76 Comments
User's avatar
Kath Hubbard's avatar

Anything by Kevin Wilson - especially Nothing to See Here. Also A Prayer for Owen Meany - though I haven’t read it recently- I remember reading it on the subway ages ago and cracking up over a passage and the guy sitting across from me said great book and just started laughing too - presumably because he was remembering particular passages …

Expand full comment
Emily Tee's avatar

Very late to this chat ... comic go-tos are Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. but the book that had me guffawing and laughing out loud was Bill Bryson's "Notes from a Small Island", mostly due to his cantankerous persona but also because it was several decades old by the time I first read it so had a lovely nostalgic feel.

Expand full comment
Ed's avatar

Dear Committee Members-Julie Schumacher

Expand full comment
Marisa Russello's avatar

Heartburn by Nora Ephron

Expand full comment
Julia's avatar

"The Shakespeare Requirement" by Julie Schumacher - half unbelievable, half very close to reality, fully belly-hurting funny

Expand full comment
Chelsey's avatar

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

Expand full comment
Donna Cameron's avatar

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, by Christopher Moore

Expand full comment
Maevester's avatar

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

Expand full comment
Natalie Serber's avatar

Last summer I read, THE ANGEL OF ROME, by Jess Walter, and found myself laughing out loud on the beach, not in Rome, alas, but in France. I laughed on the beach, in a cafe, in my hotel room late at night. The title story, about a kid who pretends to have interest in the priesthood in order to secure a trip to Rome, and gets mixed up in a film shoot with an actor jonesing for cocaine is hilarious and surprising in the best ways!

Expand full comment
Anna Pele's avatar

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.

The relationship between the main character and Rocky is one of my favourites in the science fiction genre

Expand full comment
Richard Downing's avatar

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. Serious theme, humorous throughout.

Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar by Cathcart and Klein. Since when is philosophy a laugh riot? Since this book. Special bonus: you'll learn more about philosophy than you did in that class you slept through.

Expand full comment
David M. Perkins's avatar

Walking Across Egypt by Clyde Edgerton. Hilarious Southern humor.

Expand full comment
Jean Biegun's avatar

The first book in Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series

The Wooster and Jeeves series by P. G. Wodehouse

Expand full comment
Bobby Parrott's avatar

Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins

Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates by Tom Robbins

Any Poetry Book by Dean Young

Expand full comment
Chelsey's avatar

Seconding Tom Robbins!

Expand full comment
Bobby Parrott's avatar

Yeah, Tom Robbins, almost any novel, makes me say "whoahhh" on every other page, and on the pages in between laugh out loud! Another Roadside Attraction is very funny too, and profoundly imaginative. The opening to Jitterbug Perfume, called "Today's Special," is absolutely amazing poetry, too! Thanks for seconding, Chelsey! : )

Expand full comment
Julia's avatar

Down and Dirty Birding by Joey Slinger

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

A Zoo in My Luggage by Gerald Durrel

Expand full comment
Elaine Bennett's avatar

"The Dreyfus Affair"—by Peter Lefcourt, about two major league baseball players who fall in love. Caveat: it's old and I haven't re-read it since it came out, so it might reflect some old queer stereotypes. But I haven't laughed that hard while reading since. And in the realm of essays: "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris. I had to stop reading the title essay because I was in a hospital waiting room and no one else appreciated my giggling.

Expand full comment