Funny
part 8

Fairly short as most "humourous" books are just not funny. Tom Sharpe sold tons and it's as funny as bowel cancer if you ask me.

Sellars and Yeatman- 1066 and All That.
or
A Memorable History of England,
comprising all the parts you can remember,
including 103 Good Things,
5 Bad Kings, and
2 Genuine Dates

Hunter Thompson- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

How can you resist a book that starts like this

We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like “I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive…” And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming: “Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?” Then it was quiet again. My attorney had taken his shirt off and was pouring beer on his chest, to facilitate the tanning process. “What the hell are you yelling about?” he muttered, staring up at the sun with his eyes closed and covered with wraparound Spanish sunglasses. “Never mind,” I said. “It’s your turn to drive.” I hit the brakes and aimed the Great Red Shark toward the shoulder of the highway. No point mentioning those bats, I thought. The poor bastard will see them soon enough.

P.G Wodehouse- read any of them. Already had a shout so I won't dwell

Spine Millingtune of course although the stuff towards the end gets a bit woolly and lazy the early war biographies are spiffing

Terry Pratchett has already at a shout so again I'll pass over quickly. Makes me laugh though.

Franz Kafka
Not usually noted as a humourist but for my money that's usually his critics fault. There's a lot of very black comedy in there if you read it with that idea in mind

Not including plays as they are performances, the book is just the framework, but if I were then Stoppard, Beckett, Ionescu and Ben Johnson, to name but a few, would get a shout. Not many yucks in Beckett's novels apart from Murphy and I don't really love it that much.

Passing mentions of Tom Holt and Robert Rankin who both have their moments, Douglas Adams but it was better on the radio and that's about it
(unclestinky, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 13:39, 21 replies)

can't stop here
this is bat country
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 13:42, closed)

The ether was wearing off. The acid was long gone. But the mescaline was running strong
...how many times have I said THAT* to myself!



* well, with certain local and cultural substitutions
(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 13:48, closed)

I can't wait for part 14.
This is edge-of-the-seat stuff.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 13:48, closed)

I'm hoping it ends with a dramatic suicide.

(Spleep Shit, or get off the internet., Tue 10 Jan 2012, 13:55, closed)

YES!

( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 14:00, closed)

I'm actually hoping the suicide is a dramatic twist after chapter eight, but I think I'm going to be disappointed.

(Spleep Shit, or get off the internet., Tue 10 Jan 2012, 14:09, closed)

i must have missed the memo where rob asked for unclestinky's dissertation on literature through the ages.

( janet aylia y'all motherfuckers need jesus, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 14:15, closed)

I'm sure Rob asked for windy ballbags to endlessly list every book they've ever read in painful detail.

(Spleep Shit, or get off the internet., Tue 10 Jan 2012, 14:30, closed)

oh well in that case, carry on, unclestinky.
ooh! i hope part 9 is 'agrarian monarchy in the late 12th century'!
( janet aylia y'all motherfuckers need jesus, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 14:36, closed)

Tell us about your favourite books.....and why they are so good
Well tough shit on those of you who don't read very much. I have to read all the crap from other qotws where I have very little to input as I won't just make up some old bollocks. (Also I don't get out much)

Favourites and why was the question so that's what you are getting. This is just a bare sampling, if I listed every book I ever read we'd be here till next Christmas.
(unclestinky, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 15:18, closed)

If you want
I could post my masters dissertation but that does seem a bit outside the scope of the question.
(unclestinky, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 15:21, closed)

Hahahahahahaha.
Oh dude. You really should have kept your keyboard closed.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 15:40, closed)

i would, but other people talking about their favourite books is like people telling you about their dreams.
i read an inordinate amount. for example, i've just started 'the kindly ones' as recommended by someone here this week. but hey, nobody really cares about that but me, right?

oh, but thanks for taking the opportunity to point out that you have a master's degree.
( janet aylia y'all motherfuckers need jesus, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 15:57, closed)

You're very welcome
Not much more now in any case, Some non-fiction, biographies, maybe some SF although that's been pretty well covered already and what academics condescendingly label ephemeral fiction.

All this attention, however, may go to my head and we can do sports books, underground comics, science, history and many more.

(Probably not though)
(unclestinky, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 17:16, closed)

Fuck me. It's professor self awareness.

( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 17:26, closed)

rather raises the question of what you expected
When the question was Tell us about your favourite books and authors, and why they are so good.
(unclestinky, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 17:47, closed)

and another thing
If you are so deeply uninterested in hearing about the which and the why of other folks bibliophila then how is it you have taken a recommendation on that basis?

Logically inconsistent?
(unclestinky, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 20:04, closed)

because some people can just say 'this is a good book'
without doing 'my literary thoughts, part the 8th'
( janet aylia y'all motherfuckers need jesus, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 22:36, closed)

'agrarian monarchy in the late 12th century'
is fucking awesome
(cs1ca, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 20:59, closed)

Agree on Sharpe completely - urgghh.
Does Flann O'Brien/ Myles na Gopaleen/Brian O'Nolan not count as 'humorous'? 'Cos he wrote some cracking stuff.
( Tab Hunter Make this useless process end and so, begin again, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 15:38, closed)

I don't get Terry Pratchett at all, I find that kind of humour boring

(IHateSprouts is baking a huge pie shaped like an enormous pie, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 17:44, closed)