Pakistani Readers discussion

Comedy Book Recommendations

P. G. Wodehouse is one of my favourite Comic authors. I can always count upon his books to make me laugh. His characters are hilarious. His writing is funny and clever. He used simple, everyday words, but the way he strung them together so that they produced a certain impact—awesome :-)

Some Excerpts:

"And she's got brains enough for two, which is the exact quantity the girl who marries you will need."

(The Adventures of Sally)

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'Don't leave me, Bertie. I'm lost.'

'What do you mean, lost?'

'I came out for a walk and suddenly discovered after a mile or two that I didn't know where on earth I was. I've been wandering round in circles for hours.'

'Why didn't you ask the way?'

'I can't speak a word of French.'

'Well, why didn't you call a taxi?'

'I suddenly discovered that I've left all my money in my hotel.'

'You could have taken a cab and paid it when you got to the hotel.'

'Yes, but I suddenly discovered, dash it, that I'd forgotten its name.'

We drifted to one of the eleven cafes which jostled each other along the street and I ordered restoratives.
'What on earth are you doing in Paris?'

'Bertie, old man,' said Biffy solemnly, 'I came here to try and forget.'

'Well, you've certainly succeeded.'

(Carry On, Jeeves)

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"It was a confusion of ideas between him and one of the lions he was hunting in Kenya that had caused A. B. Spottsworth to make the obituary column. He thought the lion was dead, and the lion thought it wasn't."

(Ring for Jeeves)

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"He wore the unmistakable look of a man about to be present at a row between women, and only a wet cat in a strange backyard bears itself with less jauntiness than a man faced by such a prospect."

(Piccadilly Jim)

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“Love, Miss Halliday, is a delicate plant. It needs tending, nurturing, assiduous fostering. This cannot be done by throwing the breakfast bacon at a husband's head.”

(Leave it to Psmith)

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"I mean to say, when a girl, offered a good man’s heart, laughs like a bursting paper bag and tells him not to be a silly ass, the good man is entitled, I think, to assume that the whole thing is off."

(Jeeves in the Offing)

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“One of the advantages a sister has when arguing with a brother is that she is under no obligation to be tactful. If she wishes to tell him that he is an idiot and ought to have his head examined, she can do so and, going further, can add that it is a thousand pities that no-one ever thought of smothering him with a pillow in his formative years.”

(The Girl in Blue)

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"My scheme is far more subtle. Let me outline it for you."
"No, thanks."
"I say to myself—"
"But not to me."
"Do listen for a second."
"I won't."
"Right ho, then. I am dumb."
"And have been from a child."

(Right Ho, Jeeves)

PS: I love the way he wrote out the last few lines so that the same 'dumb' implied one meaning in one line and another meaning in the next line. Really clever writing :-)

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These excerpts don't do his work justice, but I thought they might give you an idea about his writing style :-)

If you're looking for something in contemporary setting then Sophie Kinsella's earlier Romantic Comedies/Chick-Lit are wonderful :-)

For example: the first five or six books of her Shopaholic series and standalone books like Twenties Girl, Undomestic Goddess, and a few others.

I gifted a copy of Twenties Girl to my mother. One day I passed her room and heard her laughing. I peeked inside. She was reading this book. Lol.

The book made me laugh too, when I read it. Plus, I appreciated how the protagonist evolved.

For example—she starts off thinking like this:

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"I’m allergic to family occasions. Sometimes I think we’d do better as dandelion seeds—no family, no history, just floating off into the world, each on our own piece of fluff.”

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She ends up thinking like this:

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"It’s easy to discount family. It’s easy to take them for granted. But your family is your history. Your family is part of who you are.”

"If your life’s at a juncture and you need to think about things, there’s nowhere better than home. However old you are.”

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So, if you're looking for something entertaining and insightful at the same time then this book is a great option :-)

If you're a Mystery lover then you can check out Georgette Heyer's Mystery books. They're light-hearted Classic whodunits and a lot of fun. Engaging and relaxing at the same time :-)

In Urdu, I highly recommend Chacha Chakkan stories by Imtiaz Ali Taj. I've read the stories several times and they always make me laugh. I once read aloud one of the stories to my husband. I'd barely read a page or two when we both started laughing like lunatics. Lol. It took a while before I recovered enough to resume reading ;-)

Well, these are all the recommendations from my side for now. I'm looking forward to hearing about your favourite Comedy books. Thank you :-)