Funniest "no thinking involved" book you ever read?

[blondeatlast]

Okay, I'm a librarian, true, but I don't generally read fiction. But Hubby's surgery is Thursday, it will probably be several hours (3-5 hours is the estimate at this point).

I can't sit in a waiting room stewing with anxiety for that long, so I'm looking for a couple of really great, cheerful "fluffies" to read.

Recommendations? I like nearly anything (including romance) except I just can't get into sci-fi (no offense).

[terrya]

1. "The Darwin Awards" books are pretty funny,

They're books about REALLY stupid things people do. There are 2 books so far, I think.

You work in a very noble profession, blondeatlast.

Terry

[blondeatlast]

5. Hilarious indeed--but I've read them.

The problem with my work is that I read reviews constantly. I have an Excel spreadsheet of stuff to read before I die, even, and am constantly adding to it. But it's virtually all non-fiction.

Thanks for the compliment!

[Blue-Jay]

2. Pick up "Good Omens"

by Terry Pratchet and Neil Gaiman. Hilarious stuff, and full of fluff.

EDIT: Good is Bad, Up is Down. I'm an idiot.

[dolo amber]

7. Ooooooh, good one!

I was gonna say Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but that's in the same vein and a VERY fun read. ;) :thumbsup:

[EstimatedProphet]

9. Missed this post the first time

But it's Good Omens, not Bad Omens...just being anal...

[Blue-Jay]

10. Yeah. I changed it.

Brain fart.

[Bat Boy]

27. Amen to that!

I want a hell hound!

There has been a film version rumored for years. Last I heard Gilliam was in consideration for director.

[Elidor]

3. Venus on the Half-Shell

By Phillip Jose Farmer, writing pseudonymously as Kilgore Trout.

It's a send-up of every bad science-fiction story ever written. Hilarious. I wish I still had my copy - Farmer's books are hard to find these days.

[Mr. Socko]

4. Read "Bushisms"

They're no-brainers (literally) and they make one laugh. :)

[grannylib]

33. That would be my choice...or some of Anne McCaffery's Pern stuff...

just fun take-away fantasy.

[gula]

6. Six of one by Rita Mae Brown.

I laughed from cover to cover and everybody, except my sister who tends to read family saga type books, also absolutely loved it.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

12. Great book!

[Mrs. Venation]

40. And Then Read "Bingo"

The story of the same two sisters as mature women. I laughed so hard my sides ached at both of these books!

[Bertha Venation]

42. and then, "Loose Lips."

Not as good as Six of One or Bingo, but still pretty damned good. It's about the same sisters during WWII.

[EstimatedProphet]

8. Pity you don't like Sci-Fi

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett is a work of comic genius. Picture the Omen series done by Monty Python...

[blondeatlast]

11. Is that a DiscWorld? I hhave been intrigued by them.

I just did a massive order of genre fiction for our 3 (count 'em, 3!) new branches opening up in the next year, and I noticed these were both very popular and highly recommended.

I might check it out.

[Blue-Jay]

17. Not a Discworld book.

But those are some of my favorite "fluff" books as well. "Good Omens" isn't really even what I'd call sci-fi. It's a funny send off on the apocolypse.

[DrWeird]

20. I highly recommend anything Pratchett's written.

Especially the Discworld books, and of those especially the ones about the Night Watch. I recommend Men at Arms, then Feet of Clay.

[VelmaD]

37. Pratchett is a genius

Absolutely the funniest person writing today. He slips in all sorts of hidden messages in his books but you're laughing so hard that it never feels preachy. :)

[wryter2000]

13. Anything by P. G. Wodehouse

P. G. Wodehouse is hysterical.

Also, a couple of my romances are funny (I hope). Always a Princess and Taming Angelica. Definitely no thinking required.

On edit: the romance is definitely steamy.

[blondeatlast]

16. That's the stuff I was looking for--real fluff (that is not an insult)!

Would you PM your nom-de-plume? There's another romance author on the boards, too (unless you changed your DUer name). She does more historical stuff.

I like the modern romances, though I'm just getting into them. One of the library assistants (I'm actually an LA) has written a couple as well.

[wryter2000]

26. Thanks

I'll PM you, too, but my psuedonym is Alice Chambers.

I knew it wasn't an insult because you said you like romance. It isn't meant to be LITERATURE, at least not by me.

