4 Of The Funniest Books Ever Written

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (2018)

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Picked by Esquire Editors

Long-suffering Korede and her younger sister Ayoola live in Lagos, Nigeria, and they have each other's backs. That's especially handy for Ayoola, because she's developed a habit of killing her boyfriends – she's just polished off her third – and needs Korede to help clean up. They have a good system, but it can't last. My Sister, the Serial Killer moves like a thriller – pacy and punchy – but at the same time it's laced with buckets of dark comic energy.

The Catcher In The Rye by J.D Salinger (1951)

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Picked by David Nicholls

It's strange how this novel has become a by-word for doomy, nihilistic introspection; I blame Mark Chapman. It's actually a very funny book, right from its perfect opening sentence. No one has ever captured the adolescent voice with such accuracy; the pretension, the self-importance, the heart-breaking sincerity and misguided passion. The narrator's voice is perfect - slangy and wise-cracking - and there are some wonderful set-pieces too, including an excruciating encounter with a prostitute, wonderful rants about acting and the cinema and 'phoniness'. Hugely influential, cynical and warm and funny, its the perfect coming-of-age book (or bildungsroman, if you're feeling fancy).

Love in A Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford (1949)

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Picked by Esquire Editors

This irresistible melange of love, family, sexuality and reads like the unbelievable creation of a bored housewife, while the impact is made in the gulf that exists between what people are thinking and what they are saying.

The Timewaster Letters by Robin Cooper (2004)

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Picked by Dan Davies

Spoon collector, thimble designer, professional fish fryer and world authority on wasps, Robin Cooper is a many of parts – and many incredibly silly but stupendously funny letters. Whether Cooper is organising a surprise clarinet party for his wife, designing scarecrows made from beef (“based on Roman themes, such as ‘the Storming of Thebes’ and ‘Brutus Avenged’.”) or offering his services to the National Cavity Insulation Association as their “Poet in Residence”, the Timewaster Letters contain some of the most outrageous requests and ridiculous drawings you are ever likely to see. Robin Cooper is the alter ego of BAFTA-nominated comedy writer Robert Popper and really should be a fixture in every gentleman’s toilet.