What is the funniest, laugh-out-loud book you’ve read so far?
What is the funniest, laugh-out-loud book you’ve read so far?
1,102 Answers
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Loading Please wait
What is the funniest, laugh-out-loud book you’ve read so far?
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove. Can’t remember who wrote it. It was a gag gift from a college buddy…I made the mistake of saying “I’ll read anything…”
Christopher Moore is the author
Christopher Moore
I have that one but haven’t read it yet!
His book, Lamb, is hilarious!
Anything he writes is hilarious!
A Dirty Job will make you laugh, too! “Kitty!!”
I just finished it last night. I stumbled across his books at the library and it’s the 3rd one I’ve read. He’s hilarious!
@Amy , I think Lamb should have made the list.
@Kathleen Agreed! I recommend it all the time.
Bossypants by Tina Fey.
Also, Yes Please by Amy Poehler
I really enjoyed Bossypants, but I didn’t think it was that funny. Definitely a book I recommend. Guess humor is in the eye of the laugher. 🙂
Walk In the Woods by Bill Bryson.
Anything by Bill Bryson is dangerous in public places ?
Agree. I almost had to stop reading Notes from a Small Island while on an international flight because everyone was asleep and I was laughing so hard, trying to be quiet.
@Stacy Same happened to me with his “In a Sunburned Country”
Also the Life and Times of the Thunderbolt kid
Anything by Kinky Friedman!
Anything by Nora Ephron!
the cracker factory
Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy O’Toole, runner up goes to Straight Man by Richard Russo
Any of the Sweet Potato Queens books by Jill Conner Browne!
Lamb – The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore.
Yes!
I hate to admit this, but the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich
I love Grandma!
.. yes .. the Stephanie Plum books are wonderful .. I was listening to one in my car, on the way home from work, laughing out loud, stopped at a stop-light, hoping someone wasn’t looking, because I couldn’t stop laughing!!
Bucking the Sarge by Christopher Paul Curtis
“The Good Lord Bird “ by James McBride.
She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb.
Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson. It also made me sob. She’s amazing.
I loved her first one, “Let’s Pretend this Never Happened.” Hilarious!
Me too! Both books are great!
I agree!
I listened to the audio book. She is so funny!
Dad is Fat – Jim Gaffgan
Food- A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan
Shit my Dad says
My husband would say A Confederacy of Dunces.
I would say something by Bill Bryson or maybe Cannery Row.
There’s a Porcupine in my Outhouse by Michael Tougias
The Hot Flash Club by Nancy Thayer
Catch-22. Also heartbreaking.
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.
Me Talk Pretty One Day
F
Good Omens
Richard Kadrey Aloha from hell
Me Talk Pretty by David Sedaris.
This may sound kinda nerdy but I laughed a lot at Pickwick Papers by Dickens.
“Are You there Vodka, it’s me Chelsea” by Chelsea Handler.
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson
??Yes!! I laughed out loud through the whole book. ❤️
PG Wodehouse, Patrick McManus, Bill Bryson- and depending on your taste Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Ford Prefect: “You’d better be prepared for the jump into hyperspace. It’s rather unpleasantly like being drunk.”
Arthur Dent: “What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?”
Ford Prefect: “Ask a glass of water.”
Bossypants by Tina Fey
Agree
The opening chapter from This is where I leave you by Jonathon Tropper. Also Something Missing by Matthew Dicks. And the chapter on night training sled dogs in Winterdance by Gary Paulsen.
Catch 22. Read the book, the movie is not nearly as good
Any of Louise Rennison’s books. The Georgia Nicholson series had me snort-laughing all the way through high school!
Almost anything by David sedaris, holidays on ice, him as an elf at Macy’s Santaland had me crying
The story “Rooster at the Hitching Post” gets me every time I read it.
I borrowed Sedaris’ boxed set audiobooks a couple of days ago. I’m driving from NorCal to SoCal and back next week and I’m hoping I don’t have to pull over from laughing so hard.
SPACE OPERA by catherynne valente
Bossypants
The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank and anything else by Erma Bombeck.
Gosh! I miss her! She was so funny!
She was such a great writer. I miss her too!
I’m a stranger here myself. Bill Bryson
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
A Walk in the Woods
Flung!
Absolutely!!!
The Lucia books (the whole series but especially Mapp and Lucia) by EF Benson. And A Confederacy of Dunces.
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson. I cry laughing every time I read it.
Blue Heaven by Joe Keenan. Unfortunately, it’s been out of print for a while.
Also, Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin.
Joe Keenan wrote a couple of books that were hilarious!
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson! Page 19 is worth the price of the book alone! Nearly fell out of bed I was laughing so hard!
David Sedaris BARREL FEVER
I loved A Walk in the Woods
Junior book Hank the Cowdog by John Erickson
Catchb22 was very funny.
A Confederacy of Dunces!
Anything by David Sedarus
Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot
@Jennifer ‘s books
Christopher Moore’s Lamb. Hilarious!
Such a hilarious book! I loved it too.
That was the first book that popped into my mind!
Bill Bryson’s Tales of a Thunderbolt Kid
Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris. I have to read it out loud to anyone who will listen and it cracks me up every time! Listening to Mr. Sedaris read it is even funnier!
Yes…love his audio books.
Listening to David Sedaris read Santaland Diaries on NPR every Christmas is a family tradition! Never fails to bring us all to tears laughing! ?
@Tama that’s the best. A holiday tradition.
I listen every year when it’s aired on NPR
Nora Ephron I feel bad about my neck
The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw
By: Patrick McManus ?
We love reading his books around the camping fire instead of telling scary stories.
Dead Souls by Gogol
A Man Called Ove was really good.
What made you laugh.?
The dialog was just hilarious. Especially Ove’s interactions with his new neighbors.
Parts are hilarious, parts are sweet, parts are sad. Such a great book.
The American version is being filmed with Tom Hanks as Ove… I’m not sure if he’s a good fit.. we’ll see
@Joy I’m not sure either. And I loved the original movie nearly as much as the book.
The Ditches of Edison County
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy still makes me laugh out loud.
The World According to Garp
A man called Ove
I laughed out loud while reading the Newbery winner, Dead End in Norvelt.
Early Stephanie plum series by Janet Evonovich
I agree Christine! Hysterical! ?
Stephanie Plum Series by Janet Evanovich. I was reading it in bed one night and had to leave the room because I couldn’t stop laughing and I was waking up my husband.
Lula and Grandma Mazur are always so funny!!
Bossy pants by Tina Fey
The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish. I suggest listening to the audio version. It’s HILARIOUS!!!
Shit my Dad Says
Listened to this on a long road trip. U laughed until I cried. Best ever!
THAT looks AMAZING!!!
I just borrowed the audiobook for a road trip. Too many readers recommended it for me to pass on it.
The Family Fang
Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office by Jen Lancaster.
The Winshaw Legacy or What A Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe. Also, I like anything by Terry Pratchett. I’m surprised none of his books were on the TGAR list!
Although it’s not on the list, “Less” is hilarious (this year’s Pulitzer for fiction)
This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
Tina Fey’s Bossypants, I laughed so hard I had tears streaming down my face.
Good Omens … and any time Jenks opened his mouth in The Hollows series?
Jenks is the only thing I miss since giving up on that series.
Following. (I could use a good laugh during my commute.)
Tales of the City by Armstead Maupin
World According to Garp
A Prayer for a Owen Meany.
Don Quixote made me laugh way more than I would have thought a book from that long ago would have. Dickens is also hilarious at times.
David Sedaris is funny, the best one of his that I’ve seen is When You Are Engulfed In Flames. I should also mention Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide series.
Love David Sedaris. His stories are so funny
There were several humorous passages in “Don Quixote” and every one of Douglas Adams’ books that I read, “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe”, “Life the Universe and Everything”, “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish”, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency” and “The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul”, are hilarious!
Sellavision by Augusten Burroughs
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is very funny. Also Confessions of a Shopaholic.
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson.
Bright Lights, Big Ass: A Self-Indulgent, Surly, Ex-Sorority Girl’s Guide to Why It Often Sucks in the City, or Who Are These Idiots and Why Do They All Live Next Door to Me? by Jen Lancaster
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. Hilarious!
I’ve been wanting to read this.
In God We Trust, All The Rest Pay Cash by Jean Sheperd
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series
Where’d You Go Bernadette. Laughed so hard I cried.
