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Books: What to Know

Old Books That Are Actually Funny

The plot, the people, the point and the ending — then the Boovie film, where there is one.

Popular Humour

The story in one page
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
A boy flees his drunk father, finds an enslaved man, and descends the Mississippi toward freedom.
Mark Twain · novel
The story in one page
Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Regions of the World
A ship's surgeon visits a land of six-inch politicians and a kingdom of giants who treat him like a doll.
Jonathan Swift · novel
The story in one page
History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
A foundling loves a girl, makes constant mistakes, and manages to stumble into success.
Henry Fielding · novel
The story in one page
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker
A grumpy Welsh squire leads his eccentric relatives across Britain while their new footman accidentally reveals his bare backside.
T. Smollett · novel
The story in one page
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
A boy wants to avoid school, witness his own funeral, and find treasure without doing any actual chores.
Mark Twain · novel
The story in one page
The Wind in the Willows
A gentleman-amphibian develops a dangerous motor-car habit. His friends stage an intervention that includes a prison break.
Kenneth Grahame · novel
The story in one page
Lysistrata
The men won't stop fighting, so the women stop everything else. War loses its supply line.
Aristophanes · play
The story in one page
The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman
A man tries to explain his life and spends four volumes on his conception instead.
Laurence Sterne · novel
The story in one page
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
A nineteenth-century engineer wakes up in Camelot and attempts to outpace sixth-century magic with gunpowder and electric current.
Mark Twain · novel
The story in one page
Gargantua and Pantagruel
A giant born from an ear grows up to drink, fight, and philosophize.
François Rabelais · novel
The story in one page
Emma
A rich woman plays matchmaker, ignores reality, and accidentally falls in love with the only person watching.
Jane Austen · novel
In the library
The Satyricon
Petronius Arbiter · novel
The story in one page
Candide
A young man learns that his tutor’s philosophy of optimism is basically a death trap.
Voltaire · novel
The story in one page
The Daughter of Anderson Crow
A self-appointed detective finds a babe on his doorstep and twenty years of mystery in a sleepy Revolutionary War monument town.
George Barr McCutcheon · novel
The story in one page
The Pickwick Papers
A wealthy retiree tours England to document observations, but his servant keeps saving his life.
Charles Dickens · novel
The story in one page
The Merry Wives of Windsor
An aging, broke knight hits on two married women, who decide to handle him together.
William Shakespeare · play
The story in one page
Vanity Fair
Two schoolmates navigate a world of debt, social climbing, and war where everyone has a price and no one is satisfied.
William Makepeace Thackeray · novel
The story in one page
The Comedy of Errors
Two pairs of identical twins arrive in the same city, causing immediate legal, marital, and metaphysical chaos for everyone involved.
William Shakespeare · play
The story in one page
Tartuffe; Or, The Hypocrite
A man takes in a holy beggar. The beggar immediately starts asking for his wife.
Molière · play
The story in one page
Three men in a boat (to say nothing of the dog)
Three hypochondriacs take a boat up the Thames. The boat survives, barely.
Jerome K. Jerome · novel
The story in one page
The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today
A Tennessee family waits forty years for a land claim to make them rich while Washington D.C. runs on hot air.
Mark Twain · novel
The story in one page
The Mysterious Stranger, and Other Stories
A visitor arrives in an Austrian village, shows off, and explains why humans are completely hopeless.
Mark Twain · collection
The story in one page
The Hunting of the Snark: An Agony in Eight Fits
A crew of specialists hunts an elusive creature with thimbles, forks, railway shares, and a very specific fear of Boojums.
Lewis Carroll · poetry
The story in one page
Barchester Towers
A bishop dies, a chaplain overreaches, and the cathedral close descends into polite, high-stakes misery.
Anthony Trollope · novel
The story in one page
Dead Souls
A man wanders the countryside buying dead peasants to pad his own resume.
Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol · novel
The story in one page
The English Rogue: Described in the Life of Meriton Latroon, a Witty Extravagant
A career criminal writes his autobiography to warn you against the very lifestyle he clearly enjoyed.
Richard Head · novel
The story in one page
Betty Wales, Senior
The Merry Hearts face their final term, and the reality of leaving campus is surprisingly inconvenient.
Edith K. Dunton · novel
The story in one page
The Rape of the Lock, and Other Poems
A gentleman snips a curl at a party, sparking a social war of legendary, tiny proportions.
Alexander Pope · poetry
The story in one page
Main Street
A small-town doctor brings home a city bride. The town immediately starts correcting her posture.
Sinclair Lewis · novel
The story in one page
Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes
An alphabet starts with a pie, a hen lays eggs for gentlemen, and a knave regrets his pastry theft.
John Gilbert · poetry
The story in one page
The History of Pendennis
Arthur Pendennis is young, entitled, and incredibly pleased with himself; his uncle intends to fix that.
William Makepeace Thackeray · novel
The story in one page
Martin Chuzzlewit
A wealthy patriarch tests his family by pretending to be senile while his grandson tries to survive an American swamp.
