Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Books that Made Me Laugh

Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic from The Broke and the Bookish is Top Ten Books that Made You Laugh.  I tried to go a little outside the normal here - but if you haven't read Bossypants by Tina Fey, Yes Please by Amy Poehler or either of Mindy Kaling's books you really should and listening to them is even better - and tried to pull from books I read years ago but still laugh when I remember them.

Nonfiction

Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson - I love Jenny Lawson's blog and I love how she manages to tackle really tough topics and make them easy to relate too and understand.  I also absolutely love her obsession with humanely taxidermied animals and metal chickens and just trying anything that comes into her head.  Plus, she's the only person who has ever written a story involving a cat, a laxative, and fear of an intruder and made me laugh until I cried.

The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost - I love travel books and I love sarcasm and witty suffering and Troost manages to suffer quite a bit in a very witty manner.  I laughed a lot while reading this one and then passed it onto my husband who laughed a lot while he was reading it.  This was one that we both ended up reading passages to each other even though I knew he was going to read it and he knew I had already read it.  Plus, when someone asks you what you're reading and you reply with this title you sometimes get pretty funny reactions.

When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris - I don't always love David Sedaris and there were a few chapters in this collection that missed the mark for me but there were so many chapters in this one that had me laughing until I cried.  I listened to the audio for this one and there were a few times I had to turn this off when I was driving because I was laughing so hard I was getting funny looks.  The part where he went to the hospital in France with a very limited understanding of French and answering everything with the French equivalent of "It's okay" was just hilarious.  I didn't enjoy all of this one but the ones I enjoyed I loved!

Baghdad Without a Map and Other Misadventures in Arabia by Tony Horwitz - This was my very first book by Tony Horwitz and it still may be my favorite.  It was written in 1992 but there is a lot of information that still feels relevant and he's right in the middle of some events as they're beginning.  How he managed to make parts of this funny while still being informative is impressive.  This is one of the few books where we see quite a bit of his wife - the author Geraldine Brooks  - which was also interesting.

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Bosh - Like Jenny Lawson, Allie Bosh is able to really explain what it feels like to be depressed or anxious in a way that makes total sense to those that don't suffer from either of these but she does it with more illustrations and less taxidermy.  I thought her goldfish analogy was brilliant, the killer goose story still makes me giggle, and she has confirmed for me that I never want to make a long distance move with dogs.

Fiction:

Night of the Living Deed by E.J. Copperman - On the surface this doesn't sound like a very funny book as murders, ghosts and very extensive home renovations don't usually lend themselves to hilarity.  However, the ghosts in this book are very funny though I've very glad I don't have to share a house with them and the scene where everyone comes clean about their ghost seeing abilities is pretty funny.

It Happened in London by Julia Quinn - When I first saw this topic this was the first book that came to mind.  The scenes where Sebastian is reading from the Miss Butterworth book is perhaps one of my favorites of all time and I just love the reason why Harry is wearing the hat.

The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog by Dave Barry - I love Dave Barry's nonfiction but was never really drawn to his fiction until I heard him read a chapter of this book and then I knew I simply had to have it.  It's a short little book set right around Christmas in a small town in the 1950s.  It's very clear that Barry is pulling heavily from his own experiences as a child and that he has a son.  It's sweet and very Christmas-y and so very funny.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling - So confession time - I was late to Harry Potter.  Like really late.  Like the 3rd movie had already come out when I finally picked up the very first book in the series.  I was so surprised by how funny parts of this book were.  Fred and George and the boy who narrates the Quiddich match were all just brilliant and I absolutely loved this book and was overjoyed to find the humor in this one.

A Disguise to Die For by Diane Vallere - If I want a zany romp with characters you can never predict and a murder or two Diane Vallere is my go-to and this latest series did not disappoint.  I definitely got a giggle or two out of this one and found myself desperately wanting my own costume shop to play in.

What's your favorite funny book?