Dave Barry’s Homes and Other Black Holes. I was reading mostly in bed at night when I read that. My husband made me leave the bedroom. 🙂
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson.
Agree! Laugh out loud funny.
Lamb by Christopher Moore
The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window by Jonas Jonasson
Bossy Pants!
Bill Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods”
Richard Ford’s books about Frank Bascombe are pretty humorous. Similar to Richard Russo in some ways, also very funny
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. I would laugh so hard that I wouldn’t be able to breathe. And then the tears in my eyes and I’d cry/ laugh.
Same here!
thought i might get taken off the subway as appearing to be a danger to myself or others. i laughed myself info tears.
The Rosie Project
Phantom Tollboth. I was reading out loud and kept cracking up laughing.
Naked. David sedaris
I liked Bossy Pants, particularly lists ing to it on audio, but L.A.M.B. by Christopher Moore. I also really loved A Dirty Job, as well as his vampire series, and any others of his I’ve read.
I adore Christopher Moore.
He is Amazing!
The Thurber Carnival, especially the story about the night the ghost got in. Hilarious!
The Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne
Any of the Stephanie Plum series – very funny and always entertaining!
Anything by Caral Hissan!
PS I Love You
OMG this book was hilarious!!
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. Absolutely hilarious!
Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg.
Brain Droppings by George Carlin.
Lamb, The Gospel According to Biff by Christopher Moore
One of my favorites! Named our dog Biff…
Yes! Love Biff.
Crazy in Alabama
Me Talk Pretty. DAVID SEDARIS
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Any Janet Evanovich OF the Plums series.
A Girl Named Zippy, by Haven Kimmel. And yes, I even laughed so hard I snorted. More than once.
OMG! I forgot aboutthat book. I loved it!
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing – read it to my class every year – could not read with a straight face!
Her follow up, “She got up off the couch” is great too.
@Eleanor Junie B Jones does that for me!
YES! I remember reading Junie B Jones Alohaha to my kids when they were young, and there was a part where I couldn’t get though because I was laughing so hard. I had to hand it over and tell them to read that part themselves. LOL
Don Quixote
Following
Janet Evanovich series. I love all her books.
Same here!!
a walk in the woods and the Chet and Bernie series
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.
Roughing It
Do you mean Roughing It by Mark Twain?
@Maude yes. sorry. Should have said that
Shit My Dad Says. It was hysterical ?
Read some funny parts in The Help.
Gary Paulsen’s Winterdance
The Road to Welllville by T.C. Boyle
Austenland by Shannon Hale
Rainey.
Furiously Happy and Let’s Pretend This Never Happened – both by Jennie Lawson, aka The Blogess
let’s Pretend This Never Happened was ?
I was laughing so hard in the airport reading it!
Sweet Potato Queens by Jill Conner Browne. Totally hilarious!
Is this a novel?
@Marilyn Yes
@Gailthx
Augustus McCrae is hilarious in Lonesome Dove. He made me laugh out loud unexpectantly all throughout the book. But then I cried great sobs like I’ve never cried before so beware.
I just rewatched the mini-series….he is one of my all time favorite characters.
Anything Wodehouse: Right Ho, Jeeves
Any of the Stephanie Plum series books by Janet Evanovich. Her characters are ALL so funny. Lula and Grandma Mazur are my favorite.
Yes! The books have gotten predictable, but I just love spending time with the characters. =)
The Rosie Project
I was trying to remember this books name thanks! So funny
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
LOVED this book.
I misremembered the title, but not the laughs!
Maybe I should read it again. Time for some comic relief. Or, would the Confederacy of Dunces be more appropriate?
Anything by Jen Lancaster
Me Talk Pretty someday
Yes!
Some chapters of “Shock Value” by John Waters and the first two Bridget Jones books. Had to be my mind at certain points of my life…
Anything by Erma Bombeck.
Angela’s Ashes believe it or not!
I believe it.
David Sedaris – When You Are Engulfed in Flames
Barrel Fever by David Sedaris.
A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson
Wanda Hickeys Night of Golden Memory’s. Gene Shepherd
All Janet Evanovich .my children would look at me like I was crazy
Laughing hysterically while I was reading
The Stephanie Plum series
Great late night reading to go to bed with a smile on your face. Enjoyed all her books.
A Walk in the Woods!
Sophie Kinsella’s Confessions of a Shopaholic, Janet Evanovich’s One for the Money, Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods, and Fannie Flagg’s Can’t Wait To Get To Heaven.
Night of the Avenging Blowfish: A Novel of Covert Operations, Love, and Luncheon Meat by John Welter
I Remember Nothing, by Nora Ephron. Quite of few of hers make me laugh.
I forgot Bonk (or pretty much anything else) by Mary Roach. Amazing stuff.
Just about anything by her is funny, even if the topic isn’t.
Tina Fey Bossypants.
Can you keep a secret by Sophie Kinsella, hilarious!!
Tina Fey’s book, Bossypants
Kiss My Tiara
Dan Jenkins, You Gotta Play Hurt
Traveling Mercies- Anne Lamott
The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat by Edward Kelsey Moore.
Funniest book ever, “The Rosie Project” by Graeme Simsion!
That one is good!
John Grisham’s Skipping Christmas.
Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh
Yes!!!
Walking in circles before lying down…I would read this on the bus to school. I’m sure people thought I was a lunatic because I was giggling and laughing out loud. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/117370.Walking_in_Circles_Before_Lying_Down
Bossy Pants
Yeeeees!! I commented to say the same! Tina Fey is HILARIOUS!
@Abbey the best was listening to her read it. We were driving across the country and my husband kept looking at me like I was crazy because I had had phones on.
@Bobbie I’d love to listen to her read it! The first time I read it, I was reading in bed and kept laughing so hard that I kept waking my husband up! My favorite anecdote was her disaster honeymoon story!
100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
Why Not Me by Al Franken, Pest Control and The Organ Grinders by Bill Fitzhugh, A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, anything by Kinky Friedman, and HappinessTM by Will Ferguson are all hilarious!
Oh – also Evelyn Waugh! Scoop, Put Out More Flags, etc.
The Stephanie Plum books…
I laughed a lot when I read “The Rosie Project.” I with that the sequel had the same charm, but it didn’t.
“The Sot-Weed Factor” by John Barth – It’s a hilarious, bawdy, rip-roaring adventure story in the mock style of Tobias Smollett, Henry Fielding, and those other great 18th century picaresque novelists. Read it and you’ll never look at an eggplant the same way again.
Jenny Lawson – Furiously Happy
Me Talk Pretty One Day
David Sedaris
I love, love, love David Sedaris! This should be on season 2 of The Great American Read!
@Megan, I agree!
The World According to Garp.
@Kevin Surprised that someone else knows of this book. It has been many years since I read it, but I do not remember that is was funny.
Terry Fay Malcheski Lamberth I suppose it depends on what you find funny and some of it is dependent on knowing the historical and cultural context. But I remember when I was coming home to San Diego after seeing an opera in Los Angeles. I’d stopped at my usual way station, a Denny’s in Commerce, CA, and started reading that book while waiting for and then eating my much-belated dinner. By the time I got to the scene of the two dons messing with poor Ebenezer by saying that his singing “Flow My Tears” was blasphemous, I was snorting with laughter, and when Henry More and Isaac Newton patched up their quarrel about Platonic idealism with a homosexual tryst, I was doubled up with tears streaming down my face. I’m laughing out loud right now just recalling my emotions. ? Even the language of the book got me going from the first. I love Barth’s paragraph-long first sentence. It’s my favorite opening line because it sets up the rest of the book beautifully. Within that one sentence, I was introduced to Ebenezer Cooke, knew him for a poetaster, and I knew that this was going to be a very arch, satirical take on the 18th century novel.
Anything Christopher Moore. I know it is off topic a bit, but once I was reading on the toilet (the only way to read once you have kids) and I was SOBBING. I could barely breathe. My husband practically kicked the door in to get to me (he picked the lock). All I could do was hold up the paperback and whimper, “Her mom died.” He just shook his head, locked the door, pulled it close and told the kids to heat up some spaghettios because Mom wasn’t cooking dinner. God, I wish I could remember what book it was.
I either love his books or hate them. There is no in between for me. That being said, I just finished Noir and loved it!
@Sara just picked it up from hold at the library Friday! Slow start, but I am all in.
