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Humourous Books

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  • 14-04-2013 4:09pm
    #1
    qwerty93
    Closed Accounts Posts: 221 ✭✭


    Hi, Sorry if theres already a thread on this but I was wondering would anyone recommend any humourous books? Preferably Irish ones!


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    #2
    harry Bailey esq
    Registered Users Posts: 4,814 ✭✭✭harry Bailey esq


    qwerty93 wrote: »
    Hi, Sorry if theres already a thread on this but I was wondering would anyone recommend any humourous books? Preferably Irish ones!

    not Irish,but anything by Irvine Welsh cracks me up.filth is especially funny


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    #3
    Zaph
    Registered Users, Subscribers Posts: 47,304 ✭✭✭✭Zaph


    Again not Irish, but Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimen is the funniest book I've ever read.


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    #4
    RayM
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,973 ✭✭✭RayM


    Well-Remembered Days, by Arthur Mathews.


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    #5
    qwerty93
    Closed Accounts Posts: 221 ✭✭qwerty93


    Thanks for the replies! that Arthur Mathews book looks particularly interesting! I read a very good book called Rock and A Hard place a few weeks back and was looking for something in that kind of genre!


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    #6
    Queen-Mise
    Registered Users Posts: 7,461 ✭✭✭Queen-Mise


    The Artemis Fowl books are funny. Albeit they are kids books but are exceptionally written.


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    #7
    HeadPig
    Registered Users Posts: 332 ✭✭HeadPig


    Ulysses. Not joking.


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    #8
    gg2
    Registered Users Posts: 1,082 ✭✭✭gg2


    The one that really sticks out is About a Boy


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    #9
    Aenaes
    Registered Users Posts: 1,677 ✭✭✭Aenaes


    Our Man In Havana by Graham Greene.


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    #10
    --Kaiser--
    Registered Users Posts: 6,461 ✭✭✭--Kaiser--


    Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre, was genuinely in tears reading it.

    As for Irish books, try At Swim Two Birds by Flann O'Brien (prepare for a strange ride, however)


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    #11
    Tombo2001
    Registered Users Posts: 6,651 ✭✭✭Tombo2001


    The Third Policeman and At Swim Two Birds would probably stand out as the two LOL Irish novels.

    Cant think of any others. On the other hand, if you wanted bleak depressing etc Irish novels, one could name about 200.

    In Irish literature then, Paul Durcan has some very funny poems (although a lot of bleak and depressing ones also).

    From overseas......I read Oliver Twist last Christmas, that surprisingly contained a lot of humour.....mostly deep sarcastic humour. Catch 22 also is a goody.

    Funniest of all imho is Jeeves and Wooster.


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    #12
    Andre Salmon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 155 ✭✭Andre Salmon


    A confederacy of dunces - John Kennedy Toole
    Its a brilliant book, I've read it several times.
    Book was published 11 years after the author committed suicide
    Went on to win a Pulitzer prize too


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    #13
    qwerty93
    Closed Accounts Posts: 221 ✭✭qwerty93


    Looks like there are some great recommendations i this thread, thanks very much to all who recommended!


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    #14
    adrian522
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 16,126 Mod ✭✭✭✭adrian522


    Have you read McCarthy's Bar ?

    http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12502.McCarthy_s_Bar

    That fits the bill of being really funny and based in Ireland.


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    #15
    qwerty93
    Closed Accounts Posts: 221 ✭✭qwerty93


    adrian522 wrote: »
    Have you read McCarthy's Bar ?

    http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12502.McCarthy_s_Bar

    That fits the bill of being really funny and based in Ireland.

    I did actually! The author describd parts of Rural Ieland very honestly and it was quite funny too!


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    #16
    adrian522
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 16,126 Mod ✭✭✭✭adrian522


    qwerty93 wrote: »
    I did actually! The author describd parts of Rural Ieland very honestly and it was quite funny too!

    Cool.

    He did write a follow up but I haven't read it. It's called the Road to McCarthy I think.

    I can second "A Confederacy of Dunces" an excellent book, but it's not irish, it's based in New Orleans.


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    #17
    --Kaiser--
    Registered Users Posts: 6,461 ✭✭✭--Kaiser--


    Andre Salmon wrote: »
    A confederacy of dunces - John Kennedy Toole
    Its a brilliant book, I've read it several times.
    Book was published 11 years after the author committed suicide
    Went on to win a Pulitzer prize too

    Really? I got 30 pages in and I haven't wanted to pick the book up again (a bad sign), Also didn't find one single thing humorous


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    #18
    Sergeant
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,362 ✭✭✭Sergeant


    The Flashman series.

