bif
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 11:21 AM
Original message |
Any funny book recommendations? |
|
I need a good laugh after the travesty on November 2.
|
AllegroRondo
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 11:40 AM
Response to Original message |
1. Anthing by Terry Pratchett |
|
his Diskworld series is great.
|
Angry Girl
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 11:41 AM
Response to Original message |
|
Steve Martin (yes, the comedian) wrote "Pure Drivel," a collection of short (and funny) essays. He writes well! "The Pleasure of My Company" is also supposed to be funny but I've not yet read it so cannot say.
"Plane Insanity: A Flight Attendant's Tales of Sex, Rage, and Queasiness at 30,000 Feet" by Elliott Hester was hilarious! I had read one of his chapters in this travel collection and tracked the book down because the chapter was so funny. The book did not disappoint!
If you haven't already read Douglas Adams's "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe" is less "ha-ha" funny but has a serious twist (makes you reflect on the bizarreness of humans, which can be funny-sad, I guess).
|
bif
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 11:47 AM
Response to Reply #2 |
|
I'll check out the Hester book. I've read Steve Martin and the Hitchhikers guide. I thought the first book or two were good (Hitchhikers) but the books sort of fizzled out.
|
Crankie Avalon
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 11:41 AM
Response to Original message |
3. "The Dog of the South" or "Masters of Atlantis"... |
bif
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 11:50 AM
Response to Reply #3 |
11. "Dog" is one of my favorites |
|
Laugh out loud funny. Is "Masters of Atlantis" by him too? I think he also wrote "True Grit." didn't he?
|
Crankie Avalon
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 11:57 AM
Response to Reply #11 |
|
He also wrote "Norwood" and "Gringos." That's the list of his five published novels.
|
AlCzervik
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 11:41 AM
Response to Original message |
4. America The Book by The Daily Show |
Jessica
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 11:43 AM
Response to Reply #4 |
7. But beware of the Supreme Court Justices. |
Telly Savalas
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 01:07 PM
Response to Reply #4 |
29. Another politcal book that'll make you laugh |
|
is James Wolcott's Attack Poodles
|
AlCzervik
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 01:10 PM
Response to Reply #29 |
30. Does he write for Vanity Fair? If it's the same guy |
|
i've read some of his stuff and he very funny.
|
Richardo
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 01:31 PM
Response to Reply #29 |
40. That is a great book... |
Commie Pinko Dirtbag
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 11:42 AM
Response to Original message |
5. What you want to be funny, the book or the recommendation? (nt) |
JimmyJazz
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 11:42 AM
Response to Original message |
6. Blood Sucking Fiends, A love Story - Christopher Moore |
intheflow
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 11:50 AM
Response to Reply #6 |
13. Also by Christopher Moore: |
|
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove
and (my personal favorite)
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
These are really, really funny books. The best I've read in a long time, and I am a true bookworm.
|
JimmyJazz
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 12:11 PM
Response to Reply #13 |
20. I can't believe someone else has read |
|
Christopher Moore! I was beginning to think I was the only one. I just finished Lamb and I also read Coyote Blue. I also am a bookworm. :hi:
|
progressoid
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 12:24 PM
Response to Reply #13 |
24. "Lamb" is the best thing I've read in a couple years |
|
Well at least since "Me Talk Pretty..."
|
Z_I_Peevey
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 01:22 PM
Response to Reply #24 |
33. I just finished Lamb a day or so ago |
|
It was amusing, but I found it slow going in the first half of the book. Just seemed like he was trying too hard.
I'm starting Tom Robbins' Villa Incognito tonight. Can't wait.
|
intheflow
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 01:25 PM
Response to Reply #33 |
|
Funny, that's how I felt about Robbins' Still Life With Woodpecker. :)
|
Z_I_Peevey
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 01:47 PM
Response to Reply #36 |
41. Ah well, to each his own |
|
Maybe real life has dulled my sense of humor.
|
intheflow
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 02:40 PM
Response to Reply #41 |
|
That's what makes America great. (At least, that what the left thinks.)
