Three Men In A Boat by Jerome K. Jerome

You're taking a pleasant night stroll along the Thames.  Ah, the cool air, the lovely flowers- when all of a sudden you notice a great commotion on the coast of a little island in the water. It is one of those boats with covers, and the fellow in the boat has gotten himself wrapped up in the cover.
Then you see another fellow get knocked down, struggle, and also get all tangled up, and a third person has to help them out.

You have just encountered Three Men in a Boat, by Jerome K. Jerome. It is about the comic adventures of three good friends and a dog going on a trip on the Thames.

Here is the list of main characters:
J.: The narrator: extremely poetic, a hypochondriac.
George: A sluggard and bank clerk, also a hypochondriac.
Harris:  Down-to-earth, another hypochondriac.
Montemorency: A fox terrier, loves to fight.

This book was greeted with such approval that Jerome K. Jerome wrote a sequel, Three Men on the Bummel, which follows the same group of men on a bicycle trip in Germany. It's still funny, though perhaps not as funny as the first.

The Wikipedia link on Jerome K. Jerome is here.
 
I hope you enjoy Three Men in a Boat.