Forrest Gump by Winston Groom. surprise! it’s very different from the movie! i laughed out loud thru the whole book 😀
I have not read it, but someone who did told me not to read it because it made her not like Forrest anymore?
well, that may have been her experience, but not mine. he’s not sweet little innocent Tom Hanks in the book- he swears, he lives with Jenny & they have sex (the book isn’t descriptive tho), he’s a normal human being. don’t go into the book thinking you’re gonna get the movie- there are some things that match up, but the book is so much better & funny, but still has touching moments too. anyone i’ve recommended it to loved it 🙂
@April , I have been curious for years. Will add it to my list. If for no other reason, something to argue with her about. When you have been best friends for 30 years. Lol
Anything David Sedaris writes!
Laugh and cry with the next sentence. Angela’s Ashes by far!
I love A Long Way from Chicago. It’s a children’s chapter book. The grandma is hilarious.
Have you read the one by Frederick Backman called My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry ?
In death series from J.D. Robb
Not high drama but just pure fun …. the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich.
Ha! I laugh every time I think of Cluck in a Bucket!
Auntie Mame.
this one is on my TBR list. I LOVE the movie with Rosalind. Russel.
@Geni, I have not read Patrick Dennis’s books for many years, but I remember all of them as hilarious.
@Luann I know my library has Auntie Mame. Not sure if they have his other books. Will have to check and see.
The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett, David Sedaris.
The Rosie Project. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid – Bill Bryson. This was my life growing up. The Ove book, made me laugh and cry. Patrick Dennis’ books.
Also anything by Christopher Buckley. Thank You For Smoking is a real hoot.
Catch-22
Born A Crime by Trevor Noah
The Sweet Potato Queens’ Book of Love. Hysterical.
Catch-22 for sure. I read it on my subway commute, so there was a lot of laughing in public and probably looking deranged.
Millie’s Fling by Jill Mansell – a beach book with a brain!
Anything by Louis Grizzard. Back in the carpool days, my children would not let drive and listen to Louis Grizzard.
I love James Thurber’s stories, but in particular “The Night the Bed Fell” and “The Day the Dam Broke.”
For those interested, both these stories are in “My Life and Hard Times”, which can be downloaded for free in epub format from Project Gutenberg Canada (those with Kindles can get it converted to mobi format at Online Convert).
@Kevin, most everything Thurber can be found in a collection called “The Thurber Carnival.” I’ve bought many used copies over the years; not sure if it is in print. His cartoons are priceless.
@Luann Yes, I also have “The Thurber Carnival”, but, sadly, it’s not available for free download like the PG Canada e-book is.
@Kevin, good to know!
The Stephanie Plum series cracks me up every time
This is my answer toi
Yes!!
Any book by Patrick McManus, or They Shoot Canoes Dont They.
almost anything by Nick Hornsby ~
A Confederacy of Dunces!
Agree, just finished audio version. Very funny.
Anything by David Sedaris
Open House by Elizabeth Berg and anything by FannieFlagg
Why Me, a Dortmunder novel by Donald Westlake. Actually any Dortmunder story. He is a thief with bad luck. His criminal projects turn disastrous every time.
The World According to Garp, there is a discussion at the shore about looking out for “the under toad”. I think about that discussion 30 years later and still giggle!
Yes, forgot how much John Irving can make us laugh and cry at the same time…
When he bit that dog!!
And how can we forget “The Princess Bride?”
Running with Scissors.
The movie was hilarious too
A Walk In the Woods, by Bill Bryson
I loved his dry humor!
Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster!
Where’d you go Bernadette? By Maria Semple
Yes!
Lamb by Christopher Moore
The Miss Julia books by Ann Ross. And Janet Evanovich. Can’t read heavy and serious all the time.
Fannie Flagg books and all of the Jeeves and Wooster books by P.G. Wodehouse.
I agree with the part about Wodehouse, except for “Ring for Jeeves”. But, technically speaking, that isn’t a Jeeves and Wooster book because Bertie Wooster doesn’t appear in it. William Rowcester is the sub for Bertie, and I hated him so very much. But everything else is gem-like perfection.
I’ve also branched out into Wodehouse’s other characters. I’ve read all the Mr. Mulliner short stories (which are hilarious), and I’ve read one Drones Club collection, “Eggs, Beans, and Crumpets”, and “Something Fresh”, “Blandings Castle and Elsewhere”, and most recently “Summer Lightning” in the Lord Emsworth/Blandings Castle series. (I’ve also watched the series “Blandings”, “Jeeves and Wooster”, and “Wodehouse Playhouse” and loved them all.)
Thanks! ?
Definitely a huge Wodehouse fan!
@Cynthia women are welcome to join. Well, probably not Aunts.
For some reason funny books don’t appeal to me.
When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris. Always listen to his audiobooks and laugh so hard my belly hurts.
can’t wait to get to heaven by fannie flagg
So glad to see this. I’m about to start reading it.
Hissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews or Confessions Of a Sweet Potato Queen
Sweet Potato Queen is hysterical
@Suzanne the best…I still want to go to the parade
@Mary me too or start one of my own !
@Suzanne. Me too
The Hitchhikers Guide-Series.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney.
Where you go Bernadette?
Yes!
David Sedaris Me Talk Pretty one day
I though the Centerville Ghost was hilarious
CANTERVILLE, STUPID AUTOCORRECT
Listening to Tina Fey’s Bossypants had me rolling while commuting to work
Anything by Jennifer Cruisie
As You Wish by Cary Elwes (I cried outloud too).
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
The Rosie Project
The Coincidence of Coconut Cake — Light, funny — and the coconut cake recipe is fantastic. A waiter in a restaurant who doesn’t like coconut cake said it was to die for. lol
THE GUN SELLER, by Hugh Laurie
Jen Lancaster. All of her memoirs are laugh out loud.
I gave some of my books to my sister who laughed so hard on a transatlantic flight that other passengers thought something was wrong. (In one, I remember a very memorable scene in the doctor’s office, her paper dressing gown tears apart and she staples it together! )
Any book by Janet Evonovich The Stephanie Plum series. They are crazy
The Rosie books
I listened to some of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books while driving to and from work. I laughed so much, I wonder if any other drivers saw me
I read the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid to my children on a camping trip once. We were all in tears – so funny!
The Dreyfus Affair: A Love Story.
Believe it or not The Outsiders as one minute you’re laughing and the next minute you’re crying
Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler was lol in last half of the book.
Anything by Patrick Dennis, Carl Hiaasen or Tim Dorsey.
Holiday on Ice by David Sedaris.
Yes! Especially the one about Dutch Santa Claus!
Crumpet the Elf.
Janet Evonivich’s Stephenie Plum’s series. OMG so funny ?
Yesssssss!!!
So true. Love Lula and Grandma Mazur
I love me some Laurie Notaro.
She’s hilarious and underrated.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I was manning a booth alone in a mall. I was laughing out loud and crying!
Nev Fountain’s Mervyn Stone mysteries and Rob Shearman’s short stories.
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
And if you wanna know about books on tape all gosh I listen to quite a number of those 2 Harry Potter primarily and Beverly Cleary among them
Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg
Anything by Dave Barry or Lewis Grizzard.
“Under the Midnight Stars ,” Zane Grey
A Man Called Ove (it made me lol a lot but it also made me cry) and Born A Crime by Trevor Noah (audiobook version)
Lawn Boy by Gary Paulson.
Bridget Jones Diary, Catch-22,
Thank you all for your recommendations!
A Confederacy of Dunces
Anything I’ve ever read by Christopher Paul Curtis has made me laugh out loud.
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris – shameful laughing out loud in an airport, and I’d do it again?
Three Bags Full: a sheep detective story by Leonie Swan (German writer in translation). But it’s Irish sheep — non stop laughing.
Loved this book!
An Uncommon Reader
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
This book was SO FUNNY!
Catch 22
Confederacy of Dunces, Tourist Season and most anything from Carl Hiaasen, I’ll Take It by Paul Rudnick.
I forgot to mention Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
“Heartburn” Nora Ephron
“A Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson
Yes that is a good one.
The Rosie Project. By Graeme Simsion!
I got this free when it first came out and haven’t read it!
You
Yes, The Rosie Project was great!
Laughing Matters, anthology edited by Gene Shalit.
Amy Falls Down by Jincy Willett.
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson. Or Shit My Dad Says by Justin Halpern.
