Genuine laugh out loud books?

Red Hand

Many of the discworld books by terry pratchett. Guards Guards! or Colour of Magic/The Light Fantastic would be my favs. (Synopsis-it's a parody of fantasy literature/our world set on a giant flat world on the backs of 4 elephants who stand on a giant turtle)

The Jeeves and Wooster series by PG Wodehouse are very good.(Synopsis-Bertie Wooster is a rather thick yet very rich and idle young man who moves in equally rich and thick circles. Jeeves is his resourcful butler, who displays great intelligence in extricating Bertie and his friends from scrapes and the ire of dreaded relatives.)

Incompetence is a very funny novel written by Rob Grant. It's a spy novel set in a future European Union where, as from the title, incompetence and bureaucratic stupidity rule supreme.

snoreborewhore

If you're a woman then I'd definately recommend Caitlin Moran's "How to be a Woman"!

wilkie2006

It's been a while since I read it but I remember thinking Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov was very funny.

The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hasek is fantastic, laugh-out-loud stuff.

tim_holsters

I'll stick to fiction, laugh out loud non-fiction books are probably too numerous to mention.

Mr. Phillips by John Lanchester

And Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris

Me Cheetah by James Lever

A Short History Of Tractors In Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka

Death And The Penguin by Andrey Kurkov

implausible

snoreborewhore wrote: »

If you're a woman then I'd definately recommend Caitlin Moran's "How to be a Woman"!

+1. I've woken himself up trying to laugh silently and shaking instead - some outrageously funny descriptions of being a teenager. A great book to break in my new kindle with.

Bodhidharma

I'd second anything by Woody Allen. I also found High Fidelity by Nick Hornby hilarious (probably identified with it a bit too much).

BrianJD

Read page 11-14 of this book. If you don't laugh out loud, check for pulse!

http://www.scribd.com/doc/56947287/In-a-Sunburned-Country-by-Bill-Bryson-Excerpt

texidub

Confederacy of Dunces
Tristram Shandy
Murphy (Beckett)
The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin
Against Nature

wilkie2006

Anthony Burgess's "Enderby" quartet is very, very funny too

Giruilla

'I Partridge, We need to talk about Alan' - Alan Partridge.
Its a lot better than his other book 'Bouncing Back'.

'When you are engulfed in flames' - David Sedaris.
Pretty much non stop humour throughout.

i71jskz5xu42pb

David Sedaris, very funny

Giruilla wrote: »

'When you are engulfed in flames' - David Sedaris.

Toby Take a Bow wrote: »

David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day

Bright__Eyes wrote: »

WHen You are Engulfed in Flames - David Sedaris.

Dades

Catch 22 make me laugh out loud a lot, I recall.

Ckmos

Roddy Doyle - hilarious stuff!!

Six of One

I'll 6th (?) Confederacy of Dunces. And anything from Bill Bryson is usually good for a laugh too. I think the Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid made me laugh the most.

tim_holsters

Next time I buy Confederacy of Dunces is top of the list. So many recommendations it's gotta be a good read.

Ninap

Einhard wrote: »

Skippy Dies had lots of guffaw inducing moments. I think my fellow commuters on the bus must think I'm a tad loony given the amount of times over the past two weeks that I've burst out laughing while reading it. It's also genuinely touching too. All in all, a great book.

seconded. Work of genius interspersed with laugh out load moments (eg, Ruprecht mentioning 'lab facilities' when being told by a girl that everything he needs in life is right in front of him). Evening of Long Goodbyes also some great moments.

Also loving I Partridge that someone mentioned above. Didn't think it would work as a book, but it's brilliantly judged.

(btw, for a lol movie check out Rob Brydon's Director's Commentary)

Ninap

Also The Ask and Homeland by Sam Lypsite.

Hoof_Hearted

Great suggestions here, thanks. I have to throw Spike Milligan's 'Puckoon' in, cried laughing!

ectoraige

Anything by Robert Rankin:

"The finest philosophy for life I ever read was printed on the back of a box of matches, it was 'Keep dry and away from children'."

I've attracted many a strange looks upon buses thanks to him.

“Omally, as ever, slept the sleep of the just, which was quite unjust of him, considering he had no right to do it."

The Princess Bride

Would recommend Mike Gayle's books-Turning 30, His'n' Hers, Mr. Commitment.....
Very very quick witted and easy to read.......light reading,but funny.

HalloweenJack

Giruilla wrote: »

Its a lot better than his other book 'Bouncing Back'.

"Needless to say, I had the last laugh."

I remember getting a good giggle out of a Miles na gCopaleen collection the last time I read it.

Raditub

Hart wrote: »

Any of the collections by Woody Allen are hilarious. Also check out Tim Allen's "Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man."

Cood call! Woody Allen is pure genius!:)

spankmaster2000

Danny Wallace's "Awkward Situations for Men".

Each "situation" is only a page or two long, and I guarantee that you'll fly through it, with more than a few "lol's" on the way.

--Kaiser--

Half way through Vernon God Little (DBC Pierre), man is that a funny book, some lines will require me to put down the book until I'm all laughed out.

natter85

Michael McIntryre's autobiography, Life and Laughing, had me shaking laughing at times. If you enjoy his stand-up then this book is a must read.

goose2005

Don Paterson's books of aphorisms are good too.

Aglomerado

Sergeant wrote: »

The Wilt novels by Tom Sharpe.

Seconded. Especially the first one!

In fact, most stuff by Tom Sharpe has laugh out loud moments. Other excellent works by him (IMO):

Indecent Exposure
The Throwback
Blott on the Landscape
and the wonderful Porterhouse Blue.


Genius stuff.

Giruilla

HalloweenJack wrote: »

"Needless to say, I had the last laugh."

First line of 'I, Partridge',

WHEN i was eight years old, I suffered a nose bleed so profuse
and generous, I bolted from the schoolyard and sought solace
in the first-class countryside of Norfolk.

Lovely stuff

GastroBoy

Terry Pratchett's latest, Snuff, made me laugh out loud.
But I cant say that about all of his books.

Ann22

Many years ago I read a book called 'The Odd Job'....it was about a man who wanted to kill himself and hired hired a hitman, he changes mind but the hitman is obsessed with doing away with his client...I roared laughing at this book. I'd really love to read it again but I can't find it anywhere. There's a film based on it but I can't find the author online:(.