Charles Dickens · novel
The story in one page
The Alchemist
Three con artists turn a plague-vacated London house into a laboratory for fleecing the city's most ambitious idiots.
Ben Jonson · collection
The story in one page
A Voyage to the Moon
A traveler flies to the moon, only to find the locals have some very pointed questions about him.
Cyrano de Bergerac · novel
The story in one page
A Tramp Abroad
Two men set out to walk across Europe, but decide that riding is significantly better for the feet.
Mark Twain · novel
The story in one page
Sketches New and Old
A watch that loses time, a contract that kills its owners, and frogs that learn geometry.
Mark Twain · collection
The story in one page
Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh
A professor concludes that society is just a fancy set of clothes. Everyone else disagrees.
Thomas Carlyle · novel
The story in one page
She Stoops to Conquer; Or, The Mistakes of a Night: A Comedy
A gentleman thinks he is staying at a hotel, but he is actually at his future father-in-law's dinner table.
Oliver Goldsmith · play
The story in one page
A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy
A sensitive traveler packs six shirts and zero plans, preferring emotional encounters with strangers to seeing the actual sights.
Laurence Sterne · novel
The story in one page
Pee-wee Harris
A diminutive scout attempts to save a failing refreshment parlor and succeeds in getting his head stuck.
Percy Keese Fitzhugh · novel
The story in one page
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, and Other Stories
A town prided itself on being incorruptible until a stranger left a sack of gold.
Mark Twain · collection
The story in one page
The Inspector-General
A stranded traveler is mistaken for a government inspector, so he lets the corrupt local officials pay his bills.
Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol · play
The story in one page
Lucian's True History
A weary traveler promises the absolute truth about moon-men, space-spiders, and living inside a whale, then admits he is lying.
of Samosata Lucian · novel
The story in one page
Mark Tidd, Editor
The local newspaper is dead. Four boys decide to start it up and make the town nervous.
Clarence Budington Kelland · novel
The story in one page
Barry Lyndon
An Irish adventurer tries to marry his way into the British peerage without a single redeeming quality.
William Makepeace Thackeray · novel
The story in one page
The Diary of a Nobody
A man meticulously records his mediocre life, convinced the world cares about his scraper.
George Grossmith · novel
The story in one page
Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy
A man tries to outrun his own marriage, but Ann Whitefield is a very persistent guardian.
Bernard Shaw · play
The story in one page
A Room with a View
An English girl chooses between a man who treats her like a painting and one who throws her photographs into the Arno.
E. M. Forster · novel
The story in one page
Occasion ... for Disaster
A rash of graft, riots, and resignations suggests the American government isn't just failing — it is being mentally nudged.
Randall Garrett · novel
The story in one page
Cynthia's Chauffeur
An American heiress hires a driver, only to get a viscount in disguise.
Louis Tracy · novel
The story in one page
Supermind
The FBI has a telepath problem, and 1973 is already busy enough.
Randall Garrett · novel
The story in one page
The Gay Adventure: A Romance
A broke socialite keeps running into the same woman, who happens to be two different people.
Richard Bird · novel
The story in one page
The Passionate Elopement
A young woman runs away, a major chases her, and the town takes notes.
Compton MacKenzie · novel
The story in one page
"And That's How It Was, Officer"
Uncle Peter cleans up the local mob by turning gangsters into dust, confusing everyone.
Ralph Sholto · novel
The story in one page
Torchy and Vee
Torchy handles the office, the home front, and everyone's bad relationship decisions simultaneously.
Sewell Ford · novel
The story in one page
The Seven Dials mystery
A group of friends finds a body, a note, and an international criminal conspiracy hidden in plain sight.
Agatha Christie · novel
The story in one page
The Girl on the Boat
A man tries to win his idealist crush on a cruise ship by faking chivalry and hiding in armor.
P. G. Wodehouse · novel
The story in one page
The Young Visiters or, Mr. Salteena's Plan
Alfred Salteena wants to be an aristocrat, but his social climbing is mostly done by train.
Daisy Ashford · novel
The story in one page
Priscilla's Spies
Priscilla hunts a German spy in an Irish bay, while her cousin Frank tries to maintain his dignity.
George A. Birmingham · novel
The story in one page
My Friend the Chauffeur
Two gentlemen offer an upscale road trip, but their passengers bring secrets, heirs, and one persistent prince.
C. N. Williamson · novel
The story in one page
Winnie-the-Pooh
A bear of very little brain discovers that a sticky situation is almost always improved by honey.
A. A. Milne · novel
The story in one page
Love and Freindship [sic]
A teenage girl mocks the dramatic novels of her time with stolen banknotes, secret marriages, and aggressive Scottish loyalty.
Jane Austen · novel
In the library
Officer 666
Barton Wood Currie · novel
The story in one page
The Man Upstairs and Other Stories
Bank clerks, failed actors, and aspiring composers navigate the perils of empty pockets and sudden romance in nineteen tales of London life.
P. G. Wodehouse · collection
The story in one page
The Green Mouse
A man builds a machine to force marriages, then watches his own business strategy fail.
Robert W. Chambers · novel
In the library
Struwwelpeter: Merry Stories and Funny Pictures
Heinrich Hoffmann · collection
The story in one page
The magnificent possession
A chemist invents a perfect gold substitute, but forgets to patent the scent.
Isaac Asimov · short story

