Humor lit
So I was moseying around the interwebs today and I found this article, which asks a fairly pertinent question: where are all the funny books? Not newspaper strip compilations or lolcat images in book form, but an honest-to-goodness novel with a great, all-encompassing sense of humor. And it made me think of all the books I've been reading lately, and then of everything I've read in my lifetime. One title came to my mind - the gloriously funny I Love You, Beth Cooper - but once the article name-checked that book, I decided it was time to dig deeper.
Of course, it occurred to me that I'd just read a very funny book earlier this month: Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America. I even made it a point in the review to highlight some of the articles and items in the book that made me laugh out loud. I also mentioned America: The Book and Stephen Colbert's I Am America and So Can You as previously read books. I still highly recommend these titles. Even so, none of them qualify as "novels" - here meaning, a fictional story with a narrative, a plot, and characters that are not based on the existence of a critically-adored TV show.
Happily, I think I've come up with some alternatives that match the criteria. The Scott Pilgrim series first popped into my mind - there are multiple levels of humor, from the writing to the meta aspect to circumstantial humor. I'd recommend Will Grayson, Will Grayson, as its writing is also clever and spry, although it's not all light and breezy. Most Rachel Cohn books, like Cupcake and Naomi & Ely's No-Kiss List, have protagonists with a blunt sense of humor, although there is still some serious issues to contend with. The gem I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked It is pretty hilarious and gleeful, especially for a reader who's kind of sick of the whole Twilight/teen vampire genre. Frank Portman's two books, King Dork and Andromeda Klein, are practically humor-driven (the former nearly at the expense of a coherent story, but that's part of its charm). The Princess Bride is as funny as the movie. Bridget Jones's Diary is more wacky than laugh-out-loud, at least that was my experience with it, but still worth a read. However, I think most of all I'd recommend the Discworld series - especially the earlier novels, such as the Wyrd Sisters trilogy and just about any Rincewind book. All of these books boast high and low humor, satirical humor, sly wordplay, and send-ups of fantasy and drama tropes.
I don't know which of these genres - fantasy, chick lit, young adult, or other - have more to offer in terms of a really good laugh for the sake of a really good laugh. I wonder if it's like how certain movies are honored while others are ignored: that is, drama is somehow thought of as loftier or more worthy than comedy, which is considered lowbrow or "easy." Given how much people like to laugh, you'd think there would be a bigger demand for funny books (books as in "novels," not memoirs or essays - apologies to Patton Oswalt). But perhaps people don't feel the need to look in the fiction section of Barnes & Noble to make them laugh, or maybe they've just trained themselves not to. As a beginning writer with a pretty decent sense of humor, I'd like to read - or write - the kind of novel that's on par with a 40-Year-Old Virgin, 30 Rock, or, hell, even an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (now that would be a feat!). I'd buy the hell out of a book like that.
Of course, it occurred to me that I'd just read a very funny book earlier this month: Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America. I even made it a point in the review to highlight some of the articles and items in the book that made me laugh out loud. I also mentioned America: The Book and Stephen Colbert's I Am America and So Can You as previously read books. I still highly recommend these titles. Even so, none of them qualify as "novels" - here meaning, a fictional story with a narrative, a plot, and characters that are not based on the existence of a critically-adored TV show.
Happily, I think I've come up with some alternatives that match the criteria. The Scott Pilgrim series first popped into my mind - there are multiple levels of humor, from the writing to the meta aspect to circumstantial humor. I'd recommend Will Grayson, Will Grayson, as its writing is also clever and spry, although it's not all light and breezy. Most Rachel Cohn books, like Cupcake and Naomi & Ely's No-Kiss List, have protagonists with a blunt sense of humor, although there is still some serious issues to contend with. The gem I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked It is pretty hilarious and gleeful, especially for a reader who's kind of sick of the whole Twilight/teen vampire genre. Frank Portman's two books, King Dork and Andromeda Klein, are practically humor-driven (the former nearly at the expense of a coherent story, but that's part of its charm). The Princess Bride is as funny as the movie. Bridget Jones's Diary is more wacky than laugh-out-loud, at least that was my experience with it, but still worth a read. However, I think most of all I'd recommend the Discworld series - especially the earlier novels, such as the Wyrd Sisters trilogy and just about any Rincewind book. All of these books boast high and low humor, satirical humor, sly wordplay, and send-ups of fantasy and drama tropes.
I don't know which of these genres - fantasy, chick lit, young adult, or other - have more to offer in terms of a really good laugh for the sake of a really good laugh. I wonder if it's like how certain movies are honored while others are ignored: that is, drama is somehow thought of as loftier or more worthy than comedy, which is considered lowbrow or "easy." Given how much people like to laugh, you'd think there would be a bigger demand for funny books (books as in "novels," not memoirs or essays - apologies to Patton Oswalt). But perhaps people don't feel the need to look in the fiction section of Barnes & Noble to make them laugh, or maybe they've just trained themselves not to. As a beginning writer with a pretty decent sense of humor, I'd like to read - or write - the kind of novel that's on par with a 40-Year-Old Virgin, 30 Rock, or, hell, even an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (now that would be a feat!). I'd buy the hell out of a book like that.
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