Books that made you Laugh - Recommendations

[ian123running]

Notes From a Small Island definitely made me laugh out loud on the train commuting many years ago.

Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss ( no not that Truss) - I just laughed all the way through that one, seriously. I drove my wife nuts as well as all the commuters (again).

Yes to Catch 22 too.

 

[gassor]

Any of the Colemanballs series from Private Eye is very funny. Mainly from the world of sport, these are quotes showing how muddled up or stupid commentators can be. "Well, statistics are there to be broken", "He was running quicker than his legs could go" and "Jerusalem has now become a Mecca for tourists". Cheap as french fries on Ebay.

 

[Marchbanks]

Any of the Colemanballs series from Private Eye is very funny. Mainly from the world of sport, these are quotes showing how muddled up or stupid commentators can be. "Well, statistics are there to be broken", "He was running quicker than his legs could go" and "Jerusalem has now become a Mecca for tourists". Cheap as french fries on Ebay.

I remember

“He isn’t Ben Johnson, but then who is?”
and
“Greg Lemond has quite literally come back from the dead to win this race” with a cartoon illustration of a skeleton on a bike roaring past the rest of the field.

 

[JensenHealey]

Any of the Bill Bryson travel books are funny and shrewdly observed.

 

[PaulMB]

Anybody mention David Lodge and Stephen Fry yet?

 

[MarkW]

The first three Tibor Fischer novels are damn funny. Under the Frog, Thought Gang and The Collector Collector.

 

[Fudgemaster]

The Meaning of Liff, and The Deeper Meaning of Liff, Douglas Adams and John Lloyd, also the new adult versions of the Ladybird books, from their Books for Grown Ups series. Had some funny looks from bookshop owners, as they are thin books, and didn't buy any.

 

[david ellwood]

The book of bunny suicides.

 

[zarniwoop]

Bored of the Rings by the Harvard Lampoon - great spoof.

 

[david ellwood]

‘Stark’ by Ben Elton and ‘Time for bed’ by David Baddiel.

 

[Whaleblue]

Out of print, and expensive (collectible?) now, The Art of Coarse Rugby by Michael Green.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01FEOR54K/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

I read this, and the “Golf” and “Sailing” companions back in the late 70s.

Dated even then, they were nonetheless hilarious.

 

[HairyHaggis]

the ascent of rum doodle - w.e.bowman (intro by bryson) and any of the sharpe books. excellent stuff

 

[Mullardman]

Sellars and Yeatman. '1066 And All That' used to have me rolling in the aisles. Many of he above too.

 

[I.D.C.]

Kevin Bridges autobiographie. First half of the book is school years leading up to a career in comedy. The second half is a utter scream .

 

[John Phillips]

Anything Tom Sharpe, but Riotous Assembly and Indecent Exposure are good to start with.

Some of his best. Sharpe creates situations that creep up on you and then explode with complete inevitability into utter ridiculousness.

 

[cctaylor]

Out of print, and expensive (collectible?) now, The Art of Coarse Rugby by Michael Green.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01FEOR54K/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

"Coarse Acting" as a someone involved in "am dram" it was easy empathise with the situations described!

I read this, and the “Golf” and “Sailing” companions back in the late 70s.

Dated even then, they were nonetheless hilarious.

 

[Rockmeister]

Some of his best. Sharpe creates situations that creep up on you and then explode with complete inevitability into utter ridiculousness.

I remember they made 'Blott on the landscape'' into a film (or a BBC mini series maybe?) with Suchet as Blott. Brilliant, although the book was, as ever, funnier still.

 

[Dowser]

Any of the Spike Milligan war dairies for LOL entertainment. Douglas Adams, Harry Harrison, Tom Sharpe & a Special mention to Terry Pratchett - rarely LOL, but very accurate in a funny way.

 

[-alan-]

If you like motoring in the wider sense, pretty much anything by PJ O'Rourke.

If you don't - then Holidays from Hell by the same author.

 

[goatiebaby]

Any of Deke Leonard's tales of the Manband (Rhinos Winos and Lunatics, Maybe I should have stayed in bed and Maximum Darkness) I found hilarious, great writer as well as musician. And I always enjoyed The Henry Root Letters by William Donaldson back in the day.