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Old 12-21-2009, 08:03 PM   #46
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Originally Posted by Solitaire1 View Post
There are two series that I thought were very funny:

- The Myth Adventure Series by Robert Asprin. A great series that pokes a great deal of fun at the whole sword and sorcery genre. There was one scene in the first book that I had to struggle to not laugh.

- A Series Of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. Although the events of the series should not be humorous (but are very unfortunate), Snicket's writing style makes the humor shine through.
I was going to recommend the Myth series, but I could not find the entire series in eBook format. I know maybe one or two are available. But even in paper format they are worth a read.

I did see the movie (A Series of Unfortunate Events) and it was good, but not really funny. So do you think the books are better then the movie?
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Old 12-21-2009, 08:07 PM   #47
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Originally Posted by mores View Post
Pretty much any book by Harlan Coben will make you laugh, despite them being crime/thriller stories. Especially his Myron Bolitar series - cracks me up all the time!
Coben's Bolitar cracks me up too, and I also like Carl Hiaasen for laughs.
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Old 12-21-2009, 08:52 PM   #48
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I was going to recommend the Myth series, but I could not find the entire series in eBook format. I know maybe one or two are available. But even in paper format they are worth a read.

I did see the movie (A Series of Unfortunate Events) and it was good, but not really funny. So do you think the books are better then the movie?
When I made my recommendations, I wasn't considering ebook availability, just books that made me laugh. I'm also hesitant to recommend comic books and manga since this website mostly deals with text books (although there are some incredibly funny comic books (like the the Mid-1980s Justice League) and manga (like Ranma 1/2).

Concerning A Series Of Unfortunate Events (ASOUE), I did think the movie was both funny and true to the books (although they did make a few understandable modifications from the books to fuse the first three books into one movie).

One of the factors that makes the ASOUE series work is the way that Lemony Snicket writes, something that is a little difficult to carry off on screen. I think it is similar to The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, where Douglas Adams has a very distinctive writing style.
Last edited by Solitaire1; 12-21-2009 at 08:54 PM. Reason: Minor punctuation correction.
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Old 12-21-2009, 09:59 PM   #49
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It's been over thirty years, so I can't say whether I would still enjoy it so much today. But by far the book that had me laughing the most was Otley Victorious by Martin Waddell.

Waddell wrote a series of Otley books in the 60s. Otley was a reluctant spy for the UK.
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Old 12-22-2009, 02:00 AM   #50
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Neil Gaman's Good Omen's is also funny, tho not laugh-out-loud-funny imho.
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Old 12-22-2009, 03:47 AM   #51
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Hopefully his Jeeves stories are funnier than the only one I've read so far, Damsel in Distress-couldn't finish that one. Still have the Jeeves books on my to-be-read list, I don't generally give up on a well-recommended author just because the 1st book I happen to pick up isn't to my liking, but it does delay my getting into the rest.
I don't find Wodehouse to be extraordinarily funny, but he is a good storyteller of a classic vein and has decent smile-worthy humor woven into a lot of his stories.

I took tompe's advice and went through "Something New" (or Something Fresh) after a few lackluster experiences, and found it pretty enjoyable. It is a fairly well-crafted story and has pretty interesting characters. I can't call it hilarious, but it's smile-worthy.

I've yet to happen upon anything in the Project Gutenberg realm that can make me laugh out loud though. It's rather disconcerting, since I like to think of myself as having a well-developed sense of humor
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Old 12-22-2009, 03:54 AM   #52
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Glad someone else recommended Carl Hiaasen - Native Tongue is a favourite of mine, some of his others not so much. I think that maybe as with so many series if you read a couple close together they lose their edge, but spread the reading out and they are a lot better.

I dislike Woody Allens films, but his collection of short stories is pretty much the work of a comedic genius (in my opinion, of course).

The Good Soldier Švejk is a Czech book that is quite amusing - all about how stupid war and the military are.

No idea of the availability of the above in e-format. I suspect that The Good Soldier Švejk is not available anywhere...
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Old 12-22-2009, 06:53 AM   #53
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I can't believe I'm only the second guy to recommend Bridge of Birds By Barry Hughart. A very very funny book. I started reading it one day on a train drive (in PB) and when I got off nobody on the same car would've bet a nickel on my sanity, the way I was laughing...

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The Good Soldier Švejk is a Czech book that is quite amusing - all about how stupid war and the military are.
Seconded. I think it was the inspiration for "Catch 22", another funny book.
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Old 12-22-2009, 07:35 AM   #54
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I can't believe I'm only the second guy to recommend Bridge of Birds By Barry Hughart. A very very funny book. I started reading it one day on a train drive (in PB) and when I got off nobody on the same car would've bet a nickel on my sanity, the way I was laughing...
I think Bridge of Birds is one of my favorite novels. It's a beautiful book in many ways, and the humor took a back seat when I was reading it...especially near the end. That said, yeah it did have some zany fun stuff and some amusing wit.

I think it should be required reading for all Sinologists, actually.
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Old 12-22-2009, 07:43 AM   #55
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Originally Posted by GA Russell View Post
It's been over thirty years, so I can't say whether I would still enjoy it so much today. But by far the book that had me laughing the most was Otley Victorious by Martin Waddell.
If you liked Otley Victorious, I expect you'd like the Flashman series by George MacDonald Fraser. Fraser borrowed the character, Harry Flashman, from the book Tom Brown's School Days and puts him in the British Army in the Victorian era. Like Otley, he is a reluctant spy and gets up to hilarious adventures. Also, these are VERY accurate historical fiction.
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Old 12-22-2009, 07:48 AM   #56
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I don't find Wodehouse to be extraordinarily funny, but he is a good storyteller of a classic vein and has decent smile-worthy humor woven into a lot of his stories.
My brother is reading 'Heavy Weather' at the moment - he attempted to read a favourite passage at a recent family get-together but kept cracking up. Eventually he passed the book to me to read out, and I couldn't stop laughing at it either.
It took about 5 minutes to splutter through three sentences.
Wodehouse!!
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Old 12-22-2009, 09:15 AM   #57
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The Good Soldier Švejk is a Czech book that is quite amusing - all about how stupid war and the military are.

No idea of the availability of the above in e-format. I suspect that The Good Soldier Švejk is not available anywhere...
A new English translation of Švejk is available at www.zenny.com in both paperback and PDF formats.
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Old 12-22-2009, 09:21 AM   #58
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The Good Soldier Švejk is a Czech book that is quite amusing - all about how stupid war and the military are.
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Seconded. I think it was the inspiration for "Catch 22", another funny book.
You are right, although I was told years ago Joseph Heller publicly denied it at one time. However, later he said as much to another writer who wrote about it. See the quote at www.zenny.com
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Old 12-22-2009, 10:00 AM   #59
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Anne George's Southern Sisters Mysteries are very funny. I nearly choked laughing at these at the beach one year. I'm not sure of their ebook availability though.

As previously mentioned the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich are also just outrageously funny. I was reading one at lunch at work one day and laughed until I cried. These are all available in ebook form.
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Old 12-22-2009, 06:27 PM   #60
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Not sure if this was mentioned,

Apathy and other Small Victories

http://www.amazon.com/Apathy-Other-S.../dp/0312351747
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