I just got the Jenny Lawson, she’s fantastic!
Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg
fear & loathing in las vegas or naked, by david sedaris
Fatherhood by Bill Cosby
Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher. Hilarious!
Anything by Carl Hiaasen!!! I’m originally from Florida so I know, have met or have seen so many of his crazy characters!!!!! ?
Lamb by Christopher Moore.
Funny in Farsi
Bettyville by George Hoffman, When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris..and everything else by David Sedaris..he’ll have you laughing in no time!!!
Sister Grimm books or Longmire books!
Where’d You Go Bernadette?
Same here
Sex drugs and Cocoa Puffs.
How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran, parts of it about made me fall out of my chair.
“I Must Say” by Martin Short
The Professor von Igelfeld series by Alexander McCall Smith. The books are short, and I fell off the couch from laughing so hard.
The Help
The Sunburnef Cpuntry
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Fried Green Tomatoes by Fannie Flagg!
*following for suggestions
The great thing about this dialog is all the books I’ve read which come back to life as people post their favorites. Forgot about Fried Green Tomatoes. Brings back memories of a different time and place.
I just remembered how funny Erma Bombeck was. Not a novel but, “If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries What Am I Doing In the Pits” was laugh out loud funny.
Following
Anything by David Sedaris.
Laurie Notaro is another hilarious writer. I loved There’s a (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going to Hell. Another good book from her is The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death: Reflections on Revenge, Germophobia, and Laser Hair Removal
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. All of Douglas Adams’ books.
James Thurber’s short stories.
Trevor Noah’s Born A crime.
Where’d you go bernadette
“Tricky Business” by Dave Berry
I should have said “novel” rather than “book.” Do you notice that a lot of the ones listed are nonfiction? I wonder why that is.
I am not a fan of non fiction,,,I do find we learn a lot reading novels about different places, wars, et
I like non-fiction as well as fiction, but I want to see more funny fiction in the world. It seems important…and I just enjoy it.
Up the Down Staircase.
I constantly laughed out loud while reading my daughter’s copy of ‘Magnus Chase’. My husband looked at me like I was crazy. ?
Laugh out loud funny? The Yogi book by Yogi Berra. Read it on the plane and the guy next to me was laughing at me laughing. I finished it and handed the book to him.
Me Talk Pretty by David Sedaris
Not a physical book – audio only, but the How to Be Super series by Sparkle Stories. He’s a fantastic storyteller, and I’ve laughed until I cried at parts.
Enter Laughing by Carl Reiner , had to stop reading it on the subway because I would burst into laughter.
I have a first edition of that book, and I brought it to a book signing event with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks in San Francisco in 1998. When I finally got up to meet them, Mr. Reiner was so happy that I had it with me. He commented that I may have been the only person that bought the book (obviously not true), and then wrote an inscription, “Dear Lisa, I love you! Carl Reiner” A book and inscription I will cherish forever.
Awesome
Bill Bryson. A Walk in the Woods
Kotzwinkle’s two E.T books!
The Meaning of Liff
I am reading catch 22 right now…….I have been cracking up on that
Watch the movie.. it was great..made in the ‘80 s with Alan Arkin
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
Following
The Color of Magic by Sir Terry Pratchett
Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson
Yes! It falls in my category of The Best Worst Book I have ever read. The Pink Carnation
The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarten Troost
I Don’t Know How She Does It, by Allison Pearson, made me laugh.
Bossypants by Tina Fey and I Feel Bad about my Neck by Nora Efron
I laughed out loud reading Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. Funny and Sad parts. Also Talking As Fast As I Can by Lauren Graham.
Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories…..Gene Shepherd.
Bridget Jones’ Diary
A Walk in the Woods
Saw the movie.. it wasn’t very good
@Joy the book is hysterical.
Stench of Honolulu by Jack Handy
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
The Help
Theft by Finding by David Sedaris
Has to be ANY Erma Bombeck book!!! ???
And one of her literary idols Jean Kerr. ??
The Undomesticated Goddess (Sophie Kinsella)
Tortilla flat
P.S. I Love You made laugh so hard and then I cried hard too
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul…. I know it’s a children’s book, but my fifth graders convinced me to read the series and although they are all good this one is my favorite!!!
The Accidental Tourist.
Just about any of the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich.
I laughed out loud in parts of Lonesome Dove and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, even some in The Book Thief and of course Harry Potter.
Faking It by Jennifer Cruise
Audiobook versions of both Bossypants -Tina Fey and Yes Please- Amy Poehler…they read their own books!
The Lamb by Christopher Moore.
Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
Hilarious!
Mort by Terry Pratchett
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.
Anything by Carl Hiaasen.
Me feel pretty ..
By david Sedars
I choked with laughter on a plane
French class! Laughing thinking about it!
Is that also the book Amy wears the fat suit to drive their dad nuts? Classic.
Tie between The Miss.Julia series by Ann B.Ross and the Shopping for a Billionaire series by Julia Kent. Both are lol till you cry funny.
I love Miss Julia books !
Catch-22
P. G. Wodehouse always makes me laugh out loud. Also Janet Evannovitch. My husband prefers James D. @Noelle
I tried to say James D. Doss
The Commitments series by Roddy Doyle
All of Fannie Flags books
Straight Man by Richard Russo and Solar by Ian McEwan
Almost any Patrick McManus book, the Dortmunder books and others by Donald Westlake, The Reluctant Naturalist by Charles Monagan.
A Walk in The Woods, by Bill Bryson
“A Short History Of A Small Place” by TR Pearson
Couplehood by Paul Riser
Oddly..the best laugh I ever had was in The Color Purple when Celie is describing the ugly baby…laughed so hard I cried. Oh…and Owen Meany falling down the steps, maybe wrong, but falling always makes me laugh involuntarily..
I had the same reactions with both. Such fine storytelling, and we really feel for the characters.
a Year of Living Danishly.
Believe it or not, I have read all comments and my book was not mentioned…Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray. All of her books are laugh out loud funny. I have given this book to so many friends.
Julie and Romeo and the scene is the flower cooler is hysterical
Marley and Me
Also, Don’t Stop the Carnival.
One for the Money by Janet Evonovich
Innocents Abroad. Mark Twain
Good in Bed by Jennnifer Weiner
Patrick McManus novels
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
The Sweet Potato Queens Book of Love.
Absolutely!
Bridget Jones
“Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York”…
Fall of the Janet Evanovich books about Stephanie Plum
Jonathan Tropper’s This Is Where I Leave You, Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove, and Janet Evanovich’s One For The Money.
Lamb and any of Evanovich’s Stephanie Plumb books.
Any Erma Bombeck! Short stories.
Babies and other hazards of sex
Any Christopher Moore book–especially Lamb
I read A Dirty Job at least once every year.
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Lake Wobegone, by Garrison Keillor
Catch-22. I re-read this for a class in graduate school. I would always get to another class early and be reading this book when the professor arrived. He said he always found me laughing. Oh, and it’s a tragedy.
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
The Importance of Being Oscar Wilder !
Ramey by Clyde Edgerton
This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper is truly laugh out loud funny. Also, Menonite in a Little Black Dress and Catch-22.
I had forgot about This is Where I Leave You, but yes, so funny!
Miss Julia Raises the Roof
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryce
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
“The Living End,” by Stanley Elkin. ?
“Good Omens” by Neil Gaiman and Terri Pratchett and “A Short History of a Small Place” by TR Pearson. These 2 books ate tied for my favorite novels of all time and I keep extra copies at all times to give away. I’m like a cult of one spreading the hysterically funny word!
Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories by Jean Shephard
oh, and, The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
Loved Jean Shephard on the radio when I was a kid.
David sedaris, Garrison keiller, Nora Ephraim, …
Richard Russo’s Straight Man
Love Richard Russo!
If I’d Killed Him When I Met Him
Bridget Jones’s Diary
“Sweet Tea and Sympathy” by Molly Harper
Anything by Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series.
OMGoodnees so true. I love Lula and Grandma Mazur.
@Coupe Seriously laugh out loud funny. My husband always knows I am reading a Plum because of my nonstop laughing.
A long way from Chicago….its a kids book, but it hilarious…but if I had to pick an “adult” book… The art of the deal
Can You Keep a Secret by Sophie Kinsella
A Prayer For Owen Meany, parts were hysterical!
