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Mariella Frostrup continues Open Book's celebration of funny books with Tony Parsons, award winning writer of "Man And Boy" and "One For My Baby", whose choice for Open Book's Funniest Book is "The Virgin Soldiers" by Leslie Thomas. First published in 1966 The Virgin Soldiers sold over 7 million copies world wide, it is both a satirical indictment of the futility of the war and a celebration of young manhood.

In Open Book's Mini History of Comedy Professor of Literature at UCL, John Mullan, is joined by writer and biographer Jenny Uglow to take a romp through the 18th century and the birth of the comic novel in such masterpieces as The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne and Tom Jones by Henry Fielding. What do these two comic masterpieces have to tell us about our own time and how have they influenced the development of the contemporary comic novel?

And a round up of the Best Book of 2011 with critic Suzi Feay and writer and bookseller Evie Wyld. Following on from the controversial Booker short list this year, our contributors assess the best "readable" books of the year - are they the same as simply "best" books and what does the term "readable" actually imply when it comes to literary fiction?

Producer: Hilary Dunn.