What writers, if any, have made you laugh?

Larry McMurtry's Godwin character in "All My Friends Are Going to be Strangers" is a laugh every time he shows up. And McMurtry's, "Anything For Billy," a take-off on the life of Billy The Kid is funny from cover to cover.

Meg Cabot. I remember when I was in high school and had a rough day I'd escape into her books.

Oh, and I just have to add Charles Bukowski. If honesty was his first attribute, humor might be his second. Hadn't realized until this moment that that's one of the reasons why I read him. A very funny writer.

Seconding Good Omens. That's the only novel by either of them that I've read in its entirety (don't look at me like that). Also seconding Christopher Moore.

More recently I want my humor to come from the narrator's voice rather than the actual scenario, so Rick Riordan/Percy Jackson made me laugh, and Jim Butcher/Harry Dresden (which is funny because I'll harp on parts of Dresden's character to no end), and Bethany Frenette/Audrey Whitticomb. I'm so incredibly picky about actual comedy (be it on screen or on paper) that I prefer humor to be worked in sideways through the narration.

I don't think I can think of many. The only ones I can think of that made me chuckle were those who wrote those Diary of A Wimpy Kid books and the Clementine books.

It it could be my naturally anxious personality. People who are close to me, and with whom I feel comfortable with, do say I have a bit of a sense of humor, though....

I'm more visual in my humor, like slapstick humor or over-top-expressions in cartoons, manga/anime, and comic books.

I also like some stand-up comedy humor.

And some verbal or some subtle snark humor, like in some UK (or Australian) shows, like Sherlock, Agatha Christie's Poirot, Call the Midwives, and Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.

But books? Hmmm...I don't know why, but novels don't really make me laugh or chuckle. I think it's hard for me to get some humor out of written stories. I do laugh at Internet posts, but not most books.

Like, I tried to read a sample of one of Janet Evanovich's books, but I couldn't be amused by her. I think it may be the subject matter (sex) is serious business for me? Or maybe it was too subtle for me? (I also thought the boy/man the main character liked was a bit of a pervert or player, and I dislike both types of guys.)

bunny-gypsy said:

I don't think I can think of many. The only ones I can think of that made me chuckle were those who wrote those Diary of A Wimpy Kid books and the Clementine books.

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I forgot about Jeff Kinney (Diary of a Wimpy Kid). I read my son's copy while waiting for him at the orthodontist one day, and just about died, laughing out loud.

dawinsor said:

Janet Evanovich

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I gotta second this one, with an added Amen... Some of her Stephanie Plum novels (especially those where the Grandmother is doing a tear) left me weak from waves of laughter...

David Sedaris, to the point of crying.

John Kennedy Toole

When I was ten, I read Steve Martin's book Cruel Shoes. It changed my life.

Atlanta Nights made me laugh... a lot! The quote about desert penguins was especially entertaining.

Terry Pratchett
Kurt Vonnegut
Joseph Heller
Stanislaw Lem
Woody Allen
Mark Twain
Jerome K. Jerome

caw

Joseph Heller? He made me cry, but I was at a tender age.

C.bronco said:

Joseph Heller? He made me cry, but I was at a tender age.

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And if that wasn't funny, there were lots of things that weren't even funnier.

-- Joseph Heller

The list would be too long to transcribe in its entirety. Off the top of my head? David Foster Wallace, Dave Eggers, Oscar Wilde, Lorrie Moore.

C.bronco said:

Atlanta Nights made me laugh... a lot! The quote about desert penguins was especially entertaining.

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The part that nearly had me on the floor hyperventilating was the two friends going to dinner to have a serious discussion about things they needed to discuss seriously. That was my favorite chapter, from "the sweat smell of his sweet" to the cheeks like rosy apples with two green leaves for eyes and caterpillars for pupils.

Many authors can make me laugh once or twice in a book, but Sarah Rees Brennan does it more often than most.

Herman Brusselmans nearly had me piss myself over every other sentence. His cynical, sarcastic, scathing, cruel, dark humor is just something else entirely.

I didn't mention him in my previous post, since he's been mentioned several times, but I just recently read his final book and I've can't recommend Terry Pratchett enough. He is the only author who has been able to make my laugh, then cry, then laugh while crying. And not just in The Shepherd's Crown, he did this many times throughout the course of the Discworld series.

Phillip K. Dick

Gerald Durrell.

Maze Runner said:

Charles Bukowski.

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I second this. Also, in a different way, Lee Battersby. I read Corpse Rat King and couldn't determine if he intended it to be that ridiculous or not. I'm not sure if it was good either. But I enjoyed it greatly, so I guess it was. It was certainly funny.

Reading Mary Russell (Laurie R. King) had me chuckling the whole time.

A sometimes overlooked but truly brilliant and funny book, Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

Steve Hofstetter. There was also a frequent poster on another forum I used to frequent that had me in stitches every week. If he hasn't gone on to be an author I will be sorely disappointed.

John Scalzi, Gina Damico, Jonathan Safran Foer (then he made me cry), Sherman Alexie, Jesse Andrews. For all of them I'm not just talking a little giggle, but real my boyfriend heard me downstairs laughter.