O ye Jigs and Juleps by Virginia Cary Hudson. The book is described as a humorous slice of Americana by a turn-of-the-century pixie aged ten. Maybe hard to find a copy but is a delightful read.
Memories! We had that at the house when I was a child.. wow, so many years ago, I wonder what happened to it?
The Tuesday Next Series by Jasper Fforde
The latest one I’ve read would be The Little Old Lady who Broke All the Rules by Catherine Ingleman-Sunderberg
Still Life with Woodpecker..or any Tom Robbins really
This is one of my all time favorites!
Can’t we talk about something more Pleasant by Roz Chast. Just finished it yesterday. Hilarious.
Not too many books make me laugh out loud but this one did…
All of Bill’s books are incredibly funny and equally informative.???
All of Bill Bryson’s books have laugh-out-lound passages.
Pontoon by Garrison Keillor. I was listening to the audio version and had to pull off the road I was laughing so hard!
I will have to look for this. He is hilarious on the radio!
Crazy Rich Asians series
Good In Bed by Jennifer Weiner
Alexander McCall Smith’s Scotland Street series.
The Mammy by Brendan O’Carroll…good Irish humor.
Jennifer Crusie books…cutest depictions of dogs and their personalities and women trying to get through this thing called life!
i.e. “Fast Women”
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, for sure.
Savannah from Savannah by Denise Hildreth
A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel. It’s a memoir told from her perspective as a child. One of my favorites.
All Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series
Oh, and you must read Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, or Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late. Or most anything by Mo Williams. Borrow a preschooler if you feel you need a child as an excuse to read these.
And the whole Piggy & Gerald series!
We LOVE Mo Willems in our house, he’s amazing
Love this! I must add that Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems is hysterical.
Island of the Sequined Love Nun-Christopher Moore. Any of his books make me laugh.
I love his books! I don’t think I’ve read that one. As a someone with a marine biology degree, I loved Fluke.
Lamb is hilarious!
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson – hilarious, real, truthful (concerning mental illness).
And Furiously Happy. They both bring me to tears of laughter!
Me, too! I would start laughing out loud and my nephew, who was living with me at the time, kept giving me that “crazy book lady” look!
@Karen, I have Furiously Happy on my Kindle! ?
Agreed! I laughed all the way through this book!
I had to stop reading it in bed at night because my laughter kept waking my husband up.
Stephanie Plum series written by Janet Evanovich!
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis, or anything by David Sedaris.
Crazy Rich Asians and Where’d you go Bernadette
Anything by Dave Berry. He cracks me up?!
Dragons Love Tacos. ???
The Sex Lives of Cannibals (Adrift in the Equitorial Pacific) by J. Maartin Troost
I have that in my TBR pile. Maybe I’ll move it up several notches.
Read it years ago, but besides being funny, it’s now a timely read. The islands the author writes about are going to be the first to be consumed by sea level rise.
Boomsday by Christopher Buckley.
Crumpet The Elf by David Sedaris.
Anything by P.G. Wodehouse
Absolutely. My son in law introduced me to Wodehouse, Jeeves and Wooster! ???
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamont – omg I read it on the city bus my last year of college years ago and even with all the people on that bus I laughed so hard my sides ached!
YES! And I totally didn’t expect it to be funny. I read it because I’m a writer and people said it had good advice, which it does. But sometimes I just read it again for the entertainment value!
Thunderbolt Kid
Forgot about that one. Hysterical
Bossy Pants!
Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan.
Cold Comfort Farm
Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson.
Teacher Man, Frank McCourt
“The good luck girls of shipwreck lane”..
A Year Of Living Biblically
Evanovich’s Plum novel were Lula goes on a diet and has bacon in her purse with dogs in pursuit. I was reading it on a plane and belly laughed – to my embarrassment!
Catch 22
A man called Ove
Kids’ book, Spud Murphy is fantastic. It’s about a librarian whom boys believe has a potato shooter stashed away for warding off bad behavior. She has a belt into which she tucks stampers that she can shoot with deadly aim. Two boys have to spend time helping in the library and do so with great trepidation until they get to know her.
Anything by Christopher Moore or Tom Robbins.
Enslaved by Ducks: How One Man Went from Head of the Household to Bottom of the Pecking Order by Bob Tarte
Anything by David Sedaris!
Any and all Christopher Moore books, and Janet Evanovich.
All the Wimpy Kids books make me laugh!
The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish
They are picture books, but Dogzilla and Kay Kong by Dav Pilkey made me wet my pants I laughed so hard.
Mash
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
Nobody’s Fool by Richard Russo
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.
A Walk In The Woods by by Bill Bryson when he describes the guy being attacked by a bear. Now I know that doesn’t sound funny, but in Bryson’s hands it is hilarious!
Just love all of Bill Bryson’s books!
And when he was shopping for his gear. The backpack so full he fell over backwards. ???
I
Laughing out loud on NYC subway while reading Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods. Priceless!
That is a great book!!
Great book!
Just finished it. Great read!
The Know It All by A. J. Jacobs
Janet Evonavich Eve Plum series
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, his story of hiking the Appalachian Trail, hilarious
Great book! The movie did not capture the humor at all.
@Kathie. I just finished it. Can’t believe I hadn’t read it before. Love hiking and have been on parts of AP through the years. Fun read!
The House of God by Samuel Shem is one of them.
Forgot about that one! Need to reread!
The first few in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovitch. If you are from the NJ area….what a hoot!
Yes-even if you’re not from NJ- Stephanie’s hair and Grandma Mazur transcend geography!
Billy Crystal-Where I’ve been, where I’m going and where the hell are my keys!
Help I’m a Prisoner in a Chinese Bakery by Alan King
Where’d You Go Bernadette! I lived in Seattle at the time and she summed it up expertly!
Care of Wooden Floors, Will Wiles, Lily and the Octopus, Steven Rowley and The Hotel New Hampshire, John Irving
Anything from Mary Kay Andrews
Wodehouse’s Leave it to Psmith
I love all the Jeeves books.
All Fannie Flagg books
Handling Sin by Michael Malone. I found myself laughing about that book days and weeks after reading it.
Fannie Flagg
Jim Gaffigan books are hilarious. FOOD had us laughing out loud.
Something by Fanny Flag, I’ve read 2 or 3 of hers, they are hilarious!! One is something like Daisy May and the Man in his Magnificent Flying Machine (or something like that).
Lov Fanny Flagg too!
I just finished listening to her read “The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion. It had so much…laughs, heartbreak & history too.
Also.. Dave Barry.. so funny.
The Rosie Project
Loved this book!
Most recently, Other People’s Houses!
1.This Is Where I Leave you
2.Shit My Dad Says
Literally, belly roll laughter!
The ‘Miss Julia’ series by Ann B. Ross is always good for a laugh or two or three.
probably something by Elmore Leonard
The Sweet Potato Queens’ book of love by Jill Conner Browne – so funny, after I recovered from laughing, I’d go find my husband and read it to him.
And what did he think? My fav laugh out loud book!
When I read it, I’d get tickled and start laughing again, made it an interesting experience for him, waiting on me to recover and start reading again. He found it funny too. Looking back, he’d have enjoyed it more if he read it himself, but I had to share immediately.
@Debbie I wasn’t sure if a male would find it funny but glad he did! Often men and women find humor in different things.
He has the same goofy sense of humor that I do.
The Catcher in the Rye made me laugh out loud. I’ve read it several times.
Roddy Doyle. The Commitments trilogy. Written in “Irish” (our family’s way of saying a lot of the f bomb…), but they are laugh out loud!!!! Great stories of what feels like real Irish families. So, there’s always a tragic side too. Highly recommend !!
@Gina, is the movie The Commitments based on this? It is hilarious.
Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll look into these books
@Jean It is. The movie is so funny too! The next two books are The Snapper & The Van. Hilarious – but typical Irish – there’s a bit of seriousness. I was laughing out loud riding the subway ….
Anything by Bombeck
Where’d You Go Bernadette or a Man Called Ove.
Sideways
Where’s Poppa by Klane and Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg
So many great suggestions! Erma Bombeck. Janet Evonovich Stephanie Plum series
The Day The Crayons Quit and the sequel.
Very clever children books, but loved them?
Bossy Pants by Tina Fey.
Sh*t My Dad Says
and More Sh&t my Dad Says:)
I have the audio books downloaded and have listened to them both many times as I walk and still funny.