Story guides

The story in one page
Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Regions of the World
A ship's surgeon visits a land of six-inch politicians and a kingdom of giants who treat him like a doll.
Jonathan Swift · novel
The story in one page
Lucian's True History
A weary traveler promises the absolute truth about moon-men, space-spiders, and living inside a whale, then admits he is lying.
of Samosata Lucian · novel
The story in one page
The Hunting of the Snark: An Agony in Eight Fits
A crew of specialists hunts an elusive creature with thimbles, forks, railway shares, and a very specific fear of Boojums.
Lewis Carroll · poetry
The story in one page
Lysistrata
The men won't stop fighting, so the women stop everything else. War loses its supply line.
Aristophanes · play
The story in one page
Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes
An alphabet starts with a pie, a hen lays eggs for gentlemen, and a knave regrets his pastry theft.
John Gilbert · poetry
The story in one page
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker
A grumpy Welsh squire leads his eccentric relatives across Britain while their new footman accidentally reveals his bare backside.
T. Smollett · novel
The story in one page
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
A nineteenth-century engineer wakes up in Camelot and attempts to outpace sixth-century magic with gunpowder and electric current.
Mark Twain · novel
The story in one page
The Comedy of Errors
Two pairs of identical twins arrive in the same city, causing immediate legal, marital, and metaphysical chaos for everyone involved.
William Shakespeare · play
The story in one page
Tartuffe; Or, The Hypocrite
A man takes in a holy beggar. The beggar immediately starts asking for his wife.
Molière · play
The story in one page
Gargantua and Pantagruel
A giant born from an ear grows up to drink, fight, and philosophize.
François Rabelais · novel
The story in one page
The Inspector-General
A stranded traveler is mistaken for a government inspector, so he lets the corrupt local officials pay his bills.
Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol · play
The story in one page
A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy
A sensitive traveler packs six shirts and zero plans, preferring emotional encounters with strangers to seeing the actual sights.
Laurence Sterne · novel
The story in one page
The Rape of the Lock, and Other Poems
A gentleman snips a curl at a party, sparking a social war of legendary, tiny proportions.
Alexander Pope · poetry
The story in one page
A Voyage to the Moon
A traveler flies to the moon, only to find the locals have some very pointed questions about him.
Cyrano de Bergerac · novel
The story in one page
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
A boy flees his drunk father, finds an enslaved man, and descends the Mississippi toward freedom.
Mark Twain · novel
The story in one page
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Complete
A boy wants to avoid school, witness his own funeral, and find treasure without doing any actual chores.
Mark Twain · novel
The story in one page
History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
A foundling loves a girl, makes constant mistakes, and manages to stumble into success.
Henry Fielding · novel
The story in one page
The English Rogue: Described in the Life of Meriton Latroon, a Witty Extravagant
A career criminal writes his autobiography to warn you against the very lifestyle he clearly enjoyed.
Richard Head · novel
The story in one page
The Pickwick Papers
A wealthy retiree tours England to document observations, but his servant keeps saving his life.
Charles Dickens · novel
The story in one page
Barchester Towers
A bishop dies, a chaplain overreaches, and the cathedral close descends into polite, high-stakes misery.
Anthony Trollope · novel
The story in one page
The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman
A man tries to explain his life and spends four volumes on his conception instead.
Laurence Sterne · novel
The story in one page
The Innocents Abroad
An American skeptic travels through the Holy Land, mocking overly enthusiastic pilgrims, dishonest guides, and the general lack of soap.
Mark Twain · travel
The story in one page
Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy
A man tries to outrun his own marriage, but Ann Whitefield is a very persistent guardian.
Bernard Shaw · play

