There is not much better in this world than a good book that makes me laugh so hard I run the risk of peeing. Unfortunately the British in me means I’m not big on showing emotion, including laughter. It takes a lot to get me to laugh on the outside (less on the inside, but that’s not what we’re talking about here!). I had to comb through the archives of old reviews, scour my bookshelves and scroll back through my Goodreads read shelf, but I was able to put together a list of some uproariously funny reads.
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Life In Pieces is the first book I read this year and is all about the funny side of pandemic house arrest with small kids (lots of hiding in closets and asking “is it time to drink yet?”) and got me back into reading after a lengthy fallow period. The Martian is about an astronaut who gets stranded on Mars during a mission and has to draw on all his skills and knowledge to keep himself alive. You’d think that a dude stuck alone on an inhospitable planet with no way home would be at best a bit dull, at worst horribly depressing. But you’d be totally wrong. Mark Watney, the main character, is completely hilarious and this book had me up way past my bedtime. Plus when everything feels like it’s completely going to shit, this book will leave you with the lasting impression that it may be bad, but it could be worse. Good Omens is probably my favourite book and is also probably the funniest book I’ve ever read. You’ve probably all heard of it because of its recent adaptation to a mini-series, but, as you will often hear bookworms say – the book is better! (And read the footnotes. Trust me.) Jenny Lawson is probably one of the funniest people on the internet – and that is saying something. She has this knack for taking really difficult things and finding the humour in it (the subtitle is “A Funny Book About Horrible Things”), even if she has to dig for it. She suffers from mental health issues that are debilitating, but is lucky to have supportive family and to always be able to laugh even if it’s from a locked bathroom stall at an event that has gotten the better of her. I love her.
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Allie Brosh, like Jenny Lawson, finds humour in everyday tragedy and discomfort and makes graphics that are as relatable as they are funny. Interior Chinatown is one I just read this month because it’s on the BookTube Prize list. The humour in this is dark (sometimes pitch), but it’s there, and is one of the things that drew me in. Shirley Jackson’s duo of memoirs about her family life were written a while ago, but felt so true. She’s an expert at drawing out the humour, so by the time it really hits it’s irresistible. Bridget Jones’ Diary is one I’m sure everyone knows about by now, and is a favourite of mine. Bridget is such an unfortunate character in so many ways, but her brand of humour is the kind that I think everyone can relate to.
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I love Bill Bryson. His books are all funny, but this one was so funny I ended up reading it aloud to anyone who would listen (mostly my cats) just so I could really enjoy it. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole was probably my first exposure to tragicomic literature, and is kind of like a slightly more bleak childhood version of Bridget Jones. Durrell’s Corfu Trilogy is a series all about his time spent on Corfu with his family and all the ridiculous and hilarious exploits he got up to. Most involve animals – he was fascinated by them and would gather any he came across and try to keep them – and what happened when his menagerie mixed with the humans around him. With often catastrophically hilarious results. This Is Where I Leave You is about a funeral and a family in mourning. Which you wouldn’t expect to be funny, but it really really is. It takes some of the horrible things we all deal through in life – death, heartbreak, family – and manages to make them at once emotionally affecting and deeply funny.
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The Ladybird series of books was originally kind of like a series of small educational books for kids on specific topics (there was one on Canada that was the reason my Dad wanted to move here). They have put a spin on the theme to create a series of them for adults about everything from family roles to sick days to neighbours to hangovers. They are some of the funniest things I’ve read in years. Love, Nina is about a young woman’s experience as the nanny to the kids of a literary critic. It’s true British humour, and the hilarity is in the mundane. It’s full of one-liners and deadpan. I adored it. Weird Things Customers Say In Bookshops is exactly what it says on the tin – and is as good as you’d think. The Uncommon Reader is another one of my all time favourite books. It’s a fictional account of the Queen accidentally borrowing some library books that she feels duty-bound to read… and getting irrevocably lost in the world of literary delights. It’s brilliant and so so funny.
My descriptions weren’t great (I’m typing this at 1:30 am because it’s the only chance I’ve had this week to sit down and focus), so forgive the lack of convincing write-ups. Despite my lacklustre selling skills, these are all brilliant!
Your turn! Do you have any great hilarious books to recommend? Any with dark, tongue-in-cheek humour I might particularly enjoy? Have you read any of these?
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly link-up feature created by The Broke and the Bookish and hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every week TTT has a different topic, and everyone who links up has to create a link of ten items that fit that topic. To see past and upcoming topics, go here.
So many excellent titles here! Bryson is like an old friend I pick up whenever I’m really in the dumps–he never fails to make me laugh til I cry. And I can’t believe I still haven’t picked up Lawson’s books–she’s been on my TBR forever!
I agree on Bryson – though I recently re-read his book about traveling through America and was startled that there were so many offensive passages in it. He said some sexist and objectifying things about women, had some broad strokes things to say about particular groups of people and engaged with very racist stereotypes of Native Americans at one point. That kind of ruined that particular reading experience for me. I know it was written a long time ago, but it doesn’t make reading it now any better. Sad, that. I did read one of his more recent books, At Home, last year and it did do a better job of living up to my expectations. So I think I’ll try to stick to his more recent work in future! I took forever to get to Lawson. I still had her first book sitting on my shelf when I picked up the second! I did find, though, that once I picked one up I tore through both of them in record time, so maybe you’ll find a similar thing!
