What’s the Funniest Novel Ever? – Paper Cuts Blog – NYTimes.com:
“In Rolling Stone’s new comedy issue, prominent comedians are asked to name the ‘funniest movie ever’ and the ‘funniest TV ever.’ “
And so, asks David Kelly on the New York Times book blog, what’s the funniest novel ever?
Here are some of the books nominated by the editors of the Times’s Book Review:
- “Lucky Jim” (which got the most votes),
- David Lodge’s “Small World”
- “The Code of the Woosters”
- “Leave It to Psmith”
- “Bech: A Book”
- “Sabbath’s Theater”
- Carl Hiaasen’s novels
- Jim Harrison’s early novels (“Warlock,” “A Good Day to Die”)
- Richard Russo’s “Straight Man”
- Michael Chabon’s “Wonder Boys”
- “Catch-22″
- “Candy”
Of course, Kelly points one, we must differentiate between “the greatest comic novel (“Don Quixote”? “Tristram Shandy”? “Ulysses”?) and the novel you find the funniest.” He adds that, while “A Confederacy of Dunces” isn’t great literature, Ignatius J. Reilly cracks him up.
So, what’s the funniest novel you’ve ever read? Post a comment here.
