Funniest book(s) you've read

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Funniest book(s) you've read

Postby the_wolfs_howl » Sat Apr 16, 2011 11:49 pm

I didn't see a thread like this, so I thought, why not? What is/are the funniest book(s) you've ever read?

I think I'd have to say A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. I love how he keeps on talking about how awful a story it is and how if you read it you'll soon be weeping and tearing out your hair, but all the same it's hilarious. There were so many times in this series that had me laughing out loud, which I don't normally do while reading. This quote is a perfect example:

" wrote:The phrase "in the dark," as I'm sure you know, can refer not only to one's shadowy surroundings, but also to the shadowy secrets of which one might be unaware. Every day, the sun goes down over all these secrets, and so everyone is in the dark in one way or another. If you are sunbathing in a park, for instance, but you do not know that a locked cabinet is buried fifty feet beneath your blanket, then you are in the dark even though you are not actually in the dark, whereas if you are on a midnight hike, knowing full well that several ballerinas are following close behind you, then you are not in the dark even if you are in fact in the dark. Of course, it is quite possible to be in the dark in the dark, as well as to be not in the dark not in the dark, but there are so many secrets in this world that it is likely that you are always in the dark about one thing or another, whether you are in the dark in the dark or in the dark not in the dark, although the sun can go down so quickly that you may be in the dark about being in the dark in the dark, only to look around and find yourself no longer in the dark about being in the dark in the dark, but in the dark in the dark nonetheless, not only because of the dark, but because of the ballerinas in the dark, who are not in the dark about the dark, but also not in the dark about the locket cabinet, and you may be in the dark about the ballerinas digging up the locked cabinet in the dark, even though you are no longer in the dark about being in the dark and so you are in fact in the dark about being in the dark, even though you are not in the dark about being in the dark, and so you may fall into the hole that the ballerinas have dug, which is dark, in the dark, and in the park.
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Postby Atria35 » Sun Apr 17, 2011 5:13 am

Terry Prachett has me in stitches when I read his books! The way he phrases things is definitely out of the norm, and the visual imagery is unforgettable.

Spring had come to Ank-Morpork. It wasn't immediately apparent, but there were signs that were apparent to the cognoscenti. For example, the scum on the river Ankh, that great wide slow waterway that served the double city as reservoir, sewer, and frequent morgue, had turned a particularly irridescent green.
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Postby Fish and Chips » Sun Apr 17, 2011 5:30 am

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller and Candide by Voltaire.
Catch-22 wrote:As always occurred when he quarreled over principles in which he believed passionately, he would end up gasping furiously for air and blinking back bitter tears of conviction. There were many principles in which Clevinger believed passionately. He was crazy.

"Who's they?" he wanted to know. "Who, specifically, do you think is trying to murder you?"
"Every one of them," Yossarian told him.
"Every one of whom?"
"Every one of whom do you think?"
"I haven't any idea."
"Then how do you know they aren't?"
"Because …" Clevinger sputtered, and turned speechless with frustration.
Candide wrote:After the earthquake, which had destroyed three-fourths of the city of Lisbon, the sages of that country could think of no means more effectual to preserve the kingdom from utter ruin than to entertain the people with an auto-da-fe, it having been decided by the University of Coimbra, that the burning of a few people alive by a slow fire, and with great ceremony, is an infallible preventive of earthquakes... The same day there was another earthquake, which made most dreadful havoc.
Lot of similarities between these two.
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Postby Atria35 » Sun Apr 17, 2011 6:09 am

Catch-22 was dark humor, though. I loved it, for the most part thought it was hilarious. But it was very dark humor.
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Postby Edward » Sun Apr 17, 2011 10:10 am

Although he's actually a character in a book, I thought Wit from the The Way of Kings was hilarious. I also like Terry Pratchett and A Series of Unfortunate Events.
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Postby Ante Bellum » Sun Apr 17, 2011 10:22 am

A friend read a section of Catch-22 to me and now I want to read it.
Also, The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt. It's actually a play, but I don't care.

I also liked the way A Series of Unfortunate Events was written. I just...never read the last one. So I don't know how it ends.
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Postby Mr. Hat'n'Clogs » Sun Apr 17, 2011 2:10 pm

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher have some pretty hilarious lines, none of which I can repeat on CAA.

Ante Bellum (post: 1472310) wrote:I also liked the way A Series of Unfortunate Events was written. I just...never read the last one. So I don't know how it ends.
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Postby Htom Sirveaux » Sun Apr 17, 2011 5:09 pm

I'll throw in another vote for Terry Pratchett. The man has never written a bad book.

Also, Paul Neilan's Apathy and Other Small Victories, while as crude and vulgar as is possible to get, is undoubtedly one of the funniest books I've ever read.

