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Funniest book(s) you've read

PostPosted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 11:49 pm
by the_wolfs_howl
I didn't see a thread like this, so I thought, why not? What is/are the funniest book(s) you've ever read?

I think I'd have to say A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. I love how he keeps on talking about how awful a story it is and how if you read it you'll soon be weeping and tearing out your hair, but all the same it's hilarious. There were so many times in this series that had me laughing out loud, which I don't normally do while reading. This quote is a perfect example:

" wrote:The phrase "in the dark," as I'm sure you know, can refer not only to one's shadowy surroundings, but also to the shadowy secrets of which one might be unaware. Every day, the sun goes down over all these secrets, and so everyone is in the dark in one way or another. If you are sunbathing in a park, for instance, but you do not know that a locked cabinet is buried fifty feet beneath your blanket, then you are in the dark even though you are not actually in the dark, whereas if you are on a midnight hike, knowing full well that several ballerinas are following close behind you, then you are not in the dark even if you are in fact in the dark. Of course, it is quite possible to be in the dark in the dark, as well as to be not in the dark not in the dark, but there are so many secrets in this world that it is likely that you are always in the dark about one thing or another, whether you are in the dark in the dark or in the dark not in the dark, although the sun can go down so quickly that you may be in the dark about being in the dark in the dark, only to look around and find yourself no longer in the dark about being in the dark in the dark, but in the dark in the dark nonetheless, not only because of the dark, but because of the ballerinas in the dark, who are not in the dark about the dark, but also not in the dark about the locket cabinet, and you may be in the dark about the ballerinas digging up the locked cabinet in the dark, even though you are no longer in the dark about being in the dark and so you are in fact in the dark about being in the dark, even though you are not in the dark about being in the dark, and so you may fall into the hole that the ballerinas have dug, which is dark, in the dark, and in the park.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 5:13 am
by Atria35
Terry Prachett has me in stitches when I read his books! The way he phrases things is definitely out of the norm, and the visual imagery is unforgettable.

Spring had come to Ank-Morpork. It wasn't immediately apparent, but there were signs that were apparent to the cognoscenti. For example, the scum on the river Ankh, that great wide slow waterway that served the double city as reservoir, sewer, and frequent morgue, had turned a particularly irridescent green.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 5:30 am
by Fish and Chips
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller and Candide by Voltaire.
Catch-22 wrote:As always occurred when he quarreled over principles in which he believed passionately, he would end up gasping furiously for air and blinking back bitter tears of conviction. There were many principles in which Clevinger believed passionately. He was crazy.

"Who's they?" he wanted to know. "Who, specifically, do you think is trying to murder you?"
"Every one of them," Yossarian told him.
"Every one of whom?"
"Every one of whom do you think?"
"I haven't any idea."
"Then how do you know they aren't?"
"Because …" Clevinger sputtered, and turned speechless with frustration.
Candide wrote:After the earthquake, which had destroyed three-fourths of the city of Lisbon, the sages of that country could think of no means more effectual to preserve the kingdom from utter ruin than to entertain the people with an auto-da-fe, it having been decided by the University of Coimbra, that the burning of a few people alive by a slow fire, and with great ceremony, is an infallible preventive of earthquakes... The same day there was another earthquake, which made most dreadful havoc.
Lot of similarities between these two.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 6:09 am
by Atria35
Catch-22 was dark humor, though. I loved it, for the most part thought it was hilarious. But it was very dark humor.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 10:10 am
by Edward
Although he's actually a character in a book, I thought Wit from the The Way of Kings was hilarious. I also like Terry Pratchett and A Series of Unfortunate Events.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 10:22 am
by Ante Bellum
A friend read a section of Catch-22 to me and now I want to read it.
Also, The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt. It's actually a play, but I don't care.

I also liked the way A Series of Unfortunate Events was written. I just...never read the last one. So I don't know how it ends.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 2:10 pm
by Mr. Hat'n'Clogs
The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher have some pretty hilarious lines, none of which I can repeat on CAA.

Ante Bellum (post: 1472310) wrote:I also liked the way A Series of Unfortunate Events was written. I just...never read the last one. So I don't know how it ends.
This is me.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 5:09 pm
by Htom Sirveaux
I'll throw in another vote for Terry Pratchett. The man has never written a bad book.

Also, Paul Neilan's Apathy and Other Small Victories, while as crude and vulgar as is possible to get, is undoubtedly one of the funniest books I've ever read.

