I almost didn't pick this book off the library shelf, but I'm so glad I did. I haven't read anything this funny for a long time, nor heard it since I got that Monty Python CD.
Terry Pratchett's writing style is very reminiscent of that of Douglas Adams, though he fortunately seems to have written an awful lot more.

The novel takes place on Discworld, a place I've heard only bits about before, and which I currently believe is something like Larry Niven's Ringworld. This novel stands on it's own, however, and doesn't require the reading of anything prior to it. (Yay!)

We meet the main character Brutha hoeing melons in the Citadel to the Church of the Great God Om. To his incredible surprise and consternation, a god does happen to talk to him one day; and it isn't long before he decides it's a very demanding one. With its (questionable) guidance, Brutha goes on a terrific journey to places like Ephebe, home of many a philosopher, each of whom has an official philosophers loofa for the baths they're always jumping out of. It's here that you find great lines like:

When the Omnian church found out about Koomi, they displayed him in every town within the Church's empire to demonstrate the essential flaws in his argument. There were a lot of towns, so they had to cut him up quite small. I forget where I was going with this paragraph, so I'll just say that Brutha has to save a continent from destruction, and himself besides, and meets the oddest people on the way. Just be read it carefully, or you might miss one of the laughably funny things thrown in each page; If you like anything by Douglas Adams, Monty Python or the like, I highly recommend this novel.