The Sweet Potato Queen
Definitely! Audiobook author read ?
Totally agree! This is always the one I go to for a roaring laugh!
Anything by Fannie Flagg
Janet Evonovich series
Yes!
Let’s Pretend this Never Happened -Jenny Lawson
Let’s Pretend This Never Happen.
Motherhood is the Second Oldest Profession by Erma Bombeck
When You Are Engulfed in Flames, David Sedaris
Expecting Someone Taller by Tom Holt and The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
Janet Evanovich
Omg when grandma blows that chicken off the table!! I about fell out of my bed!!
Tina Fey Bossypants is pretty funny!
I’ll Take It.
Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking… I laughed throughout the book
I used to read Junie B Jones books by Barbara Park to my son when he was little and I would laugh so hard I had to stop to control myself. The Nanny Diaries also made me laugh.
Home to Woefield by Susan Juby
Beautiful Ruins
Hank the Cowdog series read aloud with my kids – one of those you can’t see to read thru your tears of laughter.
Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh.
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson.
When I was young, I would laugh till I cried at the Paddington books. I still think the very first chapter of the first book, when Paddington has tea in the railway station, is one of the funniest scenes ever written.
The Sweet PotAto Queens
When I read the Hitchhiker’s Guide for the first time, it was the first book I remember literally laughing out loud while reading it.
That one’s on my list!
I am reading it now!
It’s such a good series of books. I hope you both enjoy it!
Some of the Janet Evanovich novels, both Nelson Demille and Tom Wolfe novels have wicked humor, Ya Ya Sisterhood and The World According to Garp are a few…
Anything by @Jen. She makes me LOL and not much can do that!
The Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich. Can’t beat Lula and Cluck in a Bucket!
Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster
Lamb, the Gospel according to Biff by Christopher Moore. Funny and not insulting
Wishin’ and Hopin’ by Wally Lamb.
YES!!!!!
I laughed so hard throughout this book. A must read for anyone who went to Catholic grammar school.
The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore. All of his books are hilarious, I love him!
Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick ?
Two Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon. Hilarious, well written, fascinating.
All creatures great and small by James Herriot
I haven’t read this one of his yet, but I read Animal Stories and thought he was hilarious.
@Jennifer I imagine that animal stories is select stories from one through five of his wonderful books. They are: all creatures great and small, all things Bright and beautiful, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all, and every living thing. Those are all of the books that he wrote, but there are many collections of select stories from these books, every single one is delightful!
The Area of Expertise by John Hodgman and its follow ups followed closely by some of George Carlin’s books but there are many others.
Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
Any book by Patrick McManus . Love his short stories
The Alto Wore Tweed, book one of about 13 in Mark Schweizer’s Liturgical mystery series. All are great laugh-out-loud fun and should be read in order.
Now that sounds interesting.
I read , The Phantom Tollboth to my 6th grade class, and laughed soo hard that I would have to stop reading! I sometimes revisit it (when needed). This is the firt post that has promped me to copy book titles! thanks!
A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson
Love bill and his books are funny!
Yes, this one is a favorite of mine!
Checked Out (Dead-End Job Mystery) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0451466330/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_J6adBbNK13S23
Love Chabon.
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Ok, I don’t read a lot of funny books.
That’s a good one though! My kids love listening to it on long car rides.
I always lose my place reading this due to laughing! Takes me forever to read.
Lamb by Christopher Moore.
most of his books!
Shoot Low Boys, They’re Riding Shetland Ponies by Lewis Grizzard.
Looking into that one since the title made me giggle!
@Bobbie Lewis Grizzard is a Southern writer he has other humorous books!!
Adrian Mole series
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.
Anything by Rick Bragg.
Anguished English by Richard Lederer. I dare you to read three pages without laughing out loud. u And all the examples are true. One of them was from my 9th grade English class.
Any book by Sophie Kinsella. Just finished “ My Not So Perfect Life”.
Jimmy Breslin’s The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight.
“Breakout” by Dana Stabenow..
More than one but first to come to my mind is Dave Barry’s Tricky Business
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion.
I really love Richard Peck’s A Teacher’s Funeral.
PG Wodehouse, Stiff Upper Lip
Christopher Moore “Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Friend”.
Read this several years ago. Very funny!
Love all Christopher Moore! The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove and Sacre Bleu too! 🙂
Winterdance by Gary Paulsen and My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot – the entire story unfolds by reading the characters emails – uproariously funny – – The grandmother emails the wife of her grandson – mom to two toddlers who are obsessed with the purple dinosaur with number three on the way -Grandmother writes PS – Who’s is this Barney fellow and why do you dislike him so much?
Good In Bed by Jennifer Wiener
A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck.
Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple
Leaving Home by Garrison Keillor
Maria Semple and P G Wodehousr
Christopher Moore…any of his books
Biff
Any of the Janet Evanovich numbered series.
It’s and old book, but hilarious especially for those who grew up on a real farm (milk cows, hogs, poultry): The Egg and I by Betty MacDonald. It was the basis for the Ma and Pa Kettle movies.
1. Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Book Club. (Southern charm and HILARIOUS)
2. Will Grayson, Will Grayson (YA, two characters and their lives connect through a fabulous teen named Tiny Cooper)
Fannie Flagg is a favorite
Sh%t my Day says- Justin Halpern – it was hilarious
I agree – couldn’t stop giggling ?
Love that book! Very funny
Don Quixote
My kids are dying to Rocket and Groot: Stranded on Planet Strip Mall.
A Girl Named Zippy
Stephanie plum
Bossy Pants
Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind!!!
These books are on my list.
I Feel Bad About My Neck: and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman – Nora Ephron
Breathing Lessons – Anne Tyler
Where’d You Go, Bernadette?
If short stories count, Jean Shepherd’s are hilarious.
What Alice forgot
Well, Waiting to Exhale bt Terry McMillan many years ago and recently a memoir, You Don’t Look Your Age And Other Fairy Tales by Sheila Nevins.
https://smile.amazon.com/Color-Magic-Novel-Discworld-ebook/dp/B000W9399S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527520697&sr=8-1&keywords=the+color+of+magic+terry+pratchett
Raney by Clyde Edgerton
Love Edgerton!
@Julia loved that book. My mom and I read the book. We both laughed and laughed.
A time of love and tartan by Alexander McCall Smith
I found the Provence series by Peter Mayle (“A Year in Provence”, etc.) and the Mitford series by Jan Karon (“At Home in Mitford”, etc.) gentle, engaging, sometimes funny and poignant reads.
Stephanie plum series
Absolutely!
Agree!!! I love listening to her books the narrator is excellent ?
Mash
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Larson
I laughed so much and so hard while reading this that I annoyed every single person I was on vacation with…
Janet evonovich
Any book by Erma Bombeck or Susan Isaacs – both reduce me to hysteria
Lamb by Christopher Moore
Mitford series by Jan Karon.
Mash and Forest Gump
A short history of a small place
I frequently used the Commander Toad books to help my struggling readers in class. We had this pompous board member that puffed up his body, like a toad. I had trouble keeping myself from laughing in his vicinity. So funny, I would laugh until tears came…
Pride & Prejudice
Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels.
I hate to say this – I love humor and have read many “funny” books but never laugh out loud. Humor is very hard to write
It is! But it can be done. It’s so rare to find a truly funny book. Books that make me laugh are precious.
There are so many…but most recently I have been recommending this book to everyone. It put me in such a good mood! So witty and funny and, in the end, heartwarming. https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062382801/the-gentlemans-guide-to-vice-and-virtue/
A Walk In The Woods, Bill Bryson
Stephanie Plum and Hitchhikers guide are my top 2. After this thread, however, that may change! ??
Mrs. Polifax books!
I adore Mrs. Polifax and Dorthy Gilman’s A Nun in the Closet was another funny book I remember from the 70s.
The Sex Lives of Cannibals…
No Time For Sergeants by Mac Hyman is pretty funny.
The Education of Hyman Kaplan. Leo Rosten.Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole.
Catch 22, Joesph Heller.
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson.
A Confederacy of Dunces. When Ignatius gets the hotdog cart…omg! Couldn’t stop giggling!
There’s a part in The Runaway Jury by John Grisham that I thought was hysterical. Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods is the best!
Yes to Walk in the Woods.
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil……the description of Chablis was hysterical!
Omg I love that book!
@Brittny Me too! I like the movie too.
