Humour

[sandmaster]

My usual Christmas question. I like to have a good laugh at this time of year and ask fellow answerbankers for suggestions for humorous books they have enjoyed. I know a sense of humour can be personal but your suggestions would be welcome and I can then browse in bookshops or the library before buying/borrowing. Many thanks.

[retrocop]

I have been told I have a good sense of humour.I don't often laugh out loud.On holiday,this year,I picked up a book entitled 'Life Expectancy' by Dean Koontz.An American author I had never previously heard of.The book is extremely funny in a slight black humour sort of way.It is a little supernatural which I don't normally like but I could'nt put the book down and thoroughly recommend it.Certainly had me laughing out loud.Must read more of this author's work.

[VHG]

I find Bill Bryson a very funny writer.

He is known mainly as a travel writer but has written books on many other subjects such as language, words, Shakespeare and so on.

I am not sure how he does it but he manages to get a laugh about every other sentence. He makes me laugh out loud and I keep reading bits out to my wife.

He is a great one for finding obscure facts about a person or country and I have lost track of the times I have run to the computer to check on something he has written and lo and behold it is true.

In one book he wrote about driving through America he came across a town called Centralia that was built on top of a layer of coal. About 40 or more years ago the coal seam underground caught fire but it was felt it would cost too much to put the fire out, so it was left to burn.

People started moving out the town but some stayed and they are still living there 40 years later even though the roads are all cracked and there is a smell of sulphur everywhere.

You can read about it here

http://www.damninteresting.com/the-smoldering-ruins-of-centralia/

If you have not read any Bill Bryson then dig one out.

He has written books about the UK, the USA, Europe, Australia and so on and any of those would be a fine starting point.

[VHG]

To give you an idea of Bill Bryson's humour, at the start of the Down Under book (about Australia) he says:

"Flying into Australia I realized with a sigh that I had forgotten again who their prime minister is. I am forever doing this with the Australian prime minister - committing the name to memory - forgetting it (generally more or less instantly) then feeling terribly guilty. My thinking is that there ought to be one person outside Australia who knows".

He then goes on to tell the story of how they LOST a Prime minster.

One day the current prime minster Harold Holt, went swimming in the sea and vanished and was never seen again. As Bryson says, how can you just "lose" a prime minster.

He then gives a history of the whole country, coming up with amazing facts about some of the people who settled there, some of the early explorers who went into the outback and were never seen again, and how the capital city of Canberra was built (both Sydney and Melbourne wanted to be capital so they decided to build a new town instead. They found the spot, but it was 30 years before the actually built the city of Canberra).

That is just one example of one book but there are plenty of others to choose from.

[birdwoman]

VHG - I've been to Centralia. Very odd place it is. Big cracks in the road with smoke rising from them. Nice and warm though!
Sandmaster - I recently read this book http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/268864.Never_Push_When_It_Says_Pull and it had me giggling like a loon (like retrocop I don't often laugh out loud - not at books anyway). It's an easy read you can dip in and out of it (makes a good toilet book!)

[hellywelly4]

I always like Gervase Phinn's books. He has a new one out called 'Mangled English' which is about the way people use the wrong words. It's on my Christmas list.
His books about his life as a school inspector are hilarious.

[ChillDoubt]

I agree over Bill Bryson. Very funny.
Currently reading French Revolutions by Tim Moore where he cycles the route of the Tour de France, alone.
It is laugh out loud funny.

[davetuc]

If you like him, Danny Baker's Autobiography 'Going to Sea in a Sieve' is superb.

[jaynethepain]

I also agree with Bill Bryson. The one where he comes over to UK as a young man (title escapes me) is laugh-out-loud stuff!

[sandmaster]

Many thanks to all for your suggestions. It sounds as though all the books suggested are 'my cup of tea'. I will be looking at them all during the next few weeks. I'm not marking a best answer - you are all winners. There should be an option for this!!

[mazie]

I'm looking forward to getting this

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

I love her books

[Tilly2]

Jayne, it's called Notes from A Small Island.

[Tilly2]

Try these two

McCarthy's Bar: A Journey Of Discovery In The West Of Ireland

The Road To McCarthy
Pete McCarthy

[pixie373]

Bill Bryson is hilarious. He could write out the phone book and make it funny. Quite like Dean Koontz, although haven't found him particularly funny. How about books by comedians? Michael McIntyre, Dara O'Briain, Stephen Fry, Ben Elton.

[pixie373]

Yes- Notes from a Small Island is his impression of England from an American point-of -view and the other- Tales from a Big Country (?) where he moves back to America and sees it from an English point-of-view.