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Post by Patrick on Feb 20, 2009 9:50:21 GMT
Top Ten Funniest Books as "voted" for by the readers of/subscribers to abebooks.co.uk 1. Right Ho, Jeeves by PG Wodehouse (1933) 2. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (1961) 3. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (1979) 4. Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome (1889) 5. Wilt by Tom Sharpe (1976) 6. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (1980) 7. Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis 8. The Code of the Woosters by PG Wodehouse (1938) 9. Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding (1996) 10. Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall by Spike Milligan (1971)
I've read about half, how about you? Top Ten Books Article
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Post by housesparrow on Feb 20, 2009 19:47:53 GMT
Wodehouse has always been a favourite, and Three Men in a Boat. I picked up "Adolf Hitler etc" while on holiday in a B and B; we were only there one night, but the bits I read were entertaining .
I didn't enjoy Lucky Jim (it was too dated when I got to it) nor Bridget Jones (I was too dated when I got to it).
The Hitchikers Guide is best listened to. Tried to read Catch 22 and failed. Never heard of John Kennedy Toole.
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Post by swl on Feb 20, 2009 20:07:23 GMT
Three I read my first Spike book when I was about 9 and read everything of his I could get my hands on after that.
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Post by riotgrrl on Feb 20, 2009 20:15:37 GMT
I laughed out loud at 'the Van' by Roddy Doyle.
I tried to read Jeeves, but it was like an Enid Blyton or something. I really didn't like it. It was some big Wodehouse compilation, with 4 novels in it, so I did give it a chance; I think I read 3 of them before I gave the book back to the charity shop from whence it came.
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Post by swl on Feb 20, 2009 20:29:21 GMT
Oh "The Van" was fantastic. I watched the film too and it was good. "The Nipper" was bloody funny as well.
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Post by Patrick on Feb 20, 2009 23:42:17 GMT
Three I read my first Spike book when I was about 9 and read everything of his I could get my hands on after that. Have you read Norma Farnes book on him? - It's probably the only balanced view you'll get. As she got both "sides" of him with both barrels. I've got the two scrap books she published after that too. Stupid, but I went round with a dark cloud above my head for a month after he died. Probably 'cos of the connection with my Dad, after all - some of his Q stuff was very hit and miss.
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Post by Patrick on Feb 20, 2009 23:44:42 GMT
Talking of wish lists I must pick up RD's "Paula Spencer" sometime. Having got the first "part".
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Post by Alpha Hooligan on Feb 20, 2009 23:46:24 GMT
The Red Dwarf novels "Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers" & "Better Than Life" are hilarious.
Alan Dean Foster's "Spellsinger" fantasy books are also good LOL fun, as well as being generally good stories.
I'm currently downloading the complete "Discworld" series by Terry Pratchett, these are meant to be very funny as well.
AH
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Post by Patrick on Feb 20, 2009 23:52:44 GMT
I'm currently downloading the complete "Discworld" series by Terry Pratchett, these are meant to be very funny as well. AH ......said Alpha, casually! How many are there now??-?? Four of my Top Ten might be taken up by the Peter Tinniswood Brandon Family books. As I've already banged on about him enough in the past, I shall cease and desist..........
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Post by Alpha Hooligan on Feb 20, 2009 23:56:50 GMT
Well, I am DLing the audiobooks (cuz I am lazy and hate reading text from a screen), there are 33 of them I think. AH
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Post by Patrick on Feb 21, 2009 0:00:07 GMT
My Ghast is suitably flabbered.
So how long is this hiking holiday you must be planning? ;D
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Post by Alpha Hooligan on Feb 21, 2009 0:04:42 GMT
I'm terrible for downloading stuff, I still haven't finished listening to the HHGTTG audiobooks, The complete Sherlock Holmes audiobooks or watched the entire Twilight Zone series that I DL'd last year...I also DL'd the complete Sherlock Holmes TV series with Jeremy Brett which I haven't watched... AH
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Post by Alpha Hooligan on Feb 21, 2009 0:08:36 GMT
Although I recently re-watched my "Farscape" box set - (4 series and a mini-series). Awesome!!! Disclaimer - Not my bed AH
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Post by Patrick on Feb 21, 2009 0:14:52 GMT
People say they were too "camp" but for Sherlock Holmes it has to Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. They are right though to a certain extent, but I loved it when I was 8 or 9 and BBC2 spent a week showing all their films!
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Post by Alpha Hooligan on Feb 21, 2009 0:21:41 GMT
And for those who aren't in the know Farscape has some seriously hilarious moments mixed in with some dark sci-fi action and great story lines...fantastic series!
AH
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Post by Alpha Hooligan on Feb 21, 2009 0:24:21 GMT
People say they were too "camp" but for Sherlock Holmes it has to Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. They are right though to a certain extent, but I loved it when I was 8 or 9 and BBC2 spent a week showing all their films! I don't know if the originals can be DL'd, I might have a little look and see if I can find 'em. AH
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Post by trubble on Feb 21, 2009 1:24:42 GMT
Disclaimer - Not my bed AH We can tell that. The duvet cover has been ironed.
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Post by housesparrow on Feb 21, 2009 6:51:22 GMT
My Ghast is suitably flabbered. So how long is this hiking holiday you must be planning? ;D I was going to add "and how big is your rucksack" before remembering the size of an i-pod or whatever they are now. I bought one of the things three years ago but haven't worked out how to use it. I should have realised that there was something wrong when I saw the shop was selling them for a fiver - they did warn me about the instructions! I've just finished "A short history of tractors in Ukrainian" by Marina Lewycka and might have enjoyed it if it hadn't been described as "funny". It is a good book, but funny - no.
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Post by Patrick on Feb 21, 2009 13:20:20 GMT
Disclaimer - Not my bed AH We can tell that. The duvet cover has been ironed. Golly! How d'ya do that then? Caveat: I have this beautiful pure cotton duvet cover from Habitat - White with a bit orange stripe across the middle. When I first bought I would lovingly iron it, simply because it was so rewarding to do! You used to get these adverts for Irons where they would invariably show it powering it's way through creases leaving a wide canyon of smoothness behind - It was exactly like that - It really was a pleasure to iron. So I did.
I also had a Hotpoint 9511 Washing machine with a mere top spin speed of 800rpm. Yet you could pull stuff out of it and put it straight on the ironing board. Something you cannot do with my Hoover 1300 today. More spin doesn't necessarily mean drier!
........but I digress.......
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Post by Patrick on Feb 21, 2009 16:36:58 GMT
I've just finished "A short history of tractors in Ukrainian" by Marina Lewycka and might have enjoyed it if it hadn't been described as "funny". It is a good book, but funny - no. I just had to look that up - in case it was anything like this! It certainly gets very mixed reviews on Amazon.
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