    Some genuinely hilarious moments throughout.

    Flashman is such a scoundrel and a cad.

    From Wikipedia:

    "Fraser's Flashman is an antihero who runs from danger or hides cowering in fear, betrays or abandons acquaintances at the slightest incentive, bullies and beats servants with gusto, beds every available woman, carries off any loot he can grab, and gambles and boozes enthusiastically. Nevertheless, through a combination of luck and cunning, he usually ends each volume acclaimed as a hero".


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    #19
    harry Bailey esq
    Registered Users Posts: 4,814 ✭✭✭harry Bailey esq


    adrian522 wrote: »
    Have you read McCarthy's Bar ?

    http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12502.McCarthy_s_Bar

    That fits the bill of being really funny and based in Ireland.

    great read,i think the author,Tim mc carthy passed away last year at a youngish age.was he the same guy that penned 'around Ireland with a fridge' ?


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    #20
    paglynncashel
    Registered Users Posts: 12 ✭paglynncashel


    Cormac McCarthy's The Road, the feelgood novel of the decade. Hilarious.


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    #21
    adrian522
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 16,126 Mod ✭✭✭✭adrian522


    harry Bailey esq wrote: »
    great read,i think the author,Tim mc carthy passed away last year at a youngish age.was he the same guy that penned 'around Ireland with a fridge' ?

    Pete McCarthy. He passed away in 2004.

    Don't think he wrote Around Ireland with a fridge.

    He had intended another book about the 6 counties of northern ireland but never got to it.


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    #22
    Mongarra
    Registered Users Posts: 1,119 ✭✭✭Mongarra


    Tony Hawks wrote the fridge book.

    I know there's absolutely no Irish connection but give me a P G Wodehouse any time. Not just Jeeves and Wooster, mentioned in an earlier post, but also the Blandings Castle, Psmith and Mr. Mulliner sagas/stories. Recent TV series of Blandings Castle was good.


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    #23
    snausages
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,225 ✭✭✭snausages


    Don Quixote


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    #24
    donglen
    Registered Users Posts: 329 ✭✭donglen


    Mentioned here in passing but Round Ireland with a Fridge is definitely worth a read. Based on a pub bet to simply travel Round Ireland with a Fridge, even the late Gerry Ryan gets involved to regularly check in on his progress.


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    #25
    blackhound
    Registered Users Posts: 284 ✭✭blackhound


    Not Irish but I recently read The Princess Bride by William Goldman I thought it was hilarious, one of the few books that actually made me laugh out loud.


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    #26
    kylith
    Registered Users Posts: 17,736 ✭✭✭✭kylith


    Anything with Spike Milligan written on the front.


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    #27
    --Kaiser--
    Registered Users Posts: 6,461 ✭✭✭--Kaiser--


    blackhound wrote: »
    Not Irish but I recently read The Princess Bride by William Goldman I thought it was hilarious, one of the few books that actually made me laugh out loud.

    I read his 'Adventures in the Screen Trade' were he revealed that his script for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was so funny that he was forced by the studio to remove half of the jokes as they were marketing it as a serious western (it's still awful funny though)


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    #28
    blackhound
    Registered Users Posts: 284 ✭✭blackhound


    --Kaiser-- wrote: »
    I read his 'Adventures in the Screen Trade' were he revealed that his script for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was so funny that he was forced by the studio to remove half of the jokes as they were marketing it as a serious western (it's still awful funny though)

    Really? Haven't read that but going on Princess Bride I love his style, it could so easily come across as arrogant but it's so clever and self aware. I may look into it.

    Other books I love that I find quite funny even if they can also be quite depressing are any of Bukowskis novels, Hollywood is especially funny imo.


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    #29
    donglen
    Registered Users Posts: 329 ✭✭donglen


    paglynncashel wrote: »
    Cormac McCarthy's The Road, the feelgood novel of the decade. Hilarious.

    Hmmm.


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    #30
    matTNT
    Closed Accounts Posts: 351 ✭✭matTNT


    Irish and funny. Skullduggery Pleasant, aimed at teens, the writer can write dialogue and character interchanges as well as I have seen. The writing will make you laugh, their actual things that people would say not any cheesy Twilighty sh1t.


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    #31
    matTNT
    Closed Accounts Posts: 351 ✭✭matTNT


    paglynncashel wrote: »
    Cormac McCarthy's The Road, the feelgood novel of the decade. Hilarious.

    Almost as funny as the Kite Runner, The Bell Jar and my personal "lol" favourite... Anne Frank's Diary.


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