Flat Out Funny
Handling Sin by Michael Malone
Yeah, it's on my list of enduring favorites, but not only is it a great novel, it's a hilarious one.
The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella
Laugh-out-loud funny all the way through.
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
The first in the inexhaustibly clever Thursday Next series. Any writer who hasn't read Fforde is missing a treat. With a bow to Pirandello, he has created a universe where the world of books really exists parallel to our world, where characters take vacations and have stand-ins (which is why, he explains, different readers get different experiences when reading the same book), where there is a department of JurisFiction dedicated to keeping the storylines in novels intact, where the characters hold annual awards called the "Bookies" and Heathcliff wins the "most troubled male lead" every year, where the parasitical "grammasites" (also known as "gerunds or Ingers") have to be destroyed before they get into a book and wreck havoc on syntax. It's as if a literary critic jumped down Alice's rabbit hole.
The Understudy by David Nicholls
In this novel, Nicholls invades Nick Hornby territory with results as touching and, in my opinion, even funnier than ABOUT A BOY. Here's a brief quote from the opening:
Stephen C. McQueen had two CVSs. Alongside the real-life resume of all the things he had actually achieved, there was the Nearly CV. This was the good-luck version of his life, the one where the close shaves and the near misses and the second choices had all worked out; the version where he hadn't been knocked off his bike on the way to that audition, or come down with shingles during the first week of rehearsal; the one where they hadn't decided to give the role to that bastard off the telly.. .
Unfortunately, all these great triumphs had taken place in other, imaginary worlds, and there are strict professional rules about submitting your parallel-universe resume. This unwillingness to take into account events in other space-time dimensions meant that Stephen was left with his real-life CV, a document that reflected both his agent's unwillingness to say no, and Stephen's extraordinary capacity, his gift almost, for bad luck.
Lost in Place by Mark Salzman
Salzman's memoir of his adolescence is full of humor, warmth, and compassion, all doused with a generous sprinkling of humor. The opening paragraph reads
When I was thirteen years old, I saw my first kung fu movie, and before it ended I decided the life of a wandering Zen monk was the life for me. I announced my willingness to leave East Ridge Junior High and give up all material things, but my parents did not share my enthusiasm. They made it clear that I was not to become a wandering Zen monk until I had finished high school. In the meantime I could practice kung fu and meditate down in the basement. So I immersed myself in the study of Chinese boxing and philosophy with the kind of dedication that is possible only when you don't yet have to make a living, when you are too young to drive, and you don't have a girlfriend.
BOBOS in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There by David Brooks
A witty, insightful dissection of our society. Read it for Brook's provocative assertions about our culture or read it because you find yourself laughing on every page. The chapter on Spiritual Life (and the Montana "soul rush") is one of my favorites.
It Takes a Village Idiot: A Memoir of Life After the City by Jim Mullen
I love all the "city folk move to the country" books and this is a particularly funny one.
Yeah, it's on my list of enduring favorites, but not only is it a great novel, it's a hilarious one.
The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella
Laugh-out-loud funny all the way through.
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
The first in the inexhaustibly clever Thursday Next series. Any writer who hasn't read Fforde is missing a treat. With a bow to Pirandello, he has created a universe where the world of books really exists parallel to our world, where characters take vacations and have stand-ins (which is why, he explains, different readers get different experiences when reading the same book), where there is a department of JurisFiction dedicated to keeping the storylines in novels intact, where the characters hold annual awards called the "Bookies" and Heathcliff wins the "most troubled male lead" every year, where the parasitical "grammasites" (also known as "gerunds or Ingers") have to be destroyed before they get into a book and wreck havoc on syntax. It's as if a literary critic jumped down Alice's rabbit hole.
The Understudy by David Nicholls
In this novel, Nicholls invades Nick Hornby territory with results as touching and, in my opinion, even funnier than ABOUT A BOY. Here's a brief quote from the opening:
Stephen C. McQueen had two CVSs. Alongside the real-life resume of all the things he had actually achieved, there was the Nearly CV. This was the good-luck version of his life, the one where the close shaves and the near misses and the second choices had all worked out; the version where he hadn't been knocked off his bike on the way to that audition, or come down with shingles during the first week of rehearsal; the one where they hadn't decided to give the role to that bastard off the telly.. .
Unfortunately, all these great triumphs had taken place in other, imaginary worlds, and there are strict professional rules about submitting your parallel-universe resume. This unwillingness to take into account events in other space-time dimensions meant that Stephen was left with his real-life CV, a document that reflected both his agent's unwillingness to say no, and Stephen's extraordinary capacity, his gift almost, for bad luck.
Lost in Place by Mark Salzman
Salzman's memoir of his adolescence is full of humor, warmth, and compassion, all doused with a generous sprinkling of humor. The opening paragraph reads
When I was thirteen years old, I saw my first kung fu movie, and before it ended I decided the life of a wandering Zen monk was the life for me. I announced my willingness to leave East Ridge Junior High and give up all material things, but my parents did not share my enthusiasm. They made it clear that I was not to become a wandering Zen monk until I had finished high school. In the meantime I could practice kung fu and meditate down in the basement. So I immersed myself in the study of Chinese boxing and philosophy with the kind of dedication that is possible only when you don't yet have to make a living, when you are too young to drive, and you don't have a girlfriend.
BOBOS in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There by David Brooks
A witty, insightful dissection of our society. Read it for Brook's provocative assertions about our culture or read it because you find yourself laughing on every page. The chapter on Spiritual Life (and the Montana "soul rush") is one of my favorites.
It Takes a Village Idiot: A Memoir of Life After the City by Jim Mullen
I love all the "city folk move to the country" books and this is a particularly funny one.