The library

4,111 humour

In the library
'A Comedy of Errors' in Seven Acts
Spokeshave · play
In the library
'Charge It': Keeping Up With Harry
Irving Bacheller · novel
In the library
'Oh, Well, You Know How Women Are!'
Irvin S. Cobb · ideas
In the library
"Abe" Lincoln's Anecdotes and Stories
R. D. Wordsworth · biography
The story in one page
"And That's How It Was, Officer"
Uncle Peter cleans up the local mob by turning gangsters into dust, confusing everyone.
Ralph Sholto · novel
In the library
"Ask Mamma"; or, The Richest Commoner In England
Robert Smith Surtees · novel
In the library
"Bones": Being Further Adventures in Mr. Commissioner Sanders' Country
Edgar Wallace · short story
In the library
"Excelsior"
Bret Harte · poetry
In the library
"Gentlemen prefer blondes"
Anita Loos · novel
In the library
"George Washington's" Last Duel
Thomas Nelson Page · novel
In the library
"Hey Ma, Where's Willie?"
I. M. Bukstein · short story
In the library
"Horse Sense" in Verses Tense
Walt Mason · poetry
In the library
"Mr. Punch's" Book of Arms
Edward Tennyson Reed · novel
In the library
"My Novel" — Volume 04
Edward Bulwer Lytton Baron Lytton · novel
In the library
"Our Street"
William Makepeace Thackeray · novel
In the library
"Same old Bill, eh Mable!"
Edward Streeter · novel
In the library
"Sequil"; Or, Things Whitch Aint Finished in the First
Henry A. Shute · novel
In the library
"Speaking of Operations--"
Irvin S. Cobb · novel
In the library
"Strictly Business"
F. Morton Howard · novel
In the library
"Swat the Fly!": A One-Act Fantasy
Eleanor Gates · play
In the library
"Swingin round the cirkle"
David Ross Locke · ideas
In the library
"That's me all over, Mable"
Edward Streeter · novel
In the library
"The curse of drink"
W. C. Tuttle · short story
In the library
"The Fotygraft Album"
Francis Marion Wing · novel
In the library
"Wanted, a Young Lady" : A Farce, in One Act
William E. Suter · play
In the library
"Wee Tim'rous Beasties": Studies of Animal life and Character
Douglas English · science
In the library
$1,000 a Plate
Jack McKenty · short story
In the library
1601: Conversation as it was by the Social Fireside in the Time of the Tudors
Mark Twain · play
In the library
1851; Or, The adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Sandboys and family, who came up to London to enjoy themselves, and to see the Great Exhibition.
Henry Mayhew · novel
In the library
30-day wonder
Richard Wilson · novel
In the library
500 of the Best Cockney War Stories
Ian Hamilton · history
In the library
A Bachelor's Comedy
J. E. Buckrose · novel
In the library
A Battle of the Books, recorded by an unknown writer for the use of authors and publishers
Gail Hamilton · novel
In the library
A Bayard From Bengal
F. Anstey · novel
In the library
A Blundering Boy: A Humorous Story
Bruce Weston Munro · novel
In the library
A bold bad butterfly
Oliver Herford · novel
In the library
A Bold Stroke for a Husband: A Comedy in Five Acts
Hannah Cowley · play
In the library
A Book of Burlesque: Sketches of English Stage Travestie and Parody
William Davenport Adams · ideas
In the library
A Book of Burlesques
H. L. Mencken · play
In the library
A Book of Cheerful Cats and Other Animated Animals
J. G. Francis · novel
In the library
A Book of Nonsense
Edward Lear · poetry
In the library
A Book Without a Title
George Jean Nathan · ideas
In the library
A Brace Of Boys
Fitz Hugh Ludlow · short story
In the library
A Bride from the Bush
E. W. Hornung · novel
In the library
A British Islander
Mary Hartwell Catherwood · short story
In the library
A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume II
Augustus De Morgan · ideas
In the library
A Burlesque Translation of Homer
Thomas active Bridges · myth
In the library
A Century of Parody and Imitation
Walter Jerrold · poetry