Humor novels

**Aphantos** · November 3rd, 2010, 09:22 AM

Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About by Mil Millington had me laughing all the way, it's a bit more mature, but it's realistic yet totally absurd.

**IkariX** · November 4th, 2010, 01:14 AM

Try "THE GATES" By John Connolly.

He usually writes thrillers etc. but, he surprised me with the humour in this book. This book was great. Really funny

**spiralcity** · January 26th, 2011, 09:51 PM

"Catcher In The Rye", one of the great classics.

**Glelas** · January 27th, 2011, 07:49 AM

Anything by Tom Robbins...

Jitterbug Perfume is a good place to start.

**NicoleDreadful** · July 15th, 2012, 08:23 PM

The Suburban Book of the Dead and others by Robert Rankin are quite silly, and involve a time traveling Elvis accompanied by a telepathic sprout.

And I'll second the recommendations for Tom Robbins, Kurt Vonnegut, Christopher Moore, the Stainless Steel Rat series, and Catch-22.

**mshnd06** · July 19th, 2012, 05:36 PM

Catch-22, again.

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis. You'll especially appreciate it if you've ever spent any time in academia.

**mrfancypants** · July 21st, 2012, 03:33 PM

I'll second Christopher Moore. If you're looking for a horror theme, his vampire triology (Bloodsucking Fiends, Bite Me, and You Suck... maybe not in that order) is excellent. The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove is also good.

A. Lee Martinez's Gil's All Fright Diner is also quite good. For a sci-fi theme, his Automatic Detective is also excellent.

I also recommend Tim Waggoner's Nekropolis trilogy, which I thought was excellent. The books in that are Nekropolis, Dead Streets, and Dark War. It's sort of a noir / urban fantasy take. The main character is a zombie private eye. Very entertaining and funny.

**CarlAlves** · July 30th, 2012, 08:58 PM

I'm not big on humor, but Breathers and Lucky Bastard by S.G. Browne are awesome. I would highly recommend it.
Carl Alves

**DDCOrange** · August 4th, 2012, 02:38 AM

Originally Posted by BreakLater

Catch-22

Any Vonnegut, though my favorite is probably Cat's Cradle.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy O'Toole

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susannah Clarke delivers a lot of laughs.

Most of the books of Jonathan Carroll are meant to be funny ha-ha as well as funny weird.

Candide by Voltaire is really quite hysterical. So are some of the essays of Jonathan Swift.

It's odd, but I usually don't seek out literature that will make me laugh. However, if a novel happens to have a great sense of humor, along with great characters and a decent plot, then my rating of it always goes way, way up. So I guess humor is important to me in books that would not be classified as strictly "humorous" novels.

I second Cat's Cradle and Confederacy of Dunces. It's odd but I just realized how little humor is in novels or perhaps I'm not really looking for it because it's been a while since I've read any.
By the way I would also recommend Sir Terry Pratchett's novels, particularly Carpe Jugulum, and Wee Free Men.
The last good humor I've read was actually a collection of essays by Dave Barry called (predictably) Dave Barry is Not Making This Up. His story but his search for the world's worst ever Rock and Roll lyrics was a scream!

**CarlAlves** · October 30th, 2012, 02:02 PM

I would recommend Breathers by S.G. Browne.
Carl Alves

**simonm** · April 18th, 2013, 08:52 PM

Anything by Tom Sharpe or Spike Milligan

Tom Sharpe is about as crude as they get. Start with the South African stories, then Wilt. They are probably the funniest. Porterhouse Blue was made into a rather disappointing movie but the book isn't bad.

The best known of Spike Milligan's books are his war series, 'Hitler, my part in his downfall', etc. But my favorite is Puckoon. His description of the escape from the Lunatic Asylum had me in stitches. They are maybe a bit short on crudity, but not entirely devoid.