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Last broadcast on Thu, 12 Jan 2012, 15:30 on BBC Radio 4 (see all broadcasts).
Synopsis
To brighten up the dark days of January, Mariella Frostrup with Prof John Mullan, celebrate Open Book's listeners' nominations for their funniest book. From The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Three Men in a Boat to Cold Comfort Farm, they discuss the enduring pleasure of classic comic writing.
Sue Townsend explains how it feels that her novel The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4 was the winner of the Open Book Funniest Book Balloon debate and her thoughts on the book thirty years on from its first publication.
Amanda Hocking had never sold a single book before 15th April 2010. She has now sold over one million. Having had all 17 of her novels rejected by publishing houses, she began publishing them herself as e-books and has now been described as her generation's first literary phenomenon. With her books finally being published in paperback form, Amanda explains her drive to write and find the audience she knew was out there.
Samantha Harvey explains how her latest novel All Is Song has been inspired by her degree in philosophy and her great interest in the life and work of the Greek philosopher Socrates.
Producer: Andrea Kidd.
Book List
All is Song by Samantha Harvey
Published by Jonathan Cape
Switched by Amanda Hocking
Published by MacMillan
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 and ¾
Published by Penguin
Listener Suggestions
A
Adams, Douglas - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Albee, George - By The Sea, By The Sea
Amis, Kingsley - One Fat Englishman & Lucky Jim
Amis, Martin - The Rachel Papers &
Money
Anstey, F - Vece Versa
Armstrong, Anthony - The Pack of Pieces
B
Baldwin, Michael - Poetry Without Tears & The Great Charm
Bashford, Henry Howard - Augustus Carp, Esq. by Himself…
Bates, H E - A Breath of French Air & My Uncle Silas
Benson, EF - Lucia Books
Bentine, Michael - Smith and Sons & Removers
Blaxland, Juliet - Crumbling Country
Bowman, W E - The Ascent of Rum Doodle
Boyd, William - A Good Man In Africa & Stars and Bars
Brahms, Caryl + Simon S J - A Bullet in the Ballet & No Bed For Bacon
Brookmyer, Christopher - A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away & A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil
Bryson, Bill - Notes From A Small Island & A Walk in Big Woods & Life and Times of a Thunderbolt Kid & Neither Here Nor There
Buckeridge, Anthony - the Jennings books
Burroughs, William - Naked Lunch
Byron - Don Juan
C
Cantor, Jon - Seeds of Greatness
Capek, Karel - The War with the Newts
Carp, Augustus - Being the Autobiography of a Really Good Man
Carriere, Jean Claude - Monsieur Hulot's Holiday
Carroll, Lewis - Through The Looking Glass
Chandos, Dane - Abbie
Cheek, Mavis - Janice Gentle gets Sexy
Coe, Jonathan - House of Sleep & What a Carve Up
Coogan, Steve - I, Partridge
Cooke, Stephen - A Year in the Merde
Connell, D.J. - Julian Corkle Is A Filthy Liar
Crichton, Iain Smith - Murdo
Crompton, Richmal - Just William
D
Dahl, Roald - My Uncle Oswald
Davies, Andrew - Conrad's War
DeLillo, Don - White Noise
Dickens, Charles - The Pickwick Papers
Donaldson, William - The Henry Root Letters
Doyle, Roddy - Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha & The Van
Diski, Jenny - Strangers on a Train
Durrell, Gerald My Family and Other Animals & Rosie is My Relative
Durrell, Lawrence - Espirit de Corps
Dyer, Geoff - Jeff In Venice & Death In Varanasi & Out of Sheer Rage
E
England, Chris - Balham to Bollywood
F
Farrell, JG - Siege of Krishnapur
Fey, Tina - Bossypants
Frayn, Michael - Headlong
Fischer, Tibor - Under The Frog & The Thought Gang
Forrest, David - And To My Nephew Albert I Leave The Island What I Won Off Fatty Hagan in a Polker Game
Fowler, Bo - Skepticism Inc
G
Gaiman, Neil - The Anansi Boys & American Gods
Gatiss, Mark - Lucifer Box trilogy
Gibbons, Stella - Cold Comfort Farm
Gilbreath, Frank - Cheaper By the Dozen
Gallico, Paul - The Lonely
Goldsmith, Oliver - The Vicar of Wakefield
Graham, Laurie - Gone With the Windsors & Mr. Starlight
Green, Michael - The Art of Coarse Sailing & The Art of Coarse Cruising & The Guide to Coarse Acting
Greene, Graeme - Travels With My Aunt
Grossmith, George and Wheedon - The Diary of a Nobody
H
Haddon, Mark - A Spot Of Bother
Hamilton, Patterson James - Rancid Pansies
Harding, Mike - The Unluckiest Man in the World
Hasek, Jaroslav - The Good Soldier Svejk
Hattersley, Roy - Buster's Diaries
Hawks, Tony - Round Ireland With a Fridge
