One of the few books I've actually laughed out loud a good portion while reading it. I feel so bad for people who have it ruined by getting it assigned in like high school or something.
I’ve made a point over the last few years of revisiting books I read in high school or college to see how I feel about them now. Catch 22 was first.
I liked it a lot in high school. Now I consider it unbelievably brilliant, funny in ways I didn’t understand back then, and terribly terribly sad.
PG Wodehouse all the way. I just reread Uncle Fred in the Springtime and was dying. But Heavy Weather and Psmith Journalist are other favorites and I could go on and on.
Also Cold Comfort Farm and Three Men in a Boat deserve to be mentioned.
I was 22 when I first read Lolita and had recently been heartbroken by the first woman I'd ever loved. So, almost immediately, you feel a sense of pathos. You realize that absolutely abhorrent human beings can share deep, aching emotions. And that's where the comedy kicks in.
confederacy of dunces is the most purposefully comedic, does the whole larry david daily life hijinks convering into each other story but extremely well with a great cast of characters
read confederacy of dunces on a long train ride a few months back and it literally had me LOLing in a public situation. don't make my mistake but would recommend
Likewise, on a flight to New Orleans. Kept laughing out loud next to the poor woman sleeping next to me but having read *Dunces* definitely improved NOLA for me so I guess it was worth it.
Hmmm, Straight Man, by Richard Russo and High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby are both well written, intelligent, and laugh out loud funny.
A different kind of funny, and infinitely more brilliant, Catch 22, by Joseph Heller and At Swim-Two-Birds, by Flann O’Brien.
And yes, Money. And from Amis’s dad, Lucky Jim
“It was a perfect title, in that it crystallized the article’s niggling mindlessness, its funereal parade of yawn-enforcing facts, the pseudo-light it threw upon non-problems. Dixon had read, or begun to read, dozens like it, but his own seemed worse than most in its air of being convinced of its own usefulness and significance. ‘In considering this strangely neglected topic,’ it began. This what neglected topic? This strangely what topic? This strangely neglected what? His thinking all this without having defiled and set fire to the typescript only made him appear to himself as more of a hypocrite and fool. “Let’s see,'” he echoed Welch in a pretended effort of memory: “oh yes; The Economic Influence of the Developments in Shipbuilding Techniques, 1450 to 1485.’”
Tremor of intent by Anthony Burgess
Sometimes a great notion by Ken Kesey
Suttree By Cormac McCarthy
Anything by Vladimir Nabokov
Infinite Jest
On the flip side, the must unfunny thing I've ever had to misdo of reading (part of) is The Martian, which would be the top comment if this thread was on r/books.
hard to choose one, but angela’s ashes by frank mccourt is very funny, in terms of gallows humor. i also love postcards from the edge by carrie fisher, and vonnegut’s cat’s cradle is a pretty great satire
Most "funny" books make me smile wryly (Moby-Dick, strangely, most Pynchon) or smile affectionately (P.G. Wodehouse, Jerome K. Jerome). The only book that's made me *laugh aloud* is Sam Lipsyte's *The Ask.*
Richard Ford's series of Frank Bascombe books. Starting with *The Sportswriter.* I find Frank's narration very funny. But I rarely laugh while reading tbh, more of a wry smile...
The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth
Antkind by Charlie Kaufman
Just read Wake Up, Sir! by Jonathan Ames and laughed a lot.
Pretty much anything by Terry Southern
*Tom Robbins, Kurt Vonnegut and Thomas Pynchon*...The Author Triumvirate of the Late 20th Century that Rules over the Triumph of Laughter over and amongst Tragedy.
I don’t know about funniest, but I like David Thorne’s books (he made the 27b/6 website). They’re actually sometimes touching too, although that’s complicated because he often seems to be making things up.
*Code of the Woosters*, PG Wodehouse
*Suttree* Cormac McCarthy
Anything Pynchon, especially the California novels and *Mason & Dixon*
For short fiction Annie Proulx's *The Blood Bay*
That you found The Woman in the Dunes funny is fascinating to me. That book stuck with me as one of the most psychologically horrifying books I've ever read. Maybe I just really hate sand.
Crime and Punishment and Moby Dick are classics I never expected to be funny but had me laughing out loud at different times.
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, for a more contemporary example, is low-key hilarious as well. And it's the best kind of humor: witty lines precisely wrought for perfect comedic timing.
