Recommendation for a laugh-out-loud read.

nitrogen

Recently finished Roddy Doyle's Barrytown trilogy so I'm in the mood for a good Irish humour book. Can anyone recommend something similar?

Cheers

BossArky

-Angela's Ashes - can be pretty sad at times too, but lots of laugh out loud.

-Catch22 - non Irish... but very laugh out loud.

-Trainspotting - non Irish, but as above.

Crucifix

BossArky wrote:

-Catch22 - non Irish... but very laugh out loud.

Seconded. Took me a few chapters to get into it, but I stuck with it and it's one of my favourite books now.

JackKelly

Defintely Catch 22. It does take a few chapters to get going, but some of the dialogue actually had me in tears. Don't read it on the bus, as it's impossible not to laugh at parts.

Try McCarthy's Bar by Pete McCarthy which is also very funny Irish humour. Can't remember too much of it as it's been ages since reading it.

Not Irish, and i haven't read any, but I've been told that all the Bill Bryson travel books are brilliant. Worth looking into

cousin_borat

Riotous Assembly by Tom Sharpe is very very funny

JP O'Rourke is quite funny if you like political humour, especially Holidays in Hell.

Discworld novels are more chuckle than laugh out loud but enjoyable if you're into that kind of humour

Edit: Sorry I missed the Irish bit. Well I coldnt be bothered deleting so there..

BossArky

I was going to include Discworld books as well but didn't want my non Irish second getting too long:p Check out the Discworld forum under

Arts/SciFi-Fantasy/Discworld

for further ideas. I would recommend:

The Truth
NightWatch
Guards Guards

nitrogen

Thanks for the replies.

Catch-22 is something I most read. McCarthy's Bar and Riotous Assembly may also be added to the Amazon basket now.

A recommendation I have myself for a very funny book is John O' Farrell's The Best a Man Can Get.

Cheers

Eoin

I don't think this is really the type of humour you are looking for, but some of the Flann O'Brien books (aka Myles na gCopaleen, aka Brian O'Nolan) are pretty entertaining.

tHE vAGGABOND

not Irish, but anything by Bill Bryson makes me laugh out loud, esp. his travel books

tbh

I missed the Irish bit as well, but for me, the last book I read that really made me laugh out loud was Clive James' autobiography. The passage describing the dunny-men with the suspiciously deep tans is worth the price of the book in itself

Valmont

The Restauraunt at the end of the Universe - Douglas Adams.

I laughed so loud that the people near me on the bus thought I was crazy.

Jayhaitch

For something in a similar vein to the Barrytown trilogy you might try the Brendan O'Caroll books. The Mammy, The Granny and The Chisslers, I think.

Real old style dublin characters.

And its shouldn't be judged on the writers awful,crude stand-up shows.
A nice read, with some funny gems of Dub wit.

john_g83

Hey, firstly sorry I am going to go off the Irish theme as a number of the posters have. I would really recommend "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole. Can be a bit depressing in parts, but it is still one of the funniest books I have ever read.

The book also has an interesting story behind it. It was published years after the author committed suicide and ended up winning the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Confederacy_of_Dunces

Anyhow, a highly recommended read.

Deer

Carl Hiassen is hilarious. I love his books. Check him out too!

Mrs. MacGyver

any books by sue townsend especially the true confesstions of aa mole

Kooli

I've read a lot of funny books, but 'Starter for Ten' by David Nicholls is the only book that has made me really laugh out loud. And they're making a movie out of it, so try and read it first!

And yes, I ignored the 'Irish' part too, it's British and it's brilliant.

The Bollox

Valmont wrote:

The Restauraunt at the end of the Universe - Douglas Adams.

I laughed so loud that the people near me on the bus thought I was crazy.

the whole Hitch Hiker series is fantastic, he has such a way with words

JaneHudson

eoin_s wrote:

I don't think this is really the type of humour you are looking for, but some of the Flann O'Brien books (aka Myles na gCopaleen, aka Brian O'Nolan) are pretty entertaining.

The Third Policeman is hilarious but in a mental way. I also love Patrick McCabe for dark humour. Also a bit unhinged though.

