Books Sure to Make You Laugh

By Caroline Rogers
September 08, 2017
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Need a laugh? Pick up a book. Need a recommendation? We have plenty. We’ve gathered our favorite funny books here for your browsing pleasure. These books are sure to provide loads of out-loud laughs no matter the subject matter. Many of these books blend the dramatic, heartfelt, and comic to great effect. Others are pure comedy. All of them promise laughs galore thanks to the authors’ bold voices and memorable comedic prose. It’s best to read these books in places where out-loud laughing is permitted (i.e. no libraries, y’all), because once you start reading, the chuckling is sure to follow. There are plenty of comedians on this list—from Tina Fey and Trevor Noah to Issa Rae and Nick Offerman—and their books are joyful reads you’ll want to devour again and again. We have memoir, fiction, essays, short stories, and even a few books that completely defy categorization. With all of these books, though, you’ll open them up for the jokes, and you’ll stay for the memorable stories, the insight, and the heart.
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I Remember Nothing: And Other Reflections by Nora Ephron

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Buy it: $15, amazon.com

Nora Ephron penned some of your favorite movies—When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle among them—and she also wrote what are sure to become your favorite books. Once you’ve finished this one, which is packed with prose in her signature comedic style, read I Feel Bad about My Neck, another Ephron classic, as well as Crazy Salad and Scribble Scribble.

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Bossypants by Tina Fey

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Buy it: $16, amazon.com

Tina Fey, comedian/writer/producer extraordinaire, tells the story of her life’s hilarious and heartfelt moments in this great book, leaving readers with plenty of laughs—and plenty of good advice too.

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I Am Not Sidney Poitier by Percival Everett

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Buy it: $16, amazon.com

This hilarious novel follows a young man named Not Sidney Poitier—yes, that’s his name—through the tumult of his life in the South, tackling huge themes of race, class, and identity through Percival Everett’s signature comedic precision.

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A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson

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Buy it: $15.99, amazon.com

If you’ve ever taken a long walk, you’ll appreciate this uproarious travelogue by Bill Bryson, about his half-baked attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail with a long-lost friend. Once you’re hooked on Bryson’s rollicking stories, read his novels Notes from a Small Island and The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.

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Less by Andrew Sean Greer

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Buy it: $26, amazon.com

Andrew Sean Greer’s prose is as funny as it is smart. When failed novelist Arthur Less receives a wedding invitation for his ex-boyfriend’s imminent nuptials, Less scrambles to find a conflict, and in doing so, accepts every other invitation he can find. Skipping town to miss the wedding, he travels the world, tumbling through fantastic adventures along the way.

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You’ll Grow Out of It by Jessi Klein

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Buy it: $15.99, amazon.com

Writer and comedian Jessi Klein writes just like she speaks (and we cannot overstate what a good thing that is). Her book is hilarious and heartfelt and shares the stories of her life so far—stories about love, dating, womanhood, and what happens when a tomboy grows up.

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The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae

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Buy it: $16, amazon.com

Filmaker and actress Issa Rae has written a book that you just can’t miss. She writes about everything—love, work, race, introversion, friendship, comedy, awkwardness—with a zeal that is infectious, heartfelt, and unendingly funny.

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In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem, and Fun in the Sandbox by Carol Burnett

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Buy it: $16, amazon.com

Look back on The Carol Burnett Show alongside Carol Burnett herself in this incredibly funny behind-the-scenes glimpse of a TV juggernaut.

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Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny

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Buy it: $25.95, amazon.com

Louise Erdrich called this book “Both heart-piercing and, crucially, very funny.” It’s the perfect blend in a story about the messiness, lingering questions, and unexpected turns of married life.

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Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

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Buy it: $16.99, amazon.com

If you’re looking for humor, you’ve probably already found David Sedaris. The humorist’s 2001 book will delight you, make you laugh, and make you think. Once you’ve finished it, then read Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls, Sedaris’ equally funny (and smart) collection of essays and stories published in 2013.

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Egghead or, You Can’t Survive on Ideas Alone by Bo Burnham

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Buy it: $15.99, amazon.com

Comedian Bo Burnham’s collection Egghead is impossible to classify, genre-wise. It’s full of poems, prose, illustrations, and plenty of Burnham’s brilliant comedic turns to keep you occupied—and laughing—for hours.

