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Most recently, just last night, Jingo, by Pratchett. Sir Terry gets a lot of love in this thread, and deserves all of it. I've read maybe half of his Discworld novels, and of those, Jingo ranks about at the top of my list for laugh-out-loud humor, all of it with a solid point behind it.
caw
Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it.
-- Terry Pratchett
PG Wodehouse cracked me up when I was eleven and he can crack me up at 60+. A couple of years ago I was staying with a family member in a hospital. I picked a book out of the book case to read while I was there and she was sleeping. The situation was far from humorous but Old Plum made me laugh out loud twice. --s6
I loved Martin Amis's biography of his father, Kingsley. I laughed so hard through it that I hurt. It might be a particularly literary London sort of humour, but it's one of my favourite biographies now.
James Thurber. His family is my family. Daphne du Maurier wrote a screamingly funny book about her sad family. --s6
I was going to say Terry Pratchett too! The Discworld books are just so cleverOriginally Posted by blacbird
P. Howard aka. Jenő Rejtő. He is just brilliant. I don't know if anyone know him here...
Doesn't matter how many times I read, always makes me laugh with his idiot and lovely characters.
Stephen King, in particular IT.
Lewis Grizzard
Last edited by Cindyt; 02-14-2017 at 02:45 AM.
The only thing you can't fix is a blank page.--Bonnie Hearn Hill
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. Matthew 7:12
Mark Tufo in his zombie fallout books, in particular the first one, there was rather a lot of funny comedic scenes making the book really enjoyable.
http://www.authorellie.com
Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. Classic.
Lauren Barnholdt, when I was in grade/high school, made me laugh in every book she wrote. Two Way Street was the first book I read by her. So relatable to me at the time and her characters are so witty and have my sense of humor.
"Every single thing that happens to you is preparing you for a moment that has yet to come."
Bret Easton Ellis
One for the Money by Janet Evanovich made me laugh - a lot!
However the funniest novel that I ever read was called "The Horse is Dead" by Robert Klane. It was written in the 70's and I read it in the 80's but I remember howling throughout the book. I've tried to get a copy to see if it actually is as funny as I remember, and not only is it out of print but it's apparently considered a cult book and is going for over $300 on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.ca/HORSE-DEAD-Rob.../dp/0345249186
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Groucho Marx
Alison Bechdel. Leslie Lange. I need to think of other funny authors and come back to this.
Palahniuk is pretty much a guaranteed laugh every couple pages, sometimes it's a kind of delayed response because he can be very intelligent and layer a gem, they are from all angles and depths of the comedic spectrum too, sometimes it's a despairing kind of sneer, sometimes it's an outright HA-HA primal donkey bray response. I find carol ann duffy extremely witty in much of her poetry too. Wilde and good old Will Shakes seem like cop outs but they were genuinely hilarious gents.
Mind swap robert sheckley
Hal Spacejock anyone who has ever played traveller should chase this up.
George Carlin. By the way I love the illustration in your avatar, Demeter.
Definitely Jim Butcher and his Dresden Series. I read about 10 of those books in only 2 months or so. Couldn't get enough of them.
I think Chuck Palahniuck is hilarious in a very dark way.
Stories needing Crits:
Reoccuring Occupation(word-count 1310)
Douglas Adams. Unique, and perfectly British.
So many funny women, but Nancy Mitford's Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate are my go-to comfort reading for laughs. For more recent toppers, Connie Willis's To Say Nothing of the Dog and Bellweather , and Lisa Lutz's Spellman books are a riot.
Last edited by froglivers; 07-20-2017 at 08:29 PM. Reason: grammar, ugh / facepalms
Bill Bryson and Dave Barry, because apparently I'm a 50-year-old man trapped in a young woman's body.
The Blue Line, short story published in Oakwood 2017
Read it free!
Princess of Pirates: How I Ran Away to Sea: A Memoir, represented by Olswanger Literary
Donald Westlake for sure. His Dortmunder series has a lot of funny and goofy moments. Stephen Hunter has made me laugh as well. Catch-22 is always a funny read by sheer ridicule. Edgar Allan Poe has some funny stories as well.
Hadn't thought of Bill Bryson because I;ve only read him as a travel writer. He can make me laugh, though.
Pat MacManus always cracks me up. I come from a long line of hunting, fishing, outdoorsy folks. You'd be surprised how close to reality some of those off the wall MacManus' misadventures really are. Especially when there are two or three good storytellers, sitting around a warm living room, vying for the funniest howler.
They Shoot Canoes, Don't They? My dad and my uncle once shot and killed a raft. They didn't take time to skin it because they were too busy treading water. --s6
Last edited by shakeysix; 07-28-2017 at 07:39 AM.
Yes to Bill Bryson! He can write about something as mundane as growing his toenails in a way that makes me snort-laugh. My husband has probably grown to hate the man because of how often I read great lines aloud to him.
And Terry Pratchett definitely. I've never loved an inanimate object as much as I love The Luggage.
Also, Dorothy Parker, that witch of wordcraft. She's made me squirt water out my nose.
"Muriel Spark is said to have felt that she was taking dictation from God every morning — sitting there, one supposes, plugged into a Dictaphone, typing away, humming. But this is a very hostile and aggressive position. One might hope for bad things to rain down on a person like this." — Anne Lamott
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