The Martian is definitely a funny one! 😀 Happy reading! My TTT https://readwithstefani.com/books-that-made-me-laugh-out-loud/
I loved it, which thoroughly surprised me at the time! I haven’t read any of his other books though, I’ve heard less positive things. I keep hoping there will be a sequel or something!
This is Where I Leave You was pretty funny. I always forget how funny it was.
Yeah, the humour was kind of buried in the story, a lot of which was pretty sad, but it’s there for sure!
Brit humor is awesome — it seems to be more situational than the slapstick R-rated/ toilet humor which may be funny but is also less original, I feel. So yes, definitely taking up Love, Nina. And will top that up with Weird Things Customers Say In Bookshops. And of course, Adrian Mole and Good Omens, agreed hands-down.
Thanks for some really interesting suggestions. Happy TTT!
~Top 10 Tuesday Post @Lexlingua
I agree! I much prefer it to the obvious kind. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, and I do sometimes find it funny, but sharp wit will always be more likely to actually make me laugh! Love, Nina wasn’t perfect – the girl is young and naive and sometimes a bit silly – but I enjoyed it for what it was! There’s also a TV show based on it with Helena Bonham Carter that I enjoyed.
I actually hides preferred the mini-series to the book of Good Omens. There were parts I found funny, but a lot of the humour seemed to really on sexist/racist/homophobic stereotypes which I didn’t love.
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2021/02/23/top-ten-tuesday-304/
You know what? I actually really appreciate this comment! It’s been a long time since I read Good Omens, and I’m sure I would notice different things now as well. I need to re-read it critically. I’m glad that you made me aware of issues! I enjoyed the TV adaptation – one of the things I liked was that it seemed to play with the undertones in the relationship between Aziraphale and Crawley, which I don’t remember from the book. Great comment, thank you so much!
No problem! Yes, the book didn’t seem to do as much with that, which surprised me. Obviously I watched the mini-series first, so that did colour my view of it, but it’s definitely also a timing thing, those jokes certainly felt more dated now than they would have earlier in the book’s life!
Yes, I recently re-read a Bill Bryson book from quite a while ago, and that I also read quite a while ago, and there were several things that made me cringe. Kind of ruined the reading experience for me. But then I also read one of his more recent books and didn’t find any parts of it that had that effect. So I guess authors and readers are both evolving, and hopefully will continue to do so. It does affect how it feels to read a book now that was written 20 or 30 (or more) years ago. I find it heartening that that much time can make such a difference in our awareness!
Yes, it’s great that things have evolved so much over the past 20-30 years and hopefully they will continue to do so.
I really hope so!!
Me too!
I love the cover for Raising Demons! Wha ha ha!!! One of my students gave me The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, saying I MUST READ IT. So okay, I guess I must. Still haven’t read Furiously Happy, but still want to.
Happy TTT!
Ten Feline Book Titles that made me laugh out loud
It was a good one! Adrian Mole is another series I haven’t read in decades, so I have no idea what it would be like read as an adult. I think it’s worth a go though – I think there’s a lot of political commentary that I missed as a kid so you can read it at different levels. I love Sue Townsend – she doesn’t pull any punches! She wrote some adult books that were great as well. I highly recommend Furiously Happy, just be aware that it does deal with mental health so trigger warnings in case that is something to consider! Great book.
Bridget Jones’s Diary is so much fun! Here is my Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
I haven particularly fond memories of it as I read it on a plane on my way home from England before anyone knew what it was, so I had no idea what I was going into and it was such a great reading experience! I read the whole thing by the time the plane landed.
The Martian has been on my TBR so long. It’s one of those books I want to read even after having seen the movie. I’ve heard many good things!
I also have Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops and I totally agree, it’s hilarious. Oh man, poor booksellers!
I loved both the book and the movie for The Martian, and from what I remember, the two were pretty close. If you liked one, you’ll probably like the other! Did you read the sequel to Weird Things? Equally hilarious!
Yes! It is totally believable that there are enough absurd scenarios for two whole books haha.
Andy Weir has another book coming out soon I think, so I think it would be a good time to check out his writing
There are. Probably for ten more, too!
I think there have been two books (maybe one of those is the one coming out) since The Martian and I haven’t heard great things about them. But maybe the new one will be good! I’d still say worth checking out The Martian first though…
The Martian was excellent!
My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-books-that-made-me-laugh-out-loud/
Completely agree! Not normally my genre, but so glad I gave it a try!
Furiously Happy looks so fun. I am making a list of funny books today. I just realized that I hardly ever read funny books and everything right now seems so serious. Here’s my list.
I know, right? Be warned, if you deal with anxiety or depression or OCD, there may be some triggers in Furiously Happy. It’s definitely finding humour in dark stuff, so the dark stuff is there. Just so you’re going in prepared! That said, I found it truly inspiring, as I know life is always going to have challenges, particularly for those of us with mental health problems, so learning how to laugh through the pain is such a valuable tool. It also made me feel less alone, which was such a wonderful thing! I’d definitely recommend it!