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Of Mess and Moxie: Wrangling Delight Out of This Wild and Glorious Life by Jen Hatmaker

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Buy it: $22.99, amazon.com

Author Jen Hatmaker encourages us all to live our messes and rediscover our moxie by sharing stories of her own mistakes, victories, and, of course, the hilarious moments in between.

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Yes, Please by Amy Poehler

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Buy it: $16.99, amazon.com

Dive into this comedic memoir by SNL and Parks and Recreation alum Amy Poehler—you’ll won't be able to put down this dynamic life story, which is told in Poehler's irresistibly hilarious voice (with an assist or two by friends, parents, and loved ones). Laughs ensue.

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Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson

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Buy it: $16.99, amazon.com

Jenny Lawson finds humor where the difficult and tragic meets the hysterical and surprising. In this book, she revels in the moments in life most people would rather forget and, in the process, finds meaning there. You’ll find more laughs—as well as a moving exploration of severe depression—in Lawson’s book Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things.

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If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won’t) by Betty White

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Buy it: $16, amazon.com

You can never have enough Betty White, so pick up this funny book about her life in show business, which is packed with plenty of witty observations and out-loud laughs.

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American Housewife: Stories by Helen Ellis

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Buy it: $15, amazon.com

These stories are populated with housewives (twelve American housewives, to be precise), all brought to life by Helen Ellis’ wicked sense of humor. Southerners especially will appreciate the dark comedy of “Southern Lady Code,” which divulges—what else?—the real meanings behind certain notorious Southern sayings.

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Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan

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Buy it: $27.95, amazon.com

The family conflicts, inheritance battles, and jealous rages of one riotous, privileged family populate this rollicking novel by Kevin Kwan. It’s the latest in his best-selling satirical series—the first installments of which are Crazy Rich Asians and China Rich Girlfriend.

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Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris

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Buy it: $10, amazon.com

Writer Joshua Ferris turns his pen to life at the office in this lauded novel, describing precisely (and hilariously) the seemingly unending days of coffee breaks, meetings, and coworkers, while bringing to life the mundane—and the strange—in the everyday. (After this one, read his wonderful first short story collection, The Dinner Party.)

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Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

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Buy it: $14, amazon.com

Everyone has already read this, right? If not, pick up Mindy Kaling’s first book right now, and find yourself utterly charmed by her voice, the stories of her life, work, comedy, and, through it all, her candor.

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Paddle Your Own Canoe by Nick Offerman

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Buy it: $16, amazon.com

Fans of Parks and Recreation’s stalwart Ron Swanson must pick up this book by the man who brought him to life. Nick Offerman waxes poetic on many topics in this funny book, including, but not limited to, grilling, moustaches, woodworking, and his childhood in Minooka, Illinois.

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The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher

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Buy it: $26, amazon.com

While filming the Star Wars saga, actress and writer Carrie Fisher kept journals. Those journals surfaced decades later as this book, a candid (and often humorous) glimpse behind the scenes and into the life of a young woman embarking on an astonishing life.

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I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley

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Buy it: $16, amazon.com

These funny and complex essays will leave you hooked on the witty observations and zany situations within—read the rest of Crosley’s work in the essay collection How Did You Get This Number and novel The Clasp.

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Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

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Buy it: $28, amazon.com

Comedian and talk show host Trevor Noah tells the story of his childhood spent growing up in apartheid-era South Africa. His story is at turns heartbreaking and hilarious, a moving account of love, life, and family as told through Noah’s utterly unique and wonderfully wry perspective.

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Little Victories: A Sportswriter's Notes on Winning at Life by Jason Gay

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Buy it: $14.95, amazon.com

Wall Street Journal writer Jason Gay makes his debut with this funny book, a retelling of the important moments of his life from which readers glean insight and more than a few belly laughs.

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A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

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Buy it: $16, amazon.com

This comic classic is an epic following one Ignatius J. Reilly, a so-called Don Quixote of New Orleans’ French Quarter. Toole’s novel is packed with high-flying hijinks and so many laughs—405 pages of them.

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The Princess Bride by William Goldman

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Buy it: $15, amazon.com

You’ve seen the movie; now it’s time to read the book that inspired it all. Expect plenty of laughs from Westley, Buttercup, Fezzick, Inigo Montoya, and the rest of the gang.

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By Caroline Rogers