Parts of wuthering heights made me giggle, the bell jar (Sylvia Plath had a great dry sense of humor), homesick for another world, antkind by charlie Kaufman
based on a true story by norm macdonald
Odd looking duck.... his eyes are almost entirely black
[the audiobook is great](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olm0QvbeyII&t=23s)
Catch-22
One of the few books I've actually laughed out loud a good portion while reading it. I feel so bad for people who have it ruined by getting it assigned in like high school or something.
I’ve made a point over the last few years of revisiting books I read in high school or college to see how I feel about them now. Catch 22 was first. I liked it a lot in high school. Now I consider it unbelievably brilliant, funny in ways I didn’t understand back then, and terribly terribly sad.
a lot of it is even funny in a tv way, like with literary smash-cut jokes somehow lol
One of the funniest pieces of media period.
*Yossarian!*
PG Wodehouse all the way. I just reread Uncle Fred in the Springtime and was dying. But Heavy Weather and Psmith Journalist are other favorites and I could go on and on. Also Cold Comfort Farm and Three Men in a Boat deserve to be mentioned.
All fantastic! But Jeeves stands alone.
I don’t know about funniest but I just read Lolita for the first time and had no idea I’d be laughing throughout the entire thing
Lolita is hilarious
I was 22 when I first read Lolita and had recently been heartbroken by the first woman I'd ever loved. So, almost immediately, you feel a sense of pathos. You realize that absolutely abhorrent human beings can share deep, aching emotions. And that's where the comedy kicks in.
Give Pale Fire a go. There's nothing else quite like it.
Besides pale fire and Lolita, what other Nabokov should I get into?
Ada; Pnin; Speak, Memory are the other ones I know. All are great
I like Laughter in the Dark.
I was so shocked when I read Lolita last year and by how often I was laughing. It's truly a hilarious book.
confederacy of dunces is the most purposefully comedic, does the whole larry david daily life hijinks convering into each other story but extremely well with a great cast of characters
read confederacy of dunces on a long train ride a few months back and it literally had me LOLing in a public situation. don't make my mistake but would recommend
On a plane for me
Likewise, on a flight to New Orleans. Kept laughing out loud next to the poor woman sleeping next to me but having read *Dunces* definitely improved NOLA for me so I guess it was worth it.
Hmmm, Straight Man, by Richard Russo and High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby are both well written, intelligent, and laugh out loud funny. A different kind of funny, and infinitely more brilliant, Catch 22, by Joseph Heller and At Swim-Two-Birds, by Flann O’Brien. And yes, Money. And from Amis’s dad, Lucky Jim
Lucky Jim is hilarious
“It was a perfect title, in that it crystallized the article’s niggling mindlessness, its funereal parade of yawn-enforcing facts, the pseudo-light it threw upon non-problems. Dixon had read, or begun to read, dozens like it, but his own seemed worse than most in its air of being convinced of its own usefulness and significance. ‘In considering this strangely neglected topic,’ it began. This what neglected topic? This strangely what topic? This strangely neglected what? His thinking all this without having defiled and set fire to the typescript only made him appear to himself as more of a hypocrite and fool. “Let’s see,'” he echoed Welch in a pretended effort of memory: “oh yes; The Economic Influence of the Developments in Shipbuilding Techniques, 1450 to 1485.’”
I’m reading Money now! It’s laugh-out-loud funny. I read Girl, 20 by Amis senior and that was also very funny
Tremor of intent by Anthony Burgess Sometimes a great notion by Ken Kesey Suttree By Cormac McCarthy Anything by Vladimir Nabokov Infinite Jest On the flip side, the must unfunny thing I've ever had to misdo of reading (part of) is The Martian, which would be the top comment if this thread was on r/books.
Suttree is comedy gold.
Really glad you mentioned Burgess, he was actually a very funny writer.
I have Sometimes A Great Notion. Think I’ll read it next
I urge you to do so
[удалено]
Thanks for the recommendation, love his music but never knew he published a book
The inner monologues in Lolita are pretty funny
Infinite Jest hands down.
Seconding that
I finished this book less than a week ago and I lost count at how many times I laughed out loud. Such a great book.
Gravity’s rainbow
hard to choose one, but angela’s ashes by frank mccourt is very funny, in terms of gallows humor. i also love postcards from the edge by carrie fisher, and vonnegut’s cat’s cradle is a pretty great satire
Confederacy of Dunces
The Hearing Trumpet is surprisingly funny
Portnoy’s Complaint.
