25 Books Guaranteed to Make You Laugh
From Flavorwire:
Not to get too philosophical, but it’s hard to define what is truly funny. Is it something that has you falling on the floor laughing or something that has you chuckling inside while also pondering the absurdity of the human condition? What each of us defines as funny depends on the individual subject: some of us might think there’s something funny about The Stranger by Camus, while others prefer Adam Sandler making fart sounds. The point is that humor works as a device that can make you laugh with reckless abandon, but also ponder this strange situation we call life. Not everything that’s funny has to start off with “Knock knock,” and these 25 books offer an opportunity to see how writers have used humor in different ways, to often-brilliant results.
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A Confederacy of Dunces
, John Kennedy Toole
Remember your college significant other that kept telling you that you had to read this book? You know the one I’m talking about: the one with bad taste disguised as pseudo intellectualism. Yeah, that one. A Confederacy of Dunces was really all they got right (except for you, of course) in terms of things they suggested you check out, because the story of Ignatius J. Reilly, our modern Don Quixote, is one of the funniest and finest American books of the the 20th century.
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The Stench of Honolulu
, Jack Handey
One of the great comedy minds of the last few decades took a long time to get around to writing a novel, but when he finally did it last year, it got us thinking that we could be in the middle of a comedic literature boom.
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Don’t Get Too Comfortable
, David Rakoff
We’re still reeling from David Rakoff’s death just a little under two years ago. That great sardonic wit who could put American culture under a microscope (and sometimes that of his native Canada as well), making every ugly little spot hilarious, Rakoff’s place among the greats should be confirmed. We’re pretty sure Don’t Get Too Comfortable is his finest work, but reading all of his books to find out is also a fine idea.
Link to the rest at Flavorwire