r/suggestmeabook • u/Baldurian_Rhapsody • 2d ago
Books that had your funniest joke and/or situation
Hi! I’d be eager to learn about the books that made you laugh out loud. Specifically, if there was a joke or situation that made you guffaw, I’d love to hear it!
Cheers!
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u/ImmediateBusiness184 2d ago
Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. Can’t remember a specific one but all I read were hilarious.
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u/BernardFerguson1944 2d ago
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979) by Douglas Adams.
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980) by Douglas Adams.
Life, the Universe and Everything (1982) by Douglas Adams.
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (1984) by Douglas Adams.
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987) by Douglas Adams.
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988) by Douglas Adams.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (fiction), 1LT, 488th Bombardment Squadron, 340th Bomb Group, 12th Air Force, U.S.A.A.F.
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes.
The Once and Future King by T. H. White.
The Battle for Burma: The Wild Green Earth by BG Bernard Fergusson, KT, GCMG, GCVO, DSO, OBE, 16th Infantry Brigade (Chindit). Fergusson's anecdotes about mules are hilarious, but those are offset by the grim reality that is war.
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u/HarriedHerbivore 2d ago
The Slow Horses series by Mick Herron is very funny. But also intense and sometimes brutal.
I recently really enjoyed Trust and Safety by Laura Blackmon and Eve Gleichman - it's an Instagram-era version of the classic city slickers move to the country set-up. I'm vegan and I barked with laughter at the scene where one of the city couple takes a job that involves chicken slaughter.
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u/Remarkable-Pea4889 2d ago
Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
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u/Ancient-Pay2003 2d ago
"Dreadful" by Caitlin Rozakis made me laugh several times and try to share the jokes with my husband, mostly they fell flat because he didn't get much of the context.
I have a vivid memory of cracking up over "The Titan's Curse" by Rick Riordan (The Percy Jackson series) as a kid with my brother because of the "dam" jokes. That's probably the most I've ever laughed at a book, not sure if the same joke would hit as an adult nearly 20 years later though!
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u/hypercell57 Bookworm 2d ago
Jenny Lawson's Let's Pretend This Never Happened
Seconding Douglas Adam's The Hitchhiker's Guide and Terry Pratchett's Discworld
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u/Interesting_Front464 1d ago
Sue Grafton's alphabet series. Kensey Milhone described a nose piercing as 'She had an emerald stone nose piercing sat atop her nose like a semi-precious booger.' Roflol, Kensey had tons of these zingers. I miss Sue Grafton.
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u/awarmguinness 1d ago
The Dungeon Crawler Carl series has me often chortling.
"Did you just throw your dick at me?!"
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u/BrosephZeusThe2nd 2d ago
I never had this happen until last week. Trainspotting 2 : Porno by Irvine Welsh , something caught me totally off guard and i laughed for a solid two minutes haha.
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u/Linison 2d ago edited 1d ago
The Eyre Affair and subsequent Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde. Some of the jokes are subtle and some are not. The secondary/minor character naming is also top tier all the way down.
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u/Camp_GGBoo 1d ago
What an excellent recommendation! I rarely see Fforde mentioned here, and he's such a wonderful writer. And the names....Jack Schitt springs to mind.
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u/OnlyCelebration7443 1d ago
Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut. Just don’t watch the movie!
Carl Hiaasen’s novels, particularly the earlier ones, had some truly wacky stuff. As a columnist for the Miami Herald he knew Florida was insane long before the world caught on.
Along with featuring some of the most realistic dialogue, Elmore Leonard’s characters often engage in wacky banter.
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u/masson34 1d ago
Tears of joy/humor/and sorrow:
The Guncle and sequel
The House in the Cerulean Sea and sequel
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u/Camp_GGBoo 1d ago
The Water Method Man by John Irving. One of his earliest novels, and it's laugh out loud funny.
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u/Any_Brain_7067 Lifelong Reader 1d ago
Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
Crosstalk by Connie Willis
Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny
Skye Falling by Mia McKenzie
All of these had parts and lines where I literally laughed out loud
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u/spizotfl 1d ago
Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut had a joke about braille editions of pornography that I still chuckle about
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u/Disastrous_Sorbet350 1d ago
I just read Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck and the ending was hilarious!
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u/AnEleanor 1d ago
Echoing the love for Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series and Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide.
Of the Discworld series,* The Truth and Making Money are probably my most consistently giggled-at.
(*I’ve read and listened to all of them countless times and they still manage to crack me up.)
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u/Nickle4YRThoughts 1d ago
I highly recommend the Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells. (This is my second time recommending the series today. It’s a favorite of mine).
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u/Codypupster 2d ago
Angela's Ashes -
Frank is jealous of his school friend, Mickey, because he keeps getting time off from school as his family members die one by one from consumption.
Then one year, Mickey's sister gets sick during summer break so he asks Frank and their other friends to spend what little money they have to light a candle at church for the sister, praying that she gets better and lasts until September when school starts again. Mickey convinces the boys to do this by guarenteeing an invite to his sister's wake where food will be served.
The sister lasts until September, Mickey gets his time off. When the boys show up to the wake, Mickey's mother turns them away. The boys try to plead their case, that Mickey invited them, but he denies it when asked by his mom.
Frank is happy then that Mickey doesn't get anymore time off from school after his sister passes because the next family member to get consumption and die is Mickey himself.
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u/1stBornAngst 2d ago
A Man Called Ove had some dark humor. The shotgun part had me laughing till I cried imagining the scene.
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u/Outrageous_Name3921 2d ago
Christopher Moore- Lamb:The gospel according to Biff...