I need some laughter in my life and am looking for some side-splitting (CLEAN humor) books. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

H.

Have you read anything by Christopher Moore?  I highly recommend Blood Sucking Fiends and the sequel, You Suck.  For laugh out loud funny, try Lamb, but only if you have a sense of humor where religion is involved.  If you like offbeat humor, Robert Rankin and Tom Holt might be what you need.  Rankin's Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse and Snuff Fiction are a lot of fun (as are all of his books).  Snuff refers to the tobacco product, btw.  Holt's Nothing But Blue Skies is great, too. Then there always Dave Barry for real-life humor.

Hope this helps.

Sandy 

Definitely Bill Bryson.  As you tell, I'm quite a fan of his, too.

Sandy 

Thanks so much for the great suggestions! I will definitely check them out!

update: i just looked up the book by Bryson - it is a nature/travel book about the The Appalachian Trail - is that the right one?

Thanks,

Hanaan

That's the one.  Most of his books are travel-related and they're all gems, as far as I'm concerned.  I love to listen to his books on cd on my way too and from work, especially the ones where he is doing the reading.  Bill's my favorite traveling companion, much to my husband's chagrin. ;-)

Sandy 

The Grits (Girls raised in the south) Guide to Life by Deborah Ford is pretty amusing. I just finished it today.

I love David Sedaris, especially "Me Talk Pretty One Day."  His books are essays based on his life and childhood, and they are a riot!!

Another one I'm halfway through is "Autobiography of a Fat Bride" by Laurie Notaro...I was sitting in the airport with tears rolling down my cheeks, trying to be quiet as I fell into hysterics!

Get yer "Laugh out loud and clean" right cheer: My Life and Hard Times by James Thurber (all of which, I think, is included in The Thurber Carnival; Raising Demons and LIfe among the Savages by Shirley Jackson; any Peanuts collection by Charles M. Schulz; Charles Dickens has a passle of funny characters like Nick's mother and Mr. Mantalini in Nicholas Nickleby and most of the characters are funny in Pickwick Papers; Into the Heart of Borneo by Redmond O'Hanlon is break a rib from laughing funny. 

You heard it before and I'll tell you again - Bill Bryson, Bill Bryson, Bill Bryson. And, best of all, you'll learn as you laugh. Try "The Lost Continent," "From a Sunburned Country," "A Walk in the Woods," "Neither Here Nor There," "Notes From a Small Island," "I'm a Stranger Here Myself" or "Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid."  I read and reread his books; they're the ones I never trade.

My mother and cousin are absolutely hooked on anything written by Laurie Notaro. I've never read any of her books.

If you are a parent of young kids you should read  the "Baby Blues" books.They are collections of comic strips and boy are they funny!! My husband even reads them!!!!  We are both very addicted to them!! They are sure to lift your spirits :)

Stacy

Kathryn Hammer is a real pip. She is as clean as you'll probably find these days. She does cuss every now and then, but if you can make it through a TV sitcom without clutching the pearls, you can make it through one of Hammer's books. My mother-in-law who is a self-proclaimed prude read one of Hammer's books and "didn't see a problem with it". At any rate, this is what I have to say about a couple of Hammer's books....

And How Are We Feeling Today?
The book is worth buying if only for the following chapter alone-Procedures and Diagnostic Tests: Your Life as a Laboratory Mouse. The bit about a mammogram has been the grist for e-mail funnies, and it is only one of the descriptions Hammer deliciously conjures. From the chapter on surgery, this is a snippet of her humor: "Postoperative Activities: Walking. As soon as you've stopped throwing up, they will get you out of bed and make you walk. This is the Lazarus therapy used in the Bible, and it worked quite well for him." This book is good for people on either side of the needle. A real gas!

You're Pregnant: A Guide to the Longest Nine Months of Your Life
The funniest pregnancy book ever written. Kathryn Hammer's a real hoot! I laughed out loud all the way through this book. Just a little snippet to prove my point: "A boarder, a complete stranger has set up housekeeping inside your body, occupying an internal organ that until now had rarely come up in polite conversation." If you need break from all those pregnancy manuals that sound all the same, this is the book for you.

Thank you everyone for all the great suggestions! It has been a while since I checked this board (thanks Edie, for the heads up!) and I am so glad I did!

Can't wait to find some of these titles :)

H.

Hi,

  You might also try PG Wodehouse.  His humor is English, very funny to me.

Laura

The best laugh out loud books i have read are

JANET EVANOVICH BOOKS HER STEPHANIE PLUM SERIES.

ONE FOR THE MONEY

TWO FOR THE DOUGH

THREE TO GET DEADLY

FOUR TO SCORE

HIGH FIVE

HOT SIX

SEVEN UP

AND SO ON..IT GOES ALL  THE WAY TO 13 AND I HAVE READ THEM ALL AND LOOOOOOOOVE THEM. I LAUGH SO HARD HUBBY ALWAYS LOOKS AT ME FUNNY.

"The Broke Diaries" by Angela Nissel is a very funny book.  I found myself giggling throughout the book

After reading so much about Bill Bryson I got a couple of his books - was very disappointed, didn't find much humor at all.   Now Dave Barry, there's funny!!  Anything by him cracks me up.  For fiction you can't go wrong with Terry Pratchett, I think each of his books get funnier, course it's very British humor.  Currently reading Guards! Guards! and literally laughing out loud on almost every page., e.g. the guard captain holding off a mob with a little dragon as a weapon, asking them the Dirty Harry question - does he have any flame left?  well how lucky do you feel? ROTFLOL 

Cheers, Margaret.

Oh, you have got to try Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys, but in audio book. It is a hysterical book, and the man who reads for the audio is soo good at voices. It has definite mythological and fantasy elements but not so much that it is hard to get into. I listened to it on my commute recently and was even laughing out right in the worst of traffic coming home after a bad day!

And everyone is right about Christopher Moore, he is always a go to guy for humor. Practical Demonkeeping, The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, and The Stupidest Angel (in that order) are very funny!

I've never read British humor, but I have certainly watched it and find it enchantingly funny. Thanks for the tip. I'll have to check out Pratchett. I always need a good laugh now and again.

I don't think there's anything dirty in The Little Book of Stress. it's a book I found on clearance one day, and I noticed that everything it said was a load of bull, but it's meant to be that way. It's pretty funny! LOL

I loved Hissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews.  It was a RIOT!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, David Sedaris!!  Everything else I like wouldn't be considered clean humor...LOL