Humour Books > G Humour Books

Advantages: good characters, interesting plot with lots happening
Disadvantages: men aren't going to want to read it, but they should give it a try

If you’re about my age, you’ll probably remember a band called Sleeper. They had a bit of success in the early 1990s, their biggest hit being ‘Inbetweener’. I personally liked their first album, and not much else, and will freely admit to finding their singer, Louise Wener, an annoying, skinny tart. Fast forward a few years later, and I spot a review of a book called ‘Goodnight, Steve McQueen’ by the erstwhile Ms Wener. Touted as a ‘Nick Hornby’ ...
...by his girlfriend, I was intrigued. Wener obviously had the inside knowledge needed to make a book about a musician believable (in much the same way as Hornby wrote believably about a music fan), and yet her feminine touch would no doubt make it a light, bedtime read on nights when I might have otherwise chosen something by Louise Rennison. **First shock** When I eventually got my filthy mitts on it, I realised this is no light read. It weighs ... Read review

Advantages: Funny and clever
Disadvantages: Could turn you into a Grumpy old Man or Woman

...and chuckling throughout, David Quantick`s Grumpy Old Men is just such a book. It seems that the majority of modern life’s obstacles annoy the grumpy old man, from pointless speed bumps to call centres in Kazakhstan; they have all been designed purely to irk and irritate. Take cats for example, the grumpy old man insists that if cats could open tins of catfood themselves they would not need humans and would like to push them all into an active volcano. ...
...Many other animals cause the grumpy old man to vent his spleen; he describes city pigeons as “airborne sewers with guano so toxic it will burn through the paintwork on your car like bird’s arse napalm” while wasps are so accurately described as “a Spivey stripy stingy cross between mosquitoes and bees which only secured their passage on Noah’s ark by stinging to death the unicorns and nicking their tickets”. “Magicians start with a kit when they’re ... Read review

Advantages: Very thought provoking
Disadvantages: Little short

Scott Adams most famous for his creation of the "Dilbert" comic strip, brings to us a fable that will make you think! According to Adams this book is for "people who like having their brains spun inside their skulls". Adams deliberately creates theories which are consistent with today's science and some false statements which are designed to sound true. He invites the reader to decipher these and make their own decisions about the theories contained ...
...you cant put down after the first few pages. It touches on some interesting theories on God, the universe, relationships, probability etc. After reading this book I was pondering over the ideas brought forward and creating my own from them. This book is nothing like Adams' Dilbert books it isn't meant to be humorous. However this book is very though provoking and well worth a read. This book is short and can be read in the space of a few hours (I ... Read review

Advantages: funny, engrossing, interesting
Disadvantages: it's all true (therefore can be horrifying)

It's happened to us all, hasn't it? The feeling of fear and horror and absolute dread that creeps over you two seconds after you've clicked "send" on an email . . . and realised you've sent it to the wrong person. I've had it and if I had any doubt that I was the only one this had ever happened to, then reading "Great Email Diasters" clued me in bigtime. So HAS it happened to you? It's happened to me on a few occasions, and has happened with text ...
...to do - you accidentally hit "reply all" on a round-robin email, or start typing someone's name into the "send to" field and don't notice it has automatically been populated by someone from your company address book, or you've just not been thinking properly. For example, me and my friend Sarah were one day having a conversation about a student who had been annoying both of us, and at the same time as we were emailing about this, Sarah was emailing ... Read review

Advantages: humour on walls
Disadvantages: rarely gross

...known under the generic term Graffiti - more or less gifted artists spray their "Pieces" with aerosol cans on every even surface they can find - partly artistically valuable, partly ordinary simple craving for the attention of any bypasser. The kick lies therein to "work" mostly at night, as getting caught draws severe consequences according to each countrys laws . I would like to present here a special form of "wall paintings", whose subtle messages ...
...intelligently, humorously and philosophically transmitted (and far less spoiling the environment). The creators remain of course anonymous, whose "public relations work" gets in return proper attention as their artwork with pencil, ballpoint pens, felt-tip pen or chalk is very accessible, f.e. at toilet walls, in railroad tunnels, waiting-rooms, tube-trains or on simple park banks: it deals around those more or less ingenious sayings, their spice ... Read review