And HattenCloggen's post reminded me of Glen Cook's Garret, P.I. series, which I personally prefer to Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. Same sort of wry, sarcastic humor that gets at least a smirk if not a full laugh.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 5:27 pm
by Atria35
Hrm. Forgot to mention Bill Bryson's books I'm a Stranger Here Myself and The Mother Tongue. If I'm not smiling when reading those, I'm cracking up.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 6:05 pm
by Nanao
Probably a book called The Very Bloody History of Britain Without the Boring Bits by John Farman. Basically, the English making fun of their own history. We were reading it in the car years ago, and my dad got to laughing so hard he nearly drove us off the road >_<

PostPosted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 7:29 pm
by Htom Sirveaux
Oh, also Chuch Pahlaniuk's Fight Club. Dang, that's a good book.

PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:23 am
by raider~joseph
Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy?Anyone?Lines from that book series are still being used.Heck chatbot will 42 every once in a while.And come on..."Ford your turning into a penguin.Stop it."Rofl I tend to dislike sci fi books but this book is truely utterly great.

PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:32 am
by Atria35
raider~joseph (post: 1472578) wrote:Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy?Anyone?Lines from that book series are still being used.Heck chatbot will 42 every once in a while.And come on..."Ford your turning into a penguin.Stop it."Rofl I tend to dislike sci fi books but this book is truely utterly great.


Only the first three books. THe others..... not so much >.>

PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 10:43 am
by bigsleepj
Atlas Shrugged.

Seriously: Terry Pratchett's Moving Pictures was very funny; it was the funniest of the Discworld Novels for me, mostly because I got the jokes.

The Hitchhiker Books as well,

PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 12:00 pm
by Htom Sirveaux
[quote="bigsleepj"]Terry Pratchett's Moving Pictures was very funny]

You know, I wholeheartedly agree there. If I had to name a favorite Discworld book so far (and I've read up through Night Watch now), I'd have to say Moving Pictures.

PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 2:48 pm
by Mr. Hat'n'Clogs
So, if I were interested in getting into this Discworld thing, where would be the best place to start?

PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 3:00 pm
by Atria35
Mr. Hat'n'Clogs (post: 1472672) wrote:So, if I were interested in getting into this Discworld thing, where would be the best place to start?


The beginning. Actually, you could probably pick up virtually any book in it and be fine, but I am just obsessive like that. I started off with the first book, The Color of Magic.

PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 7:48 pm
by Htom Sirveaux
Yeah, that's the way I do it, too. Plus there are occasionally little in-jokes that are self-referential to the series, so when you hit one like that, it's nice to be able to laugh rather than scratch your head in puzzlement or miss it completely.

PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 11:18 pm
by Warrior 4 Jesus
Hmm... I'm struggling to recall funny books I've read. Only four come to mind:
The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher
The Hitch-hiker's Guide the Galaxy series
Paul Jenning's short stories (some of which became the Round the Twist TV series)
Good Omens

PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 2011 4:31 pm
by rocklobster
If you don't laugh at least once while reading any of the Hitchhikers books, you have no funny bone.

PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 2011 7:09 pm
by MomentOfInertia
Hitchhikers, Discworld and Dresden.

I know I'm forgetting something....

PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 7:06 am
by TWWK
All you people and your selections of witty, vulgar, or dark humor. What about something silly? As a kid, I couldn't get enough of Sideway Stories from Wayside School, and they still get to me today.

PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 8:02 am
by Atria35
TWWK (post: 1473228) wrote:All you people and your selections of witty, vulgar, or dark humor. What about something silly?


I still have a children's book from when I was a kid that I did (and still do) adore: Something Good. Sideways Stories were also pretty good, although some of those were also incredibly dark and surreal. Remember the one about the 22nd floor, and the kid who got stuck in that classroom? That one nearly gave me nightmares!

PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 4:24 pm
by rocklobster
Dave Barry also wrote funny books. I'd recommend any of them.

PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 7:17 pm
by MomentOfInertia
TWWK (post: 1473228) wrote:All you people and your selections of witty, vulgar, or dark humor. What about something silly? As a kid, I couldn't get enough of Sideway Stories from Wayside School, and they still get to me today.

Bah! That's what CAA is for!

Ante Bellum (post: 1392827) wrote:No, no, you don't understand! Mordor has terrible reception, I can't call anyone! The Eagles are too far away, and Sauron's after us! I don't know how long the Weasley Twins can hold them off. Hopefully Picard will come up with something but Spock's just being useless.

PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 5:54 am
by TWWK
rocklobster (post: 1473361) wrote:Dave Barry also wrote funny books. I'd recommend any of them.


Dave Barry's a riot - I used to love his column (though I haven't read any of his books).

Though Barry's a journalist, not a comedian, he reminds me of the few books I've read which were written by comedians. The best and funniest were by Paul Reiser - Babyhood, particularly.

PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 4:02 pm
by rocklobster
If you've read his columns, you've read his books. Many of them are just collections of his columns, although he has written some that weren't.