Funny Books

That Stack Of Books with Nancy Pearl and Steve Scher - The House of Podcasts

The past, present and future walk into a bar. Bartender says, "you need a drink. You're tense."

Here is a discussion offering some funny books to read. Here also are some satires. Here are some books that are laugh out loud funny and some that might need some historical context to truly get the jokes.

Also here, a discussion we just started, really.

What is the difference between comedy and satire?

Here is a web-based definition I found helpful. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-comedy-and-satire.htm#didyouknowout

“Comedy and satire are different in that comedy is a much broader genre. All satire is comedy, but not all comedy is satire. Comedy includes everything from intelligent, witty repartees and dark humor to slapstick and baseline jokes. Satire, on the other hand, is a literary genre primarily focused on highbrow social criticism. “

Though even here, the lines sure seem to blur. What is the difference between highbrow and lowbrow these days? Isn’t there lowbrow satire? Southpark comes to mind. The Daily Show is a mix of highbrow and lowbrow that often offers trenchant social criticism. And who is to say what is laugh out loud funny? It’s all so personal.

Anyway, here are a few of the books we discussed.

Won’t you add to our list of comedy books?

Inherent Vice, by Thomas Pynchon

The Bear Went Over The Mountain, by William Kotzwinkle

The Evolution Man or How I Ate My Father, by Roy Lewis

Bossypants, by Tina Fey

The One Hundred Year Old Many Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared, by David Lodge

Vanity Fair, William Thackeray.

Where’d you go Bernadette, Maria Semple

Cheaper by the Dozen, Frank B. Gilbreth, Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

Candide, by Voltaire

Gracie, A Love Story, by George Burns

The Princess Bride, William Goldman

Hitchihiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

Good Omens, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

Some other funny authors we mentioned too.

P.G. Wodehouse

Mindy Kaling

Amy Poehler

James Thurber

Anthony Trollope

Jane Austen

David Sedaris