22 of the Funniest Novels Since ‘Catch-22’

This is one of the 394 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

New York Times, 22 Books

Three critics from the New York Times put together a list of 22 of the funniest novels written in English since Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22” (1961).

This list was originally published in 2024 and was added to this site 8 months ago.

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
11912 The Wig Charles Wright 1966 American English
145 Portnoy's Complaint Philip Roth 1969 American English
1813 Oreo Fran Ross 1974 American English
1014 Tales of the City Armistead Maupin 1978 American English
11195 Mrs. Caliban Rachel Ingalls 1982 American English
1401 The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 Sue Townsend 1982 British English
8678 Heartburn Nora Ephron 1983 American English
570 Money Martin Amis 1984 British English
8636 The Mezzanine Nicholson Baker 1988 American English
6683 A Far Cry From Kensington Muriel Spark 1988 British English
453 American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis 1991 American English
918 Bridget Jones's Diary Helen Fielding 1996 British English
4189 The Quick And The Dead Joy Williams 2000 American English
6932 Then We Came To The End Joshua Ferris 2007 American English
324 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Diaz 2007 Dominican English
12352 I Am Not Sidney Poitier Percival Everett 2009 American English
12352 Lightning Rods Helen DeWitt 2011 American English
12352 Pym Mat Johnson 2011 American English
845 The Sellout Paul Beatty 2015 American English
12352 Private Citizens Tony Tulathimutte 2016 American English
3706 My Year of Rest and Relaxation Ottessa Moshfegh 2018 American English
12352 Lake Of Urine Guillermo Stitch 2020 British English