Welcome to DU! :hi:
|
progressoid
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 02:57 PM
Response to Reply #33 |
43. Yeah, there were a couple iffy parts but that's OK with me |
|
I don't really read many novels anymore. I'm going to have to stop reading books about the horrors of the b* administration because it's getting me down. I Haven't read anything by Robbins in about a decade. Maybe I'll give that a shot.
|
intheflow
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 01:28 PM
Response to Reply #24 |
37. OMG! I love David Sedaris! |
|
Good call--a book I'd completely forgotten but definately belongs on any funniest book list.
My boyfriend read it when he had the flu last year. Laughed so hard he got into a coughing fit and puked! It was gross, but also funny in its own way. ;)
|
gonefishing
(622 posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 11:45 AM
Response to Original message |
8. A Confederacy of Dunces |
|
by John Kennedy Toole
Anything by Bill Bryson start with "A Walk in the Woods" by Bryson is a hoot.
|
bif
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 11:48 AM
Response to Reply #8 |
10. Funniest writer alive! |
|
Edited on Wed Dec-01-04 11:48 AM by bif
I've read everrything Bryson's written. Except the short book he wrote for charity.
|
gonefishing
(622 posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 11:56 AM
Response to Reply #10 |
15. This is an email I sent some friends after reading Short History |
|
Edited on Wed Dec-01-04 11:58 AM by gonefishing
I just finished another great book by Bill Bryson book "A Short History of Nearly Everything". I think I will understand if I read it 5 more times. However, at the end of the book
Bryson tries to explain a dichotomy of humans by using the stories of our careless extinction of the dodo bird and the creation of Isaac Newton's Principia. Here is a snip from the book I thought you guys would lke...
"We don't know precisely the circumstances, or even year, attending the last moments of the last dodo, so we don't know which arrived first, a world that contained a Principia or one that had no dodos, but we do know that they happened at more or less the same time. You would be hard pressed, I would submit, to find a better paring of occurrences to illustrate the divine and felonious nature of the human being-a species of organism that is capable of unpicking the deepest secrets of the heavens while at the same time pounding into extinction, for no purpose at all, a creature that never did us any harm and wasn't even remotely capable of understanding what we were doing to it as we did it."
If you want to get a travel writers explanation of everything from black holes, DNA, giant squid, java(as in java man), mitochondria, plate tectonics, quantum theory, and a few more topics, this is a excellent book to read.
|
regularguy
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 11:50 AM
Response to Original message |
12. "He Died with a Falafel in his Hand" by John Birmingham |
|
Australian hipsters, junkies, and misfits share various flats. Much hilarity ensues. Good fun, no socially redeeming qualities.
|
CBHagman
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 11:51 AM
Response to Original message |
14. "The Santaland Diaries" in Barrel Fever by David Sedaris. |
|
That made me scream with laughter.
If you're ready to read political or media-related books again, try to get Attack Poodles and Other Media Mutants by James Wolcott. There's something quotable on EVERY page.
|
bif
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 12:05 PM
Response to Reply #14 |
18. "Santaland Diaries" is even funnier read by him. |
|
His imitation of Billie Holliday had me in tears.
|
fleabert
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 11:57 AM
Response to Original message |
17. Me Talk Pretty One Day, Sedaris |
|
pee in your pants funny. o.m.g. funny.
|
bettyellen
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 01:22 PM
Response to Reply #17 |
34. Holidays On Ice is Sedari's' holiday reader and includes the |
|
Santaland Diaries. He is hilarious, and just as much so to read! Only the "12 Poems about Dogs" is a must hear! All his books are so good. Barrelfever is killer. If you've ever felt like a misfit, been embarrassed by your family or had a crap job, you can relate. He rules. His latest "Dress your Family in Corduroy and Leather" is not quite as funny, it's a bit more heartfelt, but still darn good.
