Reading the 20th Century discussion

Plenty of book covers feature phrases like "laugh out loud" funny, or "hilarious" but which books have actually made you laugh?

And which have made roar with laughter?

And which have made you cry with laughter?

Who are the funniest writers?

Who are the funniest characters?

Carl Hiaasen's comic thrillers set in Florida - try Native Tongue. I laughed out loud at something on virtually every page.

Travel writers are frequently very funny. Two great examples: Daniel Kalder (Lost Cosmonaut: Observations of an Anti-Tourist and Strange Telescopes: Following the Apocalypse from Moscow to Siberia) and Peter Biddlecombe (Travels with My Briefcase, French Lessons in Africa: Travels with My Briefcase Through French Africa, others).

Thanks Patrick

I am familiar with Carl Hiaasen and have read all his work - very amusing, and he had definitely made me laugh out loud.

Kalder and Biddlecoombe are new names for me to investigate. Splendid.

I remember crying with laughter whilst reading Kill Your Friends by John Niven

Obviously P.G. Wodehouse is the funniest writer of all time - and can reduce me to tears of mirth

I also recall crying with laughter at Wilt by Tom Sharpe, along with the follow up books, but I suspect his work my have dated and, perhaps, would not amuse me in the same way now.

Tom Sharpe, I remember seeing paperbacks of his work back in the Eighties. I always wanted to investigate!

Although there are a lot of books that make me smile, the only laugh-out-loud book I can think of is Blue Heaven by Joe Keenan, and his Putting on the Ritz.

I'm definitely with you on P.G. Wodehouse, Nigeyb. I've just started listening to the first Blandings book, Something Fresh, narrated by Jonathan Cecil, and have already giggled out loud a couple of times in the first chapter. (I found out that I could get a free audiobook with a month's free trial of the Kobo app on my phone, and you inspired me to pick this one!)

Other laugh-out-loud authors for me include Dickens, Mark Twain and Evelyn Waugh - I definitely laughed out loud a few times while reading Decline and Fall.

I also found the only book by Angela Thirkell which I've read so far pretty funny - I'm sure there are lots more but my mind has gone blank!

Great news about PGW Judy - that Kobo deals sounds like a goodie

I need to checkout Joe Keenan Rosina - thanks

The only one that I think is reliable is James Thurber. I can read his stories over and over and still fall off the chair.

I don't find Wodehouse funny, but neither do i find Carl Hiaasen funny.

Nigeyb wrote: "I need to checkout Joe Keenan Rosina - thanks"

I hope you enjoy it. Humour is the most difficult thing to recommend - we definitely don't all laugh at the same things (which I why I don't watch any of the current comedians!). But the Cellinis Christmas party, and the appearance of the Duchess, have me in stitches even on re-reads.

From the reviews on Goodreads, it does rate high on the laugh-out-loud giggleometer.

Thanks again Rosina - I agree that we all have different things that amuse us. I'll let you know.


Flashman's Lady caused me to laugh aloud yesterday.

I laugh out loud a lot, I think. I know I do spit-takes at funny tweets.

Yesterday I burst out at this bit in The Picture of Dorian Gray (which I am reading for the first time, and which is FANTASTIC):

"Stop, Basil! I won't hear it!" cried Dorian, leaping to his feet. "You must not tell me about things. What is done is done. What is past is past."

"You call yesterday the past?"

Dorian Gray is fab.

Dalziel From Reginald Hill's books. I have often been crying with laughter whilst reading some of these books

Mick Herron (of course!) has me snorting embarrassingly on the Tube!

Patrick wrote: "I laugh out loud a lot, I think. I know I do spit-takes at funny tweets.

Yesterday I burst out at this bit in The Picture of Dorian Gray (which I am reading for the first time, and which is FANTAS..."

Patrick, I agree with you that Wilde is amazing at one-liners - pithy and witty. I saw a brilliant quote by him the other day - 'Biography lends to death a new terror.' I think it's just so funny.

Wilde is essential! I have read the major plays.

Nigeyb wrote: "Dorian Gray is fab."

Have you read Will Self's modern take-off? Is it interesting?

No, yet to get to Self's take. Should I prioritise it?

Not necessarily. But I had come across a reference to it and thought that perhaps you might have read it.

I have read Dorian - it is entertaining, but it is Will Self, so a lot less laugh-out-loud-funny than Wilde and a lot more tasteless. It does have quite a clever twist ending but as always with Self there is a lot of don't I know lots of clever words...

Appreciate the take on the Self!

Patrick wrote: "I laugh out loud a lot, I think. I know I do spit-takes at funny tweets.

Yesterday I burst out at this bit in The Picture of Dorian Gray (which I am reading for the first time, and which is FANTAS..."


I read that last year and it is good. I love Oscar Wilde. His plays are fantastic. I've loved the movies made of them as well.

Mick Herron, of course.

Alec Waugh's memoirs My Brother Evelyn & Other Profiles made me smile. I did consider nominating that for our Waugh read, but decided against it.

There's an article in today's Guardian Review (not online yet so far as I can see) about how, according to the judges of the Wodehouse prize, this is the worst year for comic writing in the 18-year history of the prize.

The piece by Sam Leith challenges this conclusion and is well worth a read.

In a side column is a list of "the new funny writers". I have read only one of of them and so wondered what you thought of them. Here they are...

Patricia Lockwood

David Sedaris

Simon Rich

Sally Rooney

Caitlin Moran

I've only read Caitlin - who I really like - so would appreciate any insights, recommendations, thoughts and so forth on the others in the list

And indeed, any other top tips for contemporary funny writers

Haven't read any of them. I think humour is difficult to write. I often find non-fiction funny - David Hepworth's Uncommon People: The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars 1955-1994 or The Eighties: One Day, One Decade, which I read recently, was full of funny stories.

Simon Rich and Caitlan Moran definitely made me laugh out loud. I liked Sedaris' early work but have gone off him lately. Maybe try Simon Rich's Spoiled Brats? My husband and i still talk about two of the stories in it...so funny.

Thanks Storyheart.


Simon Rich was described as....

....a comic writer from the old school. Rich might still look like a teenager, but sometimes it seems as he is from the 1940s. A smarty-pants, and funny with it.

Great cover to Spoiled Brats: Stories...



http://www.simonrich.com

Sorry to be a grump, but must admit I really disliked Caitlin Moran's newspaper columns when I read some of them in the past, so I wouldn't want to read a book by her - her style seemed very similar to Julie Burchill, who I don't like either!

I would agree, Judy. Caitlin Moran is obviously not 'laddish,' or 'blokish,' but strangely similar in style to those kind of books, and I just don't find it funny. I didn't even like her piece on Paul McCartney, which a friend sent me and I found very self-indulgent.

Couple of funny books in the Audible sale today - The Eyre Affair which I think we have mentioned before and Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers read by Chris Barrie.

My latest laugh out loud books was a space opera book. It was so funny because it poked fun at Star Wars, Star Trek, and other standard sci-fi tropes.

Starship Grifters by Robert Kroese