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Funny books


Snowflake

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Guest Tiresias

In the classics department: Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais, and Don Quixote by Cervantes (currently reading). Ulysses is a very funny book, too, which too few people realize.

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Poppy, I can't wait to get a hold of PG Wodehouse. I have a feeling he's an author I'm really going to enjoy. I was browsing books the other day and noticed his works are being re-released (the covers looks great), so now looks like an ideal time to be getting into them! I'm going to try and hold off until the post-Christmas book sales though, because if I'm going to get them all, the cost will add up!

 

I also found George Grossmith's Diary of a Nobody to be very funny.

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Please excuse double post.

 

OK, so I couldn't wait until after Christmas. I just went out and bought Thank You, Jeeves. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship! :lol:

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Oh, I do hope you enjoy it Kylie. Let me know. There is a wonderful TV series made of Jeeves and Wooster, starring Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster and Steven Fry as Jeeves. They are absolutely brilliant in these parts - I'm sure you would love it.

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P.G.Wodehouse...
Poppy, I can't wait to get a hold of PG Wodehouse...
OK, so I couldn't wait until after Christmas. I just went out and bought Thank You, Jeeves. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship! :lol:

Yes, definitely PG Wodehouse - the Jeeves and Wooster stories are incredibly funny and SO well written!

 

Thanks, Poppy. I've been eyeing off the DVDs recently but I'd like to read some of the books first. Does each episode relate specifically to a certain story?

Yes, the episodes link directly back to the stories. I think there are some episodes are are loosely based on aspects of several stories and that there are some that are just in the spirit of the stories, but it's an excellent series and I LOVE being able to play "Spot the Story" when I watch it on telly.

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Sue Townsend's books, namely the Adrian Mole series and the ones where the royal family go and live on a council estate (I can't remember the titles and my books are packed away). I love the Adrian Mole books - great observational comedy and satire. Very funny indeed. Sue Townsend is an unrecognised genius.

 

I would also second Round Ireland With A Fridge.

 

Depending on your humour, you might like Douglas Adams books or Terry Pratchett too. :lol:

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I've been thinking of reading some Jeeves and Wooster books (I wonder where that idea came from! :friends0: ). Do they need to be read in order?

 

I believe each book works as a 'standalone' and they don't necessarily need to be read in order, but perhaps someone who has more experience with Jeeves and Wooster can shed some light on that.

 

How many Adrian Mole books are there? I bought a second-hand copy of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole back at the end of last year, I think. I'm sure I read it when I was younger but I really don't remember much of it. Has it dated at all?

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I believe each book works as a 'standalone' and they don't necessarily need to be read in order, but perhaps someone who has more experience with Jeeves and Wooster can shed some light on that.

 

We probably need to ask sib, our resident Wodehouse expert.

 

I've read a lot of Jeeves and Wooster, I'm sure they weren't in order and it didn't seem to make much difference.

The Blandings series with Lord Emsworth and his prize pig 'The Empress' (another excellent series by Wodehouse) are a bit more in sequence.

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How many Adrian Mole books are there? I bought a second-hand copy of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole back at the end of last year, I think. I'm sure I read it when I was younger but I really don't remember much of it. Has it dated at all?

 

There must be at least 5 or 6 Adrian Mole books... maybe 7. If I get to Amazon before anyone else does I'll come back and post the titles!

 

Some of it has dated, eg references to the Falklands War or to TV programmes/celebrities of the time, but a lot of it is pretty timeless as it deals with the family relationships and characters. I love these books. When all my books are properly arranged and I can actually get to them, I'm going to sit down and re-read them all in order!

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As has been mentioned, Roddy Doyle's Barrytown Trilogy - laugh out loud funny - as you work through the three books they just seem to get funnier.

 

Bill Bryson - particularly Neither here nor there

 

Nick Hornby - High Fidelity

 

The "Pratt" series of books by David Nobbs

("Pratt of the Argus", "Second from last in the sack race", "The Cucumber man" etc)

 

Most books by David Lodge

 

Stephen Fry - The Hippopotamus; Moab is my washpot

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Dry by Augsten Burroughs. He is the same guy that wrote Running with Scissors. I loved Dry because it was funny, yet serious at the same time. I was not a fan of Running and perhaps I will try it again, but Dry made me laugh so hard.

 

I sort of agree. Dry was a great read and it was funny, but I think it was a lot more sad than Running with Scissors. I laughed but also cried during Dry, but with Running I just laughed - but I laughed all the way home :)

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