorite. But seriously, who can pass up a novel whose bad guy is named Jack Schitt?

Let me think on it -- I'm sure I'll be able to come up with more...

aliantha wrote:
Of course, Jasper Fforde's Tuesday Next series. The first one, The Eyre Affair, is my favorite.

I really like those books.
I find Christopher Moore pretty damn funny most of the time [I didn't find his take on "Lear" [["Fool"]] up to his usual standards, though.]

I really cracked up over Gore Vidal's "Live from Golgotha." Though I suspect a fair number of Christians would be offended by it.

Rau Le Creuset wrote:Please.. please read "Let's pretend this never happened". It is like, 99% the funniest book in the world. Literally, it would be an absolute joy knowing that I had passed this book down to someone else. I may not be the most trustworthy guy around.. but I'm being completely serious right now.

The Jenny Lawson book of this title? I hope so because I've ordered it from my library. Anybody who will 'nail their colors to the mast' to that extent has got to be taken up on it!

[Jack Schitt - now that makes me smile!]

DUDE THATS THE ONE YESSSSS!!!

peter wrote: No list of this kind would be complete without a P G Wodehouse title and my choice as a real side-splitter would have to be Uncle Dynamite which relates the story of Reginald [Pongo] Twistleton and his atempts to restrain his positively dangerously manic uncle [Fred], the 5th Earl of Ickenham.

nice thread Peter.

I've not read any Wodehouse but have heard good things and there's a couple of 2nd hand books written by him at a local market I sometimes go to; I'll be sure to pick them up on the weekend.

David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest had some hilarious and bizarre moments, big undertaking though.
I enjoyed a couple of Ben Elton's books when I was a lot younger, not sure how much I'd like them these days but I well recall laughing a lot.

Australian author Peter Temple's Jack Irish books does a great line in a very specific kind of Australian humour and I find them delightfully funny, considering they're nominally 'crime' stories.