Thank you for reminding me of 'Where'd You Go, Bernadette?' I loved it when I read it. I do forget what I've read after a while, so thank you for bringing this back!
I was delighted to see A Gate at the Stairs on your list and a bit surprised not to see on either list A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole or Don DeLillo's White Noise.
And after some more thought, I would also add Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything Is Illuminated.
I need to read True Grit, but I just finished Jennifer Belle’s Swanna in Love (which uses a line from True Grit as an epigraph). It’s not precisely funny—or rather it’s not only funny—but the funny bits are very good.
Do they have to be new? Because I would put Barchester Towers (Trollope), The Hamlet (Faulkner), After Leaving Mr McKenzie (Rhys) and The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy (Sterne).
A Short History of a Small Place by T. R. Pearson. I read it many years ago, but it really stuck with me. Maybe because I grew up in NC. I should revisit it.
I found parts of Me Talk Pretty by David Sedaris so laugh out loud funny that I still think about it 5 years after I read it- I didn't find all the stories uniformly funny but his descriptions of his struggles to learn French were hilarious- and I can relate as I am trying to relearn French 40 years after my dismal French classes in high school.
Thank you for mentioning Douglas Adams! All of his books have that wonderful (what I think of as) British humor, as do the episodes he wrote for Dr Who. Another author whose humor I like is Steven Rowley, like in The Guncle. It comes with a little heart as well
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris had me in stitches when I read it 10+ years ago. A Confederacy of Dunces is top of my list. Also thought Dear Committee Members had some funny moments.
Thank you for reminding me of 'Where'd You Go, Bernadette?' I loved it when I read it. I do forget what I've read after a while, so thank you for bringing this back!
Elect Mr Robinson For a Better World by Donald Antrim (any of his first 3 novels really)
"Straight Man" by Richard Russo is the funniest novel I have ever read.
I was delighted to see A Gate at the Stairs on your list and a bit surprised not to see on either list A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole or Don DeLillo's White Noise.
And after some more thought, I would also add Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything Is Illuminated.
Written in the late ‘50s, but not available in English till the ‘70s as far as I can tell : “The Fish Can Sing” by Halldór Laxness.
I need to read True Grit, but I just finished Jennifer Belle’s Swanna in Love (which uses a line from True Grit as an epigraph). It’s not precisely funny—or rather it’s not only funny—but the funny bits are very good.
Please Be Advised: A Novel in Memos is (very) close to my heart. I’m obviously not being objective here!
I have two books for you: Jonathan Coe's *What a Carve Up* and John Lanchester's *Debt to Pleasure.*
And I'm so glad someone else liked *When the Bear Came Over the Mountain.* I was the only person in my book group who liked it.
Do they have to be new? Because I would put Barchester Towers (Trollope), The Hamlet (Faulkner), After Leaving Mr McKenzie (Rhys) and The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy (Sterne).
The Water Method Man is an all-time fave and one of the few sophomoric novels I loved as an adolescent that I think holds up now.
A Short History of a Small Place by T. R. Pearson. I read it many years ago, but it really stuck with me. Maybe because I grew up in NC. I should revisit it.
"Lamb : The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal", by Christopher Moore and "The President's Hat", by Antoine Laurain.
Actually, I could recommend most books by either of those authors, but these are my favorites.
I found parts of Me Talk Pretty by David Sedaris so laugh out loud funny that I still think about it 5 years after I read it- I didn't find all the stories uniformly funny but his descriptions of his struggles to learn French were hilarious- and I can relate as I am trying to relearn French 40 years after my dismal French classes in high school.
Thank you for mentioning Douglas Adams! All of his books have that wonderful (what I think of as) British humor, as do the episodes he wrote for Dr Who. Another author whose humor I like is Steven Rowley, like in The Guncle. It comes with a little heart as well
The Choirboys by Joseph Wambaugh
Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen
My Search for Warren Harding by Robert Plunket
A Journey to Matecumbe by Robert Lewis Taylor
The Dick Gibson Show by Stanley Elkin
The Fan Man by William Kotzwinkle
The Player by Michael Tolkin
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris had me in stitches when I read it 10+ years ago. A Confederacy of Dunces is top of my list. Also thought Dear Committee Members had some funny moments.