What's the funniest book I should read or should have read already?
I highly recommend the entire Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams. Each book is very entertaining in both comedy, suspense, and many other themes.
I was going to say this. Great series and you'll leave with a lot more than laughs, of which there will be plenty.
Came in this discussion to recommend this, and I'm glad to see others have beaten me to it. I'll toss my hat into the ring by voting for Hitchhiker's Guide and also recommending Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. It's in a similar vein alongside Hitchhiker's Guide, so I believe anyone who enjoys one will also enjoy the other.
Kurt Vonnegut! His writing is a dark, sometimes vulgar and always strange satire of humanity in short sentences of awesome truth. I suggest Breakfast of Champions (a classic), and his collection of short essays and stories titled 'A Man Without a Country,' which was my absolute favorite. Vonnegut is the kind of writer who you'll be able to quote from for a good few months afterwards and seem like the wisest, most unapologetic old geezer around.
My favourite is Slaughterhouse 5. One of the best books I've ever read.
I love one of his lesser read works, Galapagos. Really worth finding a paper copy to read.
A Confederacy Of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. "Is my paranoia getting completely out of hand, or are you mongoloids really talking about me?"
The Bone series by Jeff Smith. They're graphic novels that tell a story, but they have a lot of humor throughout them, and I've always enjoyed them.
If you're into Fantasy I'd definitely look into the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. (Shameless plug, I just finished the 16th book of the series and want more people to discuss it with) It's a really good mix of low/high fantasy, plus a really good cast of characters and a wise-cracking wizard-detective protagonist.
Most definitely. Every book after Storm Front is better, the series really picks up around book 3-4. However though I will say this, some of the characters Harry pits wills against are demigods, the scale of the conflicts rises accordingly, so be prepared for craziness. Edit to include I'm more than a little hype on this at the moment, I just finished the 16th book, Skin Games, yesterday (it came out tuesday) And Jim Butcher did an AMA not long ago.