Probably my favorite novel of all time is Notebooks Of A Naked Youth by Billy Childish—it is utterly original, brutally honest, and fecking funny as hell.
Oh, I dunno, Kurt, or Philip K. Dick or, BION, I LOLLED and rolled all the way through Pynchon's Mason & Dixon. I guess I'm glummy that funny kind of way. I also guess I'd have to put DFW on this list too (though it kinda hurts to so do). Chandler has his moments, though; and, for that matter, so does Stephen Leacock. Banks rattle me, tellers rattle me . . ..
p.s. And, yes, Paul, I agree with you on Twain, mos' all of 'em, and Dickens, often, too. Salinger and Nabokov, somewhat; and, thanks for the tip, Katie; haven't read Billy Childish; now, will try to find a used copy (for povert poets, natch). Of speaking, the funniest poem's another ball of wax, mebbe Robert Kroetsch's Rita K., mebbe . . .
I like Frank's picks of the Waugh and Burgess novels, but I would also add Waugh's "Scoop" and "Black Mischief."
ReplyDeleteI would also add the novels of Mark Twain. "Huckleberry Finn" is a great novel, and a very funny novel, in my view.
I also like "Roughing It," and well - I like nearly everything Twain has written.
Paul Davis
daviswrite@aol.com
If I may another funny book, I'd like to add "The Choirboys," by Joseph Wambaugh.
ReplyDeleteWambaugh does for the cops and crime what Joseph Heller did for the military and war in "Catch 22"
"The Choirboys is a great novel, and although it is a dark novel, it is a very funny novel in my view.
Paul Davis
daviswrite@aol.com
Probably my favorite novel of all time is Notebooks Of A Naked Youth by Billy Childish—it is utterly original, brutally honest, and fecking funny as hell.
ReplyDeleteOh, I dunno, Kurt, or Philip K. Dick or, BION, I LOLLED and rolled all the way through Pynchon's Mason & Dixon. I guess I'm glummy that funny kind of way. I also guess I'd have to put DFW on this list too (though it kinda hurts to so do). Chandler has his moments, though; and, for that matter, so does Stephen Leacock. Banks rattle me, tellers rattle me . . ..
ReplyDeletep.s. And, yes, Paul, I agree with you on Twain, mos' all of 'em, and Dickens, often, too. Salinger and Nabokov, somewhat; and, thanks for the tip, Katie; haven't read Billy Childish; now, will try to find a used copy (for povert poets, natch). Of speaking, the funniest poem's another ball of wax, mebbe Robert Kroetsch's Rita K., mebbe . . .
ReplyDeleteCode of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse.
ReplyDelete