Humour Books > S Humour Books

Advantages: Easy to read, funny, identifiable main character
Disadvantages: ein bisschen predictable

When I saw the bright colourful cover of The Reluctant Landlady in Smiths, i was instantly drawn to it like a magnet. I read the back of it, it sounded quite good. Anyway - so the book is about Evie Crump, a failing actress who at the beginning lives in a horrible flat in Dickens Towers with her gorgeous-cooking-in-the-nude-gay-best-friend Bing, with cockroaches and such, when she is left a message from a solicitor - claiming she has been given ...
...Anyway - she gets to the new house, and finds that it's a house with 4 flats in, and she has the one on the ground floor. Her and Bing move in and redecorate, and they try and meet all of the inhabitants - but she discovers that they all have something that's a bit weird about them, and she decides to help them. Then she gets her big break - in a Dog Food advert on TV - and meets Dan, gorgeous womaniser, and eventually gets heartbroken and ends ... Read review

Advantages: Pulls no punches. Tells it like the author sees it
Disadvantages: Does require the reader to have some knowledge of 1980's politics- including some obscure campaigns !

...up with politics being the preserve of puffed-up professional politicians ! Reasons to be Cheerful is published by Scribner and is listed with an online price of £6.99 although it is possible to buy new or used for a fraction of the price, and is worth every penny ! ... Read review

Advantages: Addictive, makes you laugh, easy but intelligent content
Disadvantages: Nothing important

...in an afternoon Henry Wilt feels unhappy and resigning to his life. He teaches arts-related subjects to unsensitive people who won't find anything helpful because they are preparing to work in factories as butchers, electricians, etc. He keeps working for more than ten years in same situation, but never gets promoted. In this time, roles will be changing: only Henry will turn into someone tougher, instead of just the opposite to their pupils as ...
...life isn't much better. Currently, he's married with a fat woman to whom dislikes. Despite the fact that they are living together for twelve years, they haven't got any children. Someone without personality to change his fate, tired of his job, his wife, and having no ilussion to fight with - like a father did have with his children - finishes hiding into his fantasies without any limits. When he took his daily walk with his dog, he often thought ... Read review

Advantages: Very funny and ironic
Disadvantages: Helps to have a rough idea of apartheid South Africa

Riotous Assembly is one of the first books written by Tom Sharpe, published in 1971 after his return from living in South Africa. Set during that period of brutal apartheid, the story centres on the South African police force stationed in the fictitious town of Piemberg. Kommandant Van Heerden is a career policeman who has risen through the ranks to his present position. He is a keen enforcer of South African law and order and, as chief of Piemburg’s ...
...the night, I was that unable to put it down. The sequel to this book, Indecent Exposure, is far more hilarious but Riotous Assembly is a must for first time readers of Tom Sharpe. If you do come across Indecent Exposure you do need to read Riotous Assembly first. ... Read review

Advantages: Hilarious Black comedy, right up there with the best of Sharpe
Disadvantages: Had to put it down and go to work

...when he finds out that the spoon has been pawned. He is accepted with open arms as a Lloyds name and is only brought to heel when he is asked to repay some major sums to that august body. In true Tom Sharpe style there follows a drug fuelled motorbike ride through unfamiliar countryside, ending up in bed with the wrong woman, in the kind of implausible yet highly credible kind of story line that only Tom Sharpe can pull off. As with any book review ...
...I have read all of the Tom Sharpe books. A few, such as Porterhouse Blue, Wilt and Blott on the Landscape have made it onto the small screen, to great acclaim, and including such stars as Griff Reese Jones, David Suchet and Geraldine James. it is a shame that more can't be filmed but the content may not sit well with a family audience. In my experience, the book is always better than a film or TV adaptation so five yourself a treat and read The Midden, ... Read review