|
GreenPartyVoter
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 12:09 PM
Response to Original message |
bif
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 12:14 PM
Response to Reply #19 |
|
A resource well worth mining.
|
GreenPartyVoter
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 12:18 PM
Response to Reply #21 |
22. Thanks! That site is the result of 3 1/2 years of hard work |
|
Edited on Wed Dec-01-04 12:18 PM by GreenPartyVoter
Of course, it'll never be finished as long as new books are written. *g* I also have books listed here on the Entertainment page: http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/
|
bif
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 12:23 PM
Response to Reply #22 |
|
I've bookmarked it and will return to check it out in detail. Obviously you've done a lot of work putting it together. Excellent job!
|
GreenPartyVoter
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 12:26 PM
Response to Reply #23 |
25. Thank you. I actually had to take on guest reviewers this year |
|
on account of I am too busy editing unfinished novels to review published ones these days.
Now, if only I could find someone who wants to play web mistress I might actually have to time to review a book per month instead up update the site and newsletter. *g*
|
NewJeffCT
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 12:37 PM
Response to Original message |
26. Skin Tight by Carl Hiaasen |
|
Really funny satire... I think that was my favorite of the books of his that I read, though I have not read them all.
|
Midlodemocrat
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 12:38 PM
Response to Original message |
|
book America Inaction is laugh out loud funny.
|
RiffRandell
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 12:47 PM
Response to Original message |
28. "About the Author" by John Colapinto n/t |
MsAnthropy
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 01:17 PM
Response to Original message |
31. Essays--Joe Queenan, Mike Nelson, Tony Kornheiser, JoeBob Briggs, |
|
Al Franken, Jon Stewart, PJ O'Rourke (I'm a humorous-essay freak).
|
warrens
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 01:20 PM
Response to Original message |
32. Porno by Irvine Welsh |
|
The trainspotting crew 10 years later. Making porn films. Hilarious.
|
Kid_A
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 01:24 PM
Response to Original message |
35. "Survivor" by Chuck Palahniuk |
|
It's about a guy who was a member of a crazy religious cult, and when they all commit mass suicide, he just doesn't do it. The media latches on to him and treats him as a Messiah. The book is him telling his story into the flight-recorder of an empty 747 that he's about to crash in the Australian Outback. There's also a scene involving a landfill full of used porn.
Somehow, the book is even more bizarre that that description, but it's fucking hilarious.
|
Catchawave
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 01:30 PM
Response to Original message |
|
When will Jesus bring the Pork Chops
|
buddhamama
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 01:30 PM
Response to Original message |
39. anything by David Sedaris |
yellowdogintexas
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Dec-01-04 03:01 PM
Response to Original message |
44. Patrick Dennis: "Auntie Mame" ...also |
|
"Around the World With Auntie Mame" and "The Joyous Season" ( usually I re read this one about every other year)
Patrick McManus has a huge list of hilarious books about being out in the wild, hunting, fishing, camping, etc. with some really stupid buddies..."They Shoot Canoes, Don't They", "Never Sniff a Gift Fish" & "The Grasshopper Trap" are the ones I happen to own.
These are all series of short stories, like Sedaris.
Oh and I love Sedaris too.
Also read "Life Among the SAvages" and "Raising Demons" by Shirley Jackson, that is right the same Shirley Jackson who wrote all that creepy stuff also wrote two semi autobiographical novels about her huge and crazy bunch of kids. Laugh out Loud funny!
"A Short History of A Small Place" Is a good one too.
Janet Evanovich's crazy detective, STephani Plum!!!!! start with "One for the Money" and move down the list.
These just come to mind as I sit and think, I know there are other funny things that I have read over the years.
|
DU
AdBot (1000+ posts) |
Wed Apr 24th 2024, 08:12 AM
Response to Original message |