Hunter S. Thompson’s suicide this week reminded me of how hard I laughed while reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas—the only work of his that I’ve read.
It’s high on my list of laugh-out-loud books, along with Don Quixote, and just about any Kurt Vonnegut novel. Catch 22 and A Confederacy of Dunces aren’t far behind.
Which books have made you laugh-out-loud?
Roger Zelazny’s A Night in Lonesome October…but then again, just about any Roger Zelazny book makes me laugh…he is my favorite author.
Oh…and Voltaire’s Candide…I just read that for my Western Civ class (yeah, I know I’m like 33 and in a freshman class sigh), I laughed my arse off reading it. My favorite part was the history of the wonderful disease that Pangloss contracted, such a detailed geneology completely caught me off guard and lift me in stitches!!
White Noise by Don DeLillo was the last one that had me laughing out loud. Not many books do that to me.
Oh! I forgot: The Illustrious House of Ramirez by Eça de Quireoz (in translation) had some very hilarious parts.
WB
I’ve read of Jerome K. Jerome and Saki, namely short stories and The Unbearable Bassington, also Catch 22 (only French translations 
) and books by Raymond Queneau.
Jerome K. Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat, and Mark Twain’s Innocents Abroad and A Conneticut Yankiee in King Arthurs Court are probably the most hysterical books I’ve ever read, especially the first title. Anything by James Thurber is sure to send one howling.
Mark Twain, Terry Pratchet and Douglas Adams are most likely to make me giggle. Or laugh very hard.
I’m a huge fan of Patricia McKillip. She writes somewhat disorienting fantasy novels. Music figures very heavily in the novel “Song for the Basilisk,” and in the following scene, Magister Dulcet is a musican with a very difficult task. She must teach the tyrant’s daughter, Lady Damiet, to sing in an upcoming opera for daddy’s birthday. The daughter has some twisted sort of synesthesia and strongly associates colors with songs, and expects the opera to be tailored to meet her attire, which will of course changebetween each scene.
This is one of the funniest, most skillful descriptions of bad singing I have ever read.
“But Magister Dulcet, there are other colors.”
“I’ll come for them soon. Perhaps you could practice them.”
“Why?”
“It is considered good for the voice. You’ll want to sing
your best for the prince’s birthday.”The Lady Damiet pondered this. “I always sing my best.”
“It is like dancing. The more you practice, the easier the
steps —”“Dancing,” Damiet said inarguably, “is done with the feet.
Not the voice. Singing is far easier; there is nothing to trip over.
Do you know `The Dying Swan’? It is a mauve song.”She opened her mouth. A swan, shot out of the air by a
hunter’s arrow, thudded heavily into the marble floor, shedding blood
and feathers. It sang its death throes. … The swan shrieked and
died.“Mauve,” Damiet said.
Kopio,
If you liked Voltaire’s Candide you might also like his Zadig. It’s a bit longer, has some funny moments, and is set in the Middle East with an Arabian Nights quality to it. I had to read them both in French for a class on Voltaire, and got sevveral laughs out of them.
Have you read any of Tom Holt’s books? He has also written some based on Greek and Roman history which aren’t quite so much in the fantasy/comedy genre as his other books, but a funnier it a subtler way (I think)
I’ll second that motion. 
This essay is pretty funny: http://members.shaw.ca/alappel/bloopers.html
The author of this essay, Richard Lederer, also has some very funny books.
Agreed. I cracked up over the “only one buttock” part.
“Great Expectations” from Dickens, I read it years ago, but still start smiling when I think about the “gravy-scene” very early in the book. I was reading it on the train and could not help but laugh out loud. I was really quite embarressed.