Re: Books reading recommendation request

On Jul 29, 3:32 pm, "jerry_fried...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"
<jerry_fried...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On Jul 29, 12:37 pm, Neil Jones <castellan2004-cn...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> > I am interested in reading novels or books in general that are funny
or
> > comedy inclined.  The only funny author that I know is P.G. Wodehouse
> > who makes fun of the mistakes of the rich.  Are there any other good
> > authors or classic books that are funny?  Could anyone recommend such
a
> > list?
>
> > Thank you in advance.
>
> Like Wodehouse: Beerbohm's /Zuleika Dobson/?  Robertson Davies'
> "Salterton" trilogy?  Dorothy Sayers (if you're willing to put up with
> "detective interruptions")?  The Grossmiths' /Diary of a Nobody/?
>
> But I don't laugh at written humor very much.  The only books that
> have made me laugh at more than one place each (since I was a
> teenager) are those of Spike Milligan's autobiography (which starts
> with /Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall/) and those of Terry
> Pratchett's Discworld series.  For the latter, you have to be able to
> enjoy fantasy (not the same kind as Wodehouse's).  One of these days
> I'm going to read Flann O'Brien.
>
> Come to think of it, I've found several laughs each in some of Robert
> Parker's Spenser novels, but they're primarily detective novels.

My experience with Spike Milligan suggests that his humor is very
culture-specific.  I (an American) picked one of his books up due to
repeated recommendations.  I found it not so much un-funny as simply
incomprehensible.  I have also never really gotten Pratchett's humor,
though I have many friends who adore him.  Douglas Adams and Monty
Python are both favorites, so it isn't simply that I don't like
British humor/humour.

I have not seen anyone mention Donald Jack's Bandy Papers.  I don't
feel the need to rip through the entire series, but one book every
year or two is quite amusing.

Do the Flashman books count as humo(u)r?

Richard R. Hershberger