Oh I never saw the movie! I’ll have to watch it!
Loved that book!
I live in Savannah, and his description was quite accurate. Chablis was quite the individual.
Anything by P.G.Wodehouse.
THE SISTERS BROTHERS by patrick dewitt…slapstick cowboys
LAMB by moore
Traveling Mercies- Ann Lamott
Only through book 1 of A Gentleman in Moscow, but it has made me smile a lot so far.
I loved loved that book. The Count!
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
A Confederacy of Dunces
Christmas in Harmony by Phillip Gulley
Two books by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays: Being Dead Is No Excuse and Some Day You’ll Thank Me For This……part fiction (has to be) and part fact. Laugh Out Loud funny!
Me talk pretty one day. I also loved Princess Bride and Good Omens for lots of funny scenes.
Me Talk Pretty Someday by David Sedaris
That’s the one I remember made me laugh so hard that I had tears running down my cheeks.
Have a lot of fav funny books but that is the ONLY one that really made me laugh out loud 🙂
A Girl Named Zippy!
Oh and almost forgot The World According to Garp.
Garp, to me is Robin Williams. Comedy meets tragedy…
Lamb by Christopher Moore
Julie B Jones books. My granddaughter and I howled
Terry Prachett’s Thud
The poems of Shel Silverstein… Jimmy Jet and his TV set ! My class would howl and loved his humor!
Why my next husband will be a dog. Lisa Scottoline.
The Rosie Project
Both of the Rosie books were wonderful!!!!
@Mary I didn’t know there was a sequel! I’ll have to get on that!
The Idiot Girls’s Action Adventure Club by Laurie Notaro.
Here Lies the Librarian by Richard Peck
Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, I’d never read anything like it and was instantly hooked. I’ve got the entire series from BBC Radio as well ?
Here Lies the Librarian by Richard Peck
toss up between Hitchhikers and Good Omens
The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis. When my kids were close in age to the narrator, we read it aloud. It was a wonderful eye-opening experience.
Darling Buds of May
Are You There Vodka, it’s me Chelsea. I literally laughed out loud. Also, Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson. Really funny!
I second Furiously Happy!
Loved Furiously Happy. She has a great blog, too.
A walk in the woods by Bill Bryson
I just finished it ❤
The audio book is awesome!
Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die by Willie Nelson.
I need to go look at that now 🙂
Tom Robbins…
Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich or Skiiny Dip by Carl Hiasson
Stephanie Plum books crack me up.
Ya Ya Sisterhood
This year, Radio Free Vermont
So many people have mentioned A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. I actually listened to the audio book several years ago and remember enjoying it, but don’t remember thinking of it as an especially funny book. Then again, these days I read a book and two months later barely remember it! Sigh. I may have to go back and do a re-read on that one!
Hi, Amy, Keep on reading! I am challenged by memory issues also. I remember being thrilled when I got my library card for two reasons; getting a library card of my own AND writing my own name for the very first time! Still, these days I can tell you about a book I’m reading and not be able to tell you its title for a half hour!
@Betsey , isn’t it frustrating?! My new motto is to enjoy a book while I’m reading it and not worry if o can’t remember the title or anything other than if I liked it or not!
His fellow traveler got tiered carrying supplies and just threw them over the path. LOL that’s all I remember…lol
@Maggie We’re all in good company and that’s great!
The description of his hiking partner arriving with bags of pork rinds had me in tears?
We didn’t laugh much either… he told a lot of dark stories of other hikers’ fates.
@Brenda, yes, I do remember that. Although amused by it, I guess it didn’t strike my funny bone with quite such power!
@Betsey, I’m not too worried. At this point it feels like the memory banks are just getting too full and it is hard to find ample space to keep much more in the long-term storage section!
@Amy that’s a great way to look at it.
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Love that series!
Anything by Erma Bombeck
Dating myself, but do you remember “The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank”?
@Luann enjoyed Erma Bombecks books too
I loved her books!
@Luann OMG yes I laughed out loud!
@Lisa I think it might be Alice K.
Dog Gone It by Spencer Quinn
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. A tragicomic tale about Ignatius J. Reilly a native NOLA boy.
A Painted House by John Grisham
The early Stephanie Plums
Following
Lamb by Christopher Moore .
‘Year of Yes’ by Shonda Rymes (I’m not sure how to spell her last name….she’s the writer for Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal & the other Thursday show! Sorry I’m awful with names & chemo hasn’t helped it!! ?)
Loved that book!
The Rosie Project
Any Richard Russo book cracks me up
Any of David Sedaris’s books are laugh-out-loud funny!
See David Sedaris in person if you can. Even funnier.
Most books by David Sedaris. Recently , Sammie and Budgie, and also Chemistry by Weiki Wang.
Drinking with Dead Women Writers.
Junkyard Dogs by Craig Johnson
A Girl Named Zippy – a memoir by Haven Kimmel. Funny, warm and joyful.
This is Where I Leave You
Skipping Christmas
Anything by Dave Barry or Carl Hiassen. Just pure fun.
Love Carl Hiassen. Very Quirky author.
Happy to hear someone else has this problem. I am literally half way thru a book sometimes before I realize I have already read it.?
I just read one for the 3rd time!!
The Popelton series. I used to laugh myself silly. My kids would laughed twice; once for the humor in the book, and then watching their mom go nuts.
We loved reading those aloud!
Just thought of another one: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. I reread it every year!
We must have been writing at the same time – awesome book!
Judy Bloom’s Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing – the perfect read-a-loud for kids and parents. I need to add The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (The Herdmans #1) by Barbara Robinson as another laugh out loud read for adults and kids both.
Probably the Bridget Jones’s Diary books, although the movies are way funnier.
I remember reading Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris and laughing so hard it brought tears to my eyes!! ??
Me too!
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett
World according to Garp by John Irving
a confederacy of dunces
Also “Furiously Happy” by Jenny Lawson
A Good Year by Peter Mayle
Dave Barry’s The Shepherd, The Angel, and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog will put me into tears of laughter every holiday season.
The Ms. Julia series. Don’t remember the author!
Ann B Ross
I’m reading her lastest one “Miss Julia Raises the Roof” right now.
As someone else mentioned, Carl Hiaasen. Earlier John Irving, like THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP.
The Last Cattle Drive
Christopher Moore’s “Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal” … a great read for anyone, whether they’re religious or not. It’s written with humor, love, and empathy, and is, of course, a work of fiction.
Bossypants by Tina Fey, especially the audio version.
Jonathan Tropper’s books are hilarious and touching at the same time and anything by David Sedaris is a sure bet
Alice, I Think was hilarious.
The Day my Butt went Psycho!
Lamb or almost anything else by Christopher Moore.
The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap.
David Sedaris, Janet Evanovich… More recently: Alice Clayton, Tara Sivec.
Notes From a Small Island by Bill Bryson
Waiting to Exhale and First Wives Club. Also Carl Hiassen books.
Fell out of bed laughing so hard – Lake Woebegone Day!
Got it too, will be reading soon! My house is literally “littered” with books in every room. I even keep some in the guest rooms (mainly for my granddaughter and grandson) just to make sure they are not at a loss for bedtime reading! Exposing them to some of my favs (age appropriate of course).
Adventures with Waffles
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson!
He is hilarious! I laughed through I’m a Stranger Here Myself
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson . I was crying laughing on a plane reading it!
The audio version is awesome too.
I was constantly laughing with the new Unicorn Rescue Society book Creature of the Pines. It’s for 8-12yo but adults can still enjoy the humor of it.
Sting-Ray Afternoons
For real laugh out loud humor, Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum books are great! Not great literature but lots of fun.
That series was my choice too, I started them thinking they would get old fast, but I really enjoyed them.
Yep I agree.
Did anyone read Bandolino or The Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court?? I thought these books were hilarious.
Heartily agree on Connecticut Yankee! Have not read the other one.
@Luann Luann, Umberto Eco wrote it. The author who wrote Name of the Rose.
@Beverly, The Name of the Rose is one of my favorites, though not as a work of humor! I’ll look for it.
“Innocents Abroad” is also very funny- by Mark Twain. It is not politically correct by today’s standards, though.
“The Best of Simple” by Langston Hughes short stories about an average black man’s experiences and actions representative of black Harlem in the 1940’s. Actually, there are 5 published books which contain Simple’s stories.