Heller, Joseph - Catch 22
Hiaasen, Carl - Striptease
Holden, Wendy - Bad Heir Day
Holt, Tom - Expecting Someone Taller & Who's Afraid of Beowulf
Howson, Penny - The Pope my Brother and I
I
Ishiguro, Kazuo - The Unconsoled
Irving, John - A Prayer of Owen Meany
J
Jacobson, Howard - The Mighty Waltzer & Coming From Behind & The Finkler Question
Jack, Donald - Three Cheers for Me & Bartholemew Bandy
James, Clive - Unreliable Memoirs
Janzen, Rhoda - Mennonite in a Little Black Dress
Jerome, Jerome K - Three Men In A Boat & Diary of a Pilgrimage & Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow & Three Men on a Bummel
Jerrold, Douglas - Mrs.Caudle's Curtain Lectures
Jones, Terry - Evil Machines
K
Kavanagh, Patrick - Tarry Flynn
Kelso, Jim - The Rising Son
Kellior, Garrison - Pontoon
Kotzwinkle, William - Fan Man & The Bear Went Over The Mountain
Kay, Peter - The Sound of Laughter
Kunzru, Hari - My Revolution
Kurkov, Andrey - Death And the Penguin
L
Landy, Derek - Death Bringer
Lawrence, D H - The Lost Girl
Lewis, Roger - Seasonal Suicide Notes
Lewis, Roy - The Evolution Man or, How I Ate My Father
Lewycka, Marina - Two Caravans
Lindgred, Astrid - Pippi Longstocking
Lodge, David - The British Museum Is Falling Down & Changing Places & Deaf Sentence
Longden, Deric - The Cat Who Came in From the Cold & Lost for Words & Diana's Story
Luddington, David - The Money That Never Was
M
Macdonald, AG - England Their England
Macdonald, Betty - The Egg and I
Macdonald, Sarah - Holy Cow
Macpherson, Ian - The Autobiography of Ireland's Greatest Living Genius (Fiachra MacFiach)
Manson, Mike - Where's My Money
Martin, Andrew - Bilton
Matthews, Arthur - Well Remembered Days
Maugham, Somerset - The Verger
Maupin, Armistead - Tales Of the City
Maw, James - Hard Luck
McCarthy, Pete - McCarthy's Bar: A Journey of Discovery In Ireland
McFadden, Cyra - The Serial
McNair, Duncan - The Morello Letters
Milligan, Spike - Puckoon & Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall
Mills, Magnus - The Restraint of Beasts
Mitford, Nancy - The Pursuit of Love & Love in a Cold Climate
Moorcock, Michael - The Chinese Agent
Moore, Alan - Future Shocks
Moore, Tim - Spanish Steps & French Revolutions
Moran, Caitlin - How to be a Woman
Murray, Paul - Skippy Dies
N
Nayaran, R.K. - The Man Eater of Malgudi
Nersesian, Arthur - The Dog Run
Newham, Mark - Limp Pigs
Nicholls, David - Starter For Ten
Niven, David - The Moon's A Balloon
Nobbs, David - Reggie Perrin
O
O'Brien, Flann - The Dalkey Archive & At Swim Two Birds & The Third Policeman
P
Pile, Stephen - The Book of Heroic Failures: The Official Handbook of the Not Terribly Good Club of Great Britain
Pratchett, Terry - Guards! Guards! & Witches Abroad
Pratchett, Terry and Gaiman, Neil - Good Omens
R
Rankin, Robert - Brightonomicon
Rhodes, Dan - Gold
Robertson, Heath + Brown K R G - How To Be A Perfect Husband & How To Live In A Flat
Robertson, James - Any Fool Can Be A Dairy Farmer
Robinson, Bruce - Paranoia in the Laundrette
Rosten, Leo - Education of Hyman Kaplan & The Joys of Yiddish
Roth, Phillip - Portnoy's Complaint
Rubens, Bernice - The Ponsonby Post
Sedaris, David - When You Are Engulfed in Flames & Naked
Seth, Vikram - A Suitable Boy
Sharpe, Tom - Wilt & Porterhouse Blue & Riotous Assembly
Shaw, Don - The Hike
Sillitoe, Alan - Travels in Nihilon
Smith, Arthur - My Name Is Daphne Fairfax
Sterne, Laurence - Tristram Shandy
Stroud, Jonathan - Bartimaeus Trilogy
T
Tarkington, Booth - Penrod & Penrod Jashber & Penrod and Sam
Thomas, Dylan - Under Milk Wood
Thompson, Harry - Penguins Stopped Play & This Thing of Darkness
Tinniswood, Peter - Tales From a Long Room
Toksvig, Sandy - Flying Under Bridges
Toole, John Kennedy - A Confederacy of Dunces
Torday, Paul - Salmon Fishing In the Yemen
Townsend, Sue - The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4
Trevor, William - The Boarding House
V
Vonnegut, Kurt - Breakfast of Champions & God Bless You Mr Rosewater
de Vries, Peter - Mackerel Plaza & Tunnel of Love & Let Me Count the Ways & Comfort Me With Apples & Ruben Ruben
W
Waterhouse, Keith - Billy Liar
Waters, John - Crackpot
Waugh, Evelyn - Black Mischief & Decline and Fall & Scoop
Wells, John and Fortune, John - A Melon for Ecstasy
Wells, H.G. - History of Mr Polly
Wheeler, Ruth - All Aliens Like Burgers
Willans, Geoffrey and Searle, Ronald - Down with Skool & Molesworth
Wodehouse, P G - GENERALLY & Leave it to Psmith & Clicking of Cuthbert
Wright, Michael Cest La Folie
Broadcasts
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Sun 8 Jan 201216:00
-
Thu 12 Jan 201215:30