[Westegg]

43. Yeah, Wodehouse...

Long live Jeeves, Bertie Wooster and the whole mad lot of them. This is comfort-food in book form. I have to admit, though, that I'm a severe Anglophile, and some folks just think Wodehouse is old, dull stuff about stupid rich imperialists.

I also recommend (though it's not funny) the Sherlock Holmes stories. When I want to relax and get lost in a by-gone era, I'll re-read a Holmes mystery I first read when I was ten.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

14. Collected short stories of Flannery O'Conner or A Pen Warmed Up in Hell

by my Icon.

[markus]

15. The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight

I would have picked the National Lampoon parody Bored of the Rings, but it may technically qualify as requiring thinking:

"Hie thee hence, you leafy narc!"

[BigMcLargehuge]

24. that is the funniest book I ever read

Love the bike race in the armory sequence and the botched hit in the restaurant.

[dorktv]

18. Terry Prachett's early novels were no brainers...lately his stuff

has been very good satire.

[JaySherman]

19. The Case of the Writer's Block

Every page was blank :evilgrin:.

Seriously, though. I've always loved Washington Irving when I just wanted to enjoy a good yarn. Maybe of book of Irving short stories.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

21. If you like cats, "Poetry for Cats"

including such gems as "Do Not Go Gentle Unto that Good Vet" and a parody of "To Be or Not to Be" based on a cat's indecision about being inside or outside.

[peacefreak]

22. Christopher Moore comes to mind

Island of the Sequined Love Nun
Fluke
Lamb
Lust Lizard of Melancoly Cove

[BigMcLargehuge]

23. Dave Sedaris' stuff is pretty funny

try:

Me Talk Pretty One Day
Naked
Barrel Fever

[Richardo]

45. "Me Talk Pretty One Day" would be a great hospital read...

Collection of essays, all hilarious....

[NightTrain]

25. Wolfman Jack's "Have Mercy!"

Funniest damned autobiography I've ever read! That guy was a maniac both on and off the radio.

[Rowdyboy]

28. If you want quality silliness, try either Steinbeck and his book

"The Short Reign of Pippin IV" or Leonard Wibberly's comic masterpiece about the duchy of Grand Fenwick "The Mouse That Roared".
Either will take your mind off the present and take you far away from the waiting room. Hope you relax and enjoy.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

29. Just remembered...

If you've ever had any connections with theater or broadcasting, you will love British writer Simon Brett's Charles Paris mysteries. Paris is a middle-aged, hard-drinking actor who always manages to screw up his life, but he is good at solving mysteries.

An older humorous series, especially for people well-versed in either literature or music, is the Edmund Crispin books. Crispin wrote film scores and church music under his real name (Bruce Montgomery), but his mysteries have a lot of dry British humor, much of it connected with music or literature.

[SarahB]

30. Funny? I can't even remember.

Books I read include:

Social science and natural science texts
Political non-fiction
Parenting books
An occasional biography
Erotica (not cheesy Harlequin bodice rippers, but good stuff)

I can't even remember the last time I read something funny. Not that I have a thing against humor. I love humor. I guess other stuff just appeals to me more in the solitude of reading. Maybe I should get out more.

[Kat45]

31. Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy

I loved that book! Have always meant to read the rest of the series, but haven't gotten around to them yet.

[proud patriot]

32. Garfield "takes the cake"

:thumbsup:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

34. HARRY POTTER

[livetohike]

35. Patrick McManus

Anything he has written is good for laughing out loud.

[President_G_W_Bush]

36. I don't know... I thought "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" was pretty deep.

[SoCalDem]

38. Anything by Carl Hiaasen.. "Lucky Me " is hysterical

:)

[Richardo]

44. "Lucky YOU" and yes it is among his best...

The white supremacist group alone (The White Clarion Aryans) is worth the price of the book...

[hippiechick]

39. A Party of One: The Loner's Manifesto

Can't recall the author's name ....


:hippie:

[Bridget Burke]

41. "To Say Nothing Of the Dog" by Connie Willis

Officially this is science fiction--but it's more. Coventry Cathedral is being rebuilt & time-travellers are searching for the information needed to make it absolutely perfect. There are visits to the Middle Ages & the Blitz, but most of the book takes place in Victorian England. A long visit to an English country house, with all the silliness of the British upper class on display.

This is a seriously funny book. I've read it several times & it may be one of my favorite pieces of fiction--ever!