Funniest book you've ever read...

"I love you, Beth Cooper," a novel by Larry Doyle, who's a Simpsons writer. It's going to be a movie this summer, I believe, with Hayden Panettiere.

 

Yes to both. Dorsey's books are good but they just seem like rewrites of Hiaasen's stuff. Love Jenkins, particularly Semi-Tough and Life It's Ownself. Dead Solid Perfect is recommended for the Needhams if nothing else.

 

It's a fun, quick read. I cranked through that on a 2-hour flight.

 

If short stories count ...

Alexander McCall Smith, who wrote the "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency," wrote a collection of short stories called "Heavenly Date and Other Flirtations."

Among the collection is "Nice Little Date" - about a rock star who attempts to seduce a teenage girl - and "Far North" - in which a date to an alligator farm goes worse than anyone expects.

 

"You Gotta Play Hurt," by Dan Jenkins
"Sex. Drugs and Cocoa Puffs," by Chuck Klosterman

 

I will third "Beth Cooper." Hated the ending, but a very quick read and a funny one at that.

This one mixes great, great humor with some sad, real life stuff: "Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" by Dave Eggers.

 

If your friend is a girl, recommend "Asking for Trouble" by Elizabeth Young. It's the book that the movie the Wedding Date (with Debra Messing) was based on. The book was sooooo much funnier than the movie.

 

The Turner Diaries was a side-splitting gut-buster for me. But that's just me.

 

Hey, I work with that guy's brother (John is a photog at the Sun Herald)! But I'm ashamed to say I've never read any of his stuff. I'm a looser.

I'll mention Vonnegut.

 

If he/she wants something more on the literature side as opposed to a throwaway beach read, I offer two of my all-time favorite books: Catch-22 and A Confederacy Of Dunces. Both repeatedly laugh-out-loud funny.

And ifilus is right, Vonnegut is always good for a laugh. I like Timequake.

 

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max

 

Here's another vote for Beth Cooper.