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Tuesday, April 17, 2012

What's so funny?

I could use a good laugh.

One thing I have noticed is that different people find different things to be funny. There are so many different flavors of humor, from slapstick to sarcastic to silly to cynical to absurd to irreverent to witty to dark humor. When a patron asks for a good humorous read, I think about some of the funniest books I have read. Yet suggesting those books rarely seems to work. I often have to ask what else they find funny. If they can't think of a book I ask what movies or TV shows they find funny. With that, here are a few of the funniest books I have read.

Big Trouble by Dave Barry. Big Trouble was his first novel. Strangely I find his novels to be far better and funnier than his humor books. His novels are similar to the wacky south Florida novels of Carl Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey. He has a new novel out too titled Lunatics, which I hope to read soon.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. This is an hilariously irreverent look at Jesus' childhood. Most of Moore's books are a little to goofy for my taste (like Island of the Sequined Love Nun and You Suck: A Love Story), but Lamb was perfect. It reminded me of the Monty Python film, Life of Brian.

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson. A sarcastic teenager comes of age rebelling against her evangelical mother. Full of attitude, but written in a wry understated tone.

I have also laughed a lot while reading Carl Hiaasen, Janet Evanovich, David Sedaris, Christopher Buckley and some Terry Pratchett. 

What are some books that have made you laugh out loud?



4 comments:

Roberta said...

I think Christopher Buckley is hilarious. If folks liked the movie Thank You for Smoking, they'll like his other novels. But I don't think fiction works as well on the funny bone as it does at scaring you, tugging your hearstrings, or other emotional effects (affects?). I have found more nonfiction funny; Bill Bryson, David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell, etc.

Linda K. said...

Hey David - I loved Dave Barry's new book Lunatics, but then you know I have a weird, dark sense of humor. Christopher Moore's latest, Sacre Bleu is very much like Lamb in that it is not as raunchy as Fool or You Suck, plus it provides beautiful color reproductions of great artist's work (oh, and the type is a dark blue (bleu)

Make me laugh any day with a good book!

Maggie kat said...

Now that picture of Cal makes me smile!

Becky said...

I think Kurt Weichert's latest book, "SportsFan Chronicles" is a hilarious book! This book is the first in a series of fictional comedies- can't wait to read the rest!
http://www.sportsfanchronicles.com

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