And HattenCloggen's post reminded me of Glen Cook's Garret, P.I. series, which I personally prefer to Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. Same sort of wry, sarcastic humor that gets at least a smirk if not a full laugh.
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Postby Atria35 » Sun Apr 17, 2011 5:27 pm

Hrm. Forgot to mention Bill Bryson's books I'm a Stranger Here Myself and The Mother Tongue. If I'm not smiling when reading those, I'm cracking up.
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Postby Nanao » Sun Apr 17, 2011 6:05 pm

Probably a book called The Very Bloody History of Britain Without the Boring Bits by John Farman. Basically, the English making fun of their own history. We were reading it in the car years ago, and my dad got to laughing so hard he nearly drove us off the road >_<
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Postby Htom Sirveaux » Sun Apr 17, 2011 7:29 pm

Oh, also Chuch Pahlaniuk's Fight Club. Dang, that's a good book.
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Postby raider~joseph » Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:23 am

Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy?Anyone?Lines from that book series are still being used.Heck chatbot will 42 every once in a while.And come on..."Ford your turning into a penguin.Stop it."Rofl I tend to dislike sci fi books but this book is truely utterly great.
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Postby Atria35 » Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:32 am

raider~joseph (post: 1472578) wrote:Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy?Anyone?Lines from that book series are still being used.Heck chatbot will 42 every once in a while.And come on..."Ford your turning into a penguin.Stop it."Rofl I tend to dislike sci fi books but this book is truely utterly great.


Only the first three books. THe others..... not so much >.>
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Postby bigsleepj » Mon Apr 18, 2011 10:43 am

Atlas Shrugged.

Seriously: Terry Pratchett's Moving Pictures was very funny; it was the funniest of the Discworld Novels for me, mostly because I got the jokes.

The Hitchhiker Books as well,
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Postby Htom Sirveaux » Mon Apr 18, 2011 12:00 pm

[quote="bigsleepj"]Terry Pratchett's Moving Pictures was very funny]

You know, I wholeheartedly agree there. If I had to name a favorite Discworld book so far (and I've read up through Night Watch now), I'd have to say Moving Pictures.
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Postby Mr. Hat'n'Clogs » Mon Apr 18, 2011 2:48 pm

So, if I were interested in getting into this Discworld thing, where would be the best place to start?
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Postby Atria35 » Mon Apr 18, 2011 3:00 pm

Mr. Hat'n'Clogs (post: 1472672) wrote:So, if I were interested in getting into this Discworld thing, where would be the best place to start?


The beginning. Actually, you could probably pick up virtually any book in it and be fine, but I am just obsessive like that. I started off with the first book, The Color of Magic.
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Postby Htom Sirveaux » Mon Apr 18, 2011 7:48 pm

Yeah, that's the way I do it, too. Plus there are occasionally little in-jokes that are self-referential to the series, so when you hit one like that, it's nice to be able to laugh rather than scratch your head in puzzlement or miss it completely.
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Postby Warrior 4 Jesus » Mon Apr 18, 2011 11:18 pm

Hmm... I'm struggling to recall funny books I've read. Only four come to mind:
The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher
The Hitch-hiker's Guide the Galaxy series
Paul Jenning's short stories (some of which became the Round the Twist TV series)
Good Omens
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Postby rocklobster » Tue Apr 19, 2011 4:31 pm

If you don't laugh at least once while reading any of the Hitchhikers books, you have no funny bone.
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Postby MomentOfInertia » Tue Apr 19, 2011 7:09 pm

Hitchhikers, Discworld and Dresden.

I know I'm forgetting something....
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Postby TWWK » Wed Apr 20, 2011 7:06 am

All you people and your selections of witty, vulgar, or dark humor. What about something silly? As a kid, I couldn't get enough of Sideway Stories from Wayside School, and they still get to me today.
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Postby Atria35 » Wed Apr 20, 2011 8:02 am

TWWK (post: 1473228) wrote:All you people and your selections of witty, vulgar, or dark humor. What about something silly?


I still have a children's book from when I was a kid that I did (and still do) adore: Something Good. Sideways Stories were also pretty good, although some of those were also incredibly dark and surreal. Remember the one about the 22nd floor, and the kid who got stuck in that classroom? That one nearly gave me nightmares!
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Postby rocklobster » Wed Apr 20, 2011 4:24 pm

Dave Barry also wrote funny books. I'd recommend any of them.
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Postby MomentOfInertia » Wed Apr 20, 2011 7:17 pm

TWWK (post: 1473228) wrote:All you people and your selections of witty, vulgar, or dark humor. What about something silly? As a kid, I couldn't get enough of Sideway Stories from Wayside School, and they still get to me today.

Bah! That's what CAA is for!

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Postby TWWK » Thu Apr 21, 2011 5:54 am

rocklobster (post: 1473361) wrote:Dave Barry also wrote funny books. I'd recommend any of them.


Dave Barry's a riot - I used to love his column (though I haven't read any of his books).

Though Barry's a journalist, not a comedian, he reminds me of the few books I've read which were written by comedians. The best and funniest were by Paul Reiser - Babyhood, particularly.
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Postby rocklobster » Thu Apr 21, 2011 4:02 pm

If you've read his columns, you've read his books. Many of them are just collections of his columns, although he has written some that weren't.
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