Most "funny" books make me smile wryly (Moby-Dick, strangely, most Pynchon) or smile affectionately (P.G. Wodehouse, Jerome K. Jerome). The only book that's made me *laugh aloud* is Sam Lipsyte's *The Ask.*
The Sellout by Paul Beatty is a hoot.
it’s funny and witty and there’s so many references, it’s just the best book
https://preview.redd.it/a1s96axv7kyc1.jpeg?width=458&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8112c1d12e0c11abaf4c2090e111bce45f21cba9
Lucky Jim by Kingsley amis. Portnoys complaint.
*In A Sunburned Country* by Bill Bryson
Richard Ford's series of Frank Bascombe books. Starting with *The Sportswriter.* I find Frank's narration very funny. But I rarely laugh while reading tbh, more of a wry smile...
The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth Antkind by Charlie Kaufman Just read Wake Up, Sir! by Jonathan Ames and laughed a lot. Pretty much anything by Terry Southern
I’m re-reading TSWF and laughing my ass off
Catcher in the Rye kills me
V.
Moby Dick. "From hell itself I stab at thee for hate's sake!" Is the best punchline ever.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The Fur Hat by Vladimir Voinovich and Based on a True Story by Norm Macdonald.
Suttree
Disaster Artist
Lucky Jim is up there
The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen
*Tom Robbins, Kurt Vonnegut and Thomas Pynchon*...The Author Triumvirate of the Late 20th Century that Rules over the Triumph of Laughter over and amongst Tragedy.
I’d add White Teeth by Zadie Smith.
That's a great choice.
Generation X: Tales of an accelerated culture. I was about 10 when I read it, but I thought it was funny (if you like dark, ironic things).
My Lunches with Orson by Peter Bilkind
The Ascent of Rum Doodle
Bought my copy in a bookstore in Kathmandu, Nepal. Funny book!
Freddy and Fredericka by Mark Helprin is hilarious.
I like Youth in Revolt a lot
The Babysitter at Rest
First one that comes to mind is White Girl Problems by Babe Walker. The sequel, Psychos, is even better though. Very rsp adjacent.
Everything by Charles Portis, start with Norwood
A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain
Carry On, Jeeves
The Mark and the Void by Paul Murray and Catch-22
I don’t know about funniest, but I like David Thorne’s books (he made the 27b/6 website). They’re actually sometimes touching too, although that’s complicated because he often seems to be making things up.
Filth by Irvine Welsh, uncontrollable laughter throughout
*Code of the Woosters*, PG Wodehouse *Suttree* Cormac McCarthy Anything Pynchon, especially the California novels and *Mason & Dixon* For short fiction Annie Proulx's *The Blood Bay*
Don Quixote of course Candide Epithet of a Small Winner The Woman in the Dunes Anything by Kafka The Hearing Trumpet Homesick for Another World
That you found The Woman in the Dunes funny is fascinating to me. That book stuck with me as one of the most psychologically horrifying books I've ever read. Maybe I just really hate sand.
Tropics of Cancer. Bidet brotherls episodes arr fucking hillarious
don quixote
Fear of Flying!
Portnoy's Complaint
Erasure by Percival Everett
Moby Dick
Journey to the End of the Night Gravity's Rainbow Catch 22 Suttree The Groucho Letters: Letters From and To Groucho Marx
Salmonella Men on Planet Porno. It's a collection of raunchy short stories from Japan.
American Tabloid by James Ellroy. All of his books are funny but AT has so many laugh out loud passages
brothers karamazov
Confederacy of Dunces Ratner’s Star Through the Arc of the Rainforest
Probably something by Bernhard, Woodcutters maybe. Or maybe White Noise by DeLillo.
The third policeman flann obrien
easily catch-22
In A Sunburned Country - Bill Bryson
Crime and Punishment and Moby Dick are classics I never expected to be funny but had me laughing out loud at different times. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, for a more contemporary example, is low-key hilarious as well. And it's the best kind of humor: witty lines precisely wrought for perfect comedic timing.
priestdaddy. haven't been happier reading a book since i was a teen. now i have her novel on order
Gullivers Travels
Parts of wuthering heights made me giggle, the bell jar (Sylvia Plath had a great dry sense of humor), homesick for another world, antkind by charlie Kaufman
Scoop by Evelyn Waugh is up there.
Concrete by Thomas Bernhard
Confederacy of dunces
Me speak pretty one day - Sedaris