Annie Freeman’s Fabulous Traveling Funeral by Kris Radish
Mostly anything by Bill Bryson…in particular, “The Thunderbolt Kid” and “A Walk in the Woods.”
I laughed out loud while reading A Walk in the Woods!
Man called Ove
Glad to hear this! I just recently downloaded the audio version from my library and will start it soon
One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
All of that series!
We get the audios of Steph and the Gang for all car trips – it makes a trip across the country something to look forward to!
Here’s a blast from the past. https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Grass_Is_Always_Greener_Over_the_Sep.html?id=WW9zMQGjT_8C&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button
I miss her
Bunnicula, which I read to my daughter when she was little. We both literally rolled on the bed, laughing.
Dress your family in corduroy and denim
Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays
The Wizard of Oz series. I’m currently reading them to my son and I crack up laughing all the time.
Garrison Keillor’s WLT: A Radio Romance. Laugh out loud hilarious and surprisingly raunchy. Well maybe not so surprisingly any more.
Book series I read with my daughter: @Chinelo.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. I was so excited to see it on the 100 list I squealed with giddy delight. The first time I read it was on a road trip for business. While everyone was napping or quietly relaxing after a long day at work I laughed so loud I woke up the entire van.
Love this one Too!
Me too!
Yes, The Hitchhiker’s Guide…! This is the first book I read where I actually laughed out loud in public (also on a business trip, in a plane). I also second the other Bill Bryson comments. I’ve chuckled and snorted my way through most of his travel books.
Irving’s Delight by Art Buchwald, and Rhubarb by H. Allen Smith.
Love Stephanie Plum and always laugh. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler – read it lying across the bed on a rainy day and laughed and laughed. Many years ago.
Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson
Tulip Fever, Deborah Moggach is one of the funniest books I have ever read. The movie was terrible.
I think the World According to Garp by John Irving. It was pretty darn funny.
“Alice in Wonderland “
Sarah’s key and Sister both good books
Funny, was the question.
I never know which question is up since so many responses.
Fox in sox
Dr. Seuss still rocks 🙂
timeless, priceless
Yes, would laugh with my children it became a problem before bed ….
Lamb by Christopher Moore
Bill Bryson A Walk in the Woods!
Sh*t My Dad Says. I was reading it on a plane and could not stop laughing!!
Where did you go Bernadette?
Yes! Came here to post the same book. Love the send up of Seattle, among other things.
Really loved this book!
A man called Ove
Me Talk Pretty One Day by Sedaris. I bought it thinking it was more of a travelogue. Boy was I surprised.
When i read it originally, i called my mom from college, laughing so hard i was crying. She thought there was something wrong — nope, just pure joy!
A Confederacy of Dunces!
I think I am going to read this next.
I found The Martian very funny
Anything by Carl Hiaasen makes me laugh out loud!
A Year in Provence
Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson. I was reading it outside and a friend asked if I were laughing or crying. I just said, “Yes.” ?
I agree. My husband kept asking me what I was reading because I was always laughing.
Cold Comfort Farm. Also, A Prayer for Owen Meany cracked me up because he kept speaking in upper case letters!! Both are really great books. ❤️
Any of the Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum books.
Second that! Evanovich has a great way with characters
Great list!!
Book by Tina Fey
The Last Days of Summer
Seriously…I’m Kidding by Ellen Degeneres
Parts of Ya Ya Sisterhood?
Anything written by Pat McManus
In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash.
“The Road To Little Dribbling” by Bill Bryson.
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
Agree! I laughed until I cried…and read passage to my husband who hasn’t read a book in years!
Anything by Bill Bryson, David Sedaris or Calvin Trillin
I Still Dream About You by Fannie Flagg
Il Bell’ Antonio, (the beautiful Antonio), an Italian novel.
David Sedaris
Anything by Tim Dorsey.
Janet Evanovich books
Four to Score is one of my favorites.
Furiously Happy..Jenny Lawson
David Sedaris… any of his books
Al Franken’s, ‘Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot’ will make you howl with laughter.
Anything by Penny Reid!
“Three Men in a Boat” by Jerome K. Jerome (the story about the cheese); short stories by Saki; “Thank You For Smoking” or “No Way to Treat a First Lady” by Christopher Buckley
Surprisingly, I laugh so much when I read my son’s “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books. I try to read a lot of the books he reads so we can chat about them and these books are hilarious!
Marley and Me
Now this comment truly made me lol.
Noir by Christopher Moore and almost anything else by him especially if it‘s about vampires in San Francisco or the life of Jesus as told by his best friend Biff-Lamb. They Eat Puppies Don’t They by Christopher Buckley and just about anything by him
Biff and Jesus are some memorable asventurers
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
The Pleasure of My Own Company by Steve Martin
The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens!?
By far Lamb by Christopher Moore
Any of the Sweet Potato Queen books by Jill Connor Browne
Winterdance by Gary Paulsen. The story of him training sled dogs for the Iditarod.
The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. ?
Norwood by Charles Portis
Bossypants by Tina Fey!
“Dad Is Fat” by Jim Gaffigan
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson. I read it on the train from London to Edinburgh and back so the setting likely had something to do with it.
Yes!
six of one / Rita Mae brown
Where’d you go Bernadette? By Maria semple
I hope they serve beer in hell
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Anything by PG Wodehouse (Jeeves), The Elephant Keeper’s Children, Stephanie Plum series, Middlesex, etc.
Henry’s List of Wrongs
Roald Dahl ….. I particularly like Danny the Champion of the World but all are very very funny.
As weird as this may sound, Crazy Rich Asians. I have laughed so much out loud!
Loved that whole series!
David Sedaris ~ Me Speak Pretty One Day.
Love his books. Especially Me Talk Pretty. Was reading that right after 9/11 I think. Helped me cope.
Anything by David Sedaris, especially the audiobooks he reads!
Anything by Roz Chast
Catch-22 had me laughing out loud on a LOT of different parts.
Memoir from Ant Proof Case by Mark Helprin
“Pig Tails ‘N Breadfruit: A Culinary Memoir” by Austin Clarke (Barbadian dialect) about Bajan food and cooking.
Belly Laughs by Jenny McCarthy! You don’t have to have given birth to laugh yourself silly over her pregnancy woes (though it is even funnier if you’ve been there, done that!)
John Dies at the End by David Wong
Margo Kaufman’s memoir Clara, the Early Years
A Confederacy of Dunces by far!
Full Scoop by Janet Evanovitch and Charolette Hughes. The whole series is hilarious!
Anything by Janet Evanovitch!
Who Put the Hair in My Toothbrush by Jerry Spinelli
Born a Crime, Trevor Noah
I loved a lot of Janet evanovich books just cause they are fun and I laughed a lot
Both of Mindy Kaling’s books. Hysterical!
Tina Fey. Bossy Pants.
I’m laughing out loud quite often while reading Louise Penny’s “Inspector Gamache” Police Mystery series
Hmmm that’s hard!!! I had quite a few, but The Martian, Illuminae, and Foolish Hearts? I don’t remember too many classics making me laugh exactly though.
An out of print book is one of my favorites. Bill Mauldin’s A Sort of Saga. A hilarious autobiography of his early life. I even read it to my kids. They loved it. You may want to read it first depending on your sensibilities. My kids weren’t tots when I read it.
High Fidelity. Nick Hornby
Anything that has the character of Kinsey Milhone.
The Misremembered Man by Christina McKenna.
Confederacy of Dunces! Best ever book!
Virtually all the Karl Haissen books although none made the top 100
Lamb by Christopher Moore!
The Princess Bride by William Goldman had some funny parts. I loved the book, the movie not so much.
Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpren is hilarious!
Oh, my, I forgot about that one. I so wished that that Justin’s dad was my dad…..hysterical!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hitching a ride with Beddha by Will Ferguson. It was hilarious
Not on the list but Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
I loved that one too!
Marly and Me Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog
Portnoy’s Complaint.
Catch 22.
Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death.
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail and everything else by Hunter Thompson, especially his book about the Hells Angels. Brilliant and hilarious.
Any of what I call the diner books by Carolyn Brown
Just remembered Brendan O’Carroll’s books about Agnes Brown The Mammy I think is the first. There are moments I am laughing into tears.
Sex Drugs and Coco Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
Mr. Penumbras 24 hr. Book had me laughing threw the whole book, but I listened to the audio version so it may have been due the the amazing narrator.
Douglas Adams. No competition