Funniest novel you have ever read?

[CrimsonTribe]

My screenname is my vote (Russo is legitimately funny, too. As is Martin Amis.)

Your screenname inspired me to read it, and I agree, it's one of the funniest books I've ever read.

[Lucky Jim]

Your screenname inspired me to read it, and I agree, it's one of the funniest books I've ever read.

I never considered that folks would think my name is Jim. As for the novel, all 250 pages would be worth it if only for this:

Dixon was alive again. Consciousness was upon him before he could get out of the way; not for him the slow, gracious wandering from the halls of sleep, but a summary, forcible ejection. He lay sprawled, too wicked to move, spewed up like a broken spider-crab on the tarry shingle of morning. The light did him harm, but not as much as looking at things did; he resolved, having done it once, never to move his eyeballs again. A dusty thudding in his head made the scene before him beat like a pulse. His mouth had been used as a latrine by some small creature of the night, and then as its mausoleum. During the night, too, he'd somehow been on a cross-country run and then been expertly beaten up by secret police. He felt bad.

[CrimsonTribe]

I never considered that folks would think my name is Jim. As for the novel, all 250 pages would be worth it if only for this:

I know I thought your name was Jim for quite a while. That's by far the best description of a hangover I have ever read. I can totally relate to it, and yet it somehow makes me want to do whatever he did to get there. Kingsley Amis knows a bit about the drink. I remember sharing that quote with friends and possibly putting it on Facebook while I was reading the book.

[sakata_catching]

A few that haven't been mentioned: A Handful of Dust (Evelyn Waugh); The Mezzanine (Nicholson Baker); Mailman (John Lennon — not the Beatle, incidentally). As a teenager, I thought John Barth's The Sot-Weed Factor was the funniest thing I'd ever read — and it's certainly of interest if you're from Maryland — but I suspect if I picked it up now, I wouldn't make it past page 30.

[Spoonless]

I had added it before the site crashed, but Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett is pretty ridiculous.

[BaltimoreTerp]

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore

I also love Big Trouble, but I've always been a bit too much of a Dave Barry fan for my own good.

[Spoonless]

Dave Barry was a reason, all on his own, to buy the paper.

[The Wedge]

I'm sure it was something by Terry Pratchett.

[Capn Vivi]

No Barry Hannah mentions yet? I'd include him. Also, some David Foster Wallace was pretty funny.

I love DFW. "Big Red Son" out of Consider The Lobster is one of the funniest essays I've ever read. Also, his critique of Updike is pretty fantastic.

[24fps]

Anything by Dan Jenkins.

It's funnier if you've lived in Texas and funnier still if you went to TCU. Don't expect to be considered highbrow.

[Ellicott Forest]

I saw he had a couple of mentions already but ditto on Terry Pratchett. His Discworld series is phenomenal.

[bobmc]

The first thought that came to my mind was Candy by Terry Southern or his pseudonym Maxwell Kenton. As the resident DOM, I need a bit of erotica to soothe my synapses. Agree on Garp and enjoyed Portnoy's Complaint also.

[Can_of_corn]

The first thought that came to my mind was Candy by Terry Southern or his pseudonym Maxwell Kenton. As the resident DOM, I need a bit of erotica to soothe my synapses. Agree on Garp and enjoyed Portnoy's Complaint also.

You mentioning erotica got me thinking of a funny book that I had forgotten.

Sci-Fi writer Brian Aldiss wrote two semi-autobiographical books that are more then a bit raw in subject matter.

I own the first, Hand Reared Boy, but I have never found a copy of the volume 2 titled A Soldier Erect.

Hand Reared Boy is very amusing.

[atom_25]

Since you said book and not novel, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max.

[Frobby]

Since you said book and not novel, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max.

Uh, actually I said novel. But thanks for the recommendation anyway.