Demetrius

Mrs. MacGyver wrote:

any books by sue townsend especially the true confesstions of aa mole

Seconded, along with Incompetnce by Rob Grant

Fr Clint Power

A couple of more suggestions...

Who Moved My Blackberry by Lucy Kellaway. For fans of Adrian Mole, the story is told through the emails of highflying (sometimes) manager.

Robert Rankin: some outrageous science fiction type books, my favourite is Dance of the Vodoo Handbag.

The Good Soldier Svejk by Hasek the book that inspired Heller to write Catch 22.

Carl Hiassen very funny fast paced thrillers.

For Irish stuff Colin Bateman maybe? Only read one but that was a comic thriller

quazzy

TimAy wrote:

Try McCarthy's Bar by Pete McCarthy which is also very funny Irish humour. Can't remember too much of it as it's been ages since reading it.

Not Irish, and i haven't read any, but I've been told that all the Bill Bryson travel books are brilliant. Worth looking into

Have to agree here; McCarthy's Bar is very funny to read.

The only Bill Bryson book I read was "A brief history of everything" and I didn't find it funny - but it probably wasn't supposed to be.

Back to Irish authors and although I may get a serious flame for this I would recommend the Ross O'Carroll-Kelly series of stories.

It's not everyone cuppa tea but you might enjoy it.

Regards

Q

daithimac

If you find catch 22 entertaining you should also give Pucktoon by spike mulligan a once over. its also set in Ireland

RagShagBill

I second the Clive James suggestion. And would also forward Vladimir Nabokov's Pnin.

metrovelvet

Portnoy's Complaint - Philip Roth

grumpytrousers

might as well chime in with what plenty o'others have stated...

Go direct to The Lost continent, by Bill Bryson
Do Not Pass Go
Do not collect £200.

Invest in some class of surgical doo-hickey to stop your sides splitting; it is one of the funniest reads you will ever have. In your life. Ever. And it's not without its message - namely that the America of his youth has given way to a soulless beast full of malls and the like, slaves to the automobile

What he has to say doesn't come accross as preachy though, and more importantly, as it was written in (i think) 1989, IT shows that he wasn't so much jumping on a bandwagon, as helping put wheels on it!

Chinafoot

Have to suggest Bill Bryson 'Down Under'. I read this before I went to Australia and found it hilarious. Even funnier when I re-read it after coming home.

AnBealBocht

Evelyn Waugh's:

Decline and Fall
Vile Bodies
Scoop.

The Comic History of Ireland.

wander1

quazzy wrote:

Have to agree here; McCarthy's Bar is very funny to read.

The only Bill Bryson book I read was "A brief history of everything" and I didn't find it funny - but it probably wasn't supposed to be.

Back to Irish authors and although I may get a serious flame for this I would recommend the Ross O'Carroll-Kelly series of stories.

It's not everyone cuppa tea but you might enjoy it.

Regards

Q

Definitely recommend the Ross O'Carroll Kelly series, some very funny books there.

Also a book called "Party Time" by Johnny Fallon, based on his experiences of small town politics in ireland, parts of it are very funny and aside from politics some of his descriptions of Dublin and football and meeting girls are also very humorous.

Like others loved Pete McCarthy and a lot of Bill Brysons stuff...

daithimac

that reminds me of a book by Gene Kerigan the name of which I cannot remember but it's basicly a manual about how to become a politican in Ireland. Its very funny for the reason that alot of it is true

Siogfinsceal

There is a book called 'Tales in a Rear View Mirror' its written by a dublin taxi driver and its about the things he has seen in his cab over the years im sorry I cannot remember who wrote it but it is hilarious

luckat

An Béal Bocht by Flann Ó Briain - a cruelly accurate and very funny take-off of those solemn books collected by folklorists about the horrors of growing up on the Blaskets or Connemara in the 19th century
Frank O'Connor's short stories, some of them - especially My First Communion
Tales of an Irish RM by Somerville & Ross
Time After Time by Molly Keane

Not Irish (unless you count an Anglo-Irish mammy): My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell

Definitely not Irish: On Broadway by Damon Runyon and any of the Blandings books by PG Wodehouse, as well as most of his Jeeves books (originally written for boys aged around 12, but so funny that they were taken up universally).