Ten Books That Will Make You Laugh Your Ass Off

Well, the holidays are upon us.  I just realized this as Walt and I made our way through the grocery store this weekend.  I couldn’t figure out what the deal was with all the turkeys, and the raw cranberries, and the bottles of  gravy clogging up the aisles.

My obliviousness never fails to amaze Walt.  He’s convinced that people ought to see a holiday coming down the pike, particularly if it shows up on the calendar in the same place year after year.

Whatever.

So, in honor of the upcoming season, a season bedazzled with extra chores. Like dragging the tinsle-entwined decorations out from under the stairs. And hauling the 30-foot Christmas tree home on the top of one’s Subaru.  I offer you the gift of laughter. Cause, if you’re anything like me, you’re going to need it in the upcoming month or two.

Here are ten of my all time favorite funny books.  Books that have left me laughing hysterically.  Crying and snorting on cross country flights. Looking insane in quiet, out of the way places.

1. Naked, by David Sedaris.  A pot-smoking, gay young man mines the exceedingly rich terrain of his life, his family, and his unique worldview–a sensibility at once take-no-prisoners sharp and deeply charitable. He’s got this tart-tongued mother  who does dead-on imitations of her young son’s nervous tics, and some brothers and sisters (including Amy Sedaris) who seem too stupid to survive into adulthood.
2. Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris.  This same kid grows up and moves to Paris with his boyfriend.  Where he has to learn French in an adult education class with some of the most bizarre characters you will ever meet.  OMG.
3. In a Sunburned Country, by Bill Bryson. Despite the fact that Australia harbors more things that can kill you in extremely nasty ways than anywhere else, including sharks, crocodiles, snakes, even riptides and deserts, Bill Bryson adores the place, and he takes his readers on a rollicking ride far beyond that beaten tourist path. My son’s karate school wouldn’t allow me back after I came unglued there reading this book.
4. A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson. The Appalachian Trail trail stretches from Georgia to Maine and covers some of the most breathtaking terrain in America.  Now, there are smart ways to take the trail on with your backpack, and there are really dumb ways.  And Bill Bryson makes dumb look smart.  Despite the ridiculousness Bryson describes, hiking this trail is on my bucket list. (If you want to see what else is on my bucket list, click here.)
5. A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, by Eric Newby. Picture a British fashion house salesperson with absolutely no mountain climbing experiencing going off on a cross continent jaunt with a friend to take on one of the highest peaks in Northern Afghanistan. With new Italian leather boots. Stupidity knows no bounds. Newby’s frank and funny 1956 account of their expedition to what is still amongst the world’s most isolated areas is one of the classics of travel writing.
6. Bossy Pants, by Tina Fey.  I didn’t expect to like this book, but I did.  In fact, I adored it. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon, Tina shows her human side while we laugh along with her.
7. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, by Mary Roach.  I know. this sounds freaking weird.  And it is.  In an explosively funny way. For two thousand years, cadavers—some willingly, some unwittingly—have been involved in science’s boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They’ve tested France’s first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800.
8. Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, by Alexandra Fuller. This is a memoir of a time in white-ruled Rhodesia, when a schoolgirl was as likely to carry a shotgun as a satchel. Fuller tells a story of civil war; of a quixotic battle against nature and loss; and of her family’s unbreakable bond with a continent which came to define, shape, scar and heal them. Such devastating humour and directness about desperate circumstance!  And man, what a mother this one had!
9. A Cook’s Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines, by Anthony Bourdain.  I’m not even sure how I found it, but find it I did.  And oh, man, would I love to go traveling with this guy in Southeast Asia just to watch him sample some of the weird shit he eats. Inspired by the question, “What would be the perfect meal?,” Tony sets out on a quest for his culinary holy grail, and in the process turns the notion of “perfection” inside out.
10. Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith, by Anne Lamott.  My mother left this book on my counter years ago and I avoided it like the plague because I thought she was trying to convert me.  But once I flipped it open, I was gone. Anne Lamott claims the two best prayers she knows are: “Help me, help me, help me” and “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” She has a friend whose morning prayer each day is “Whatever,” and whose evening prayer is “Oh, well.” Anne thinks of Jesus as “Casper the friendly savior” and describes God as “one crafty mother.” If you want to read how Traveling Mercies changed my life, click here.

So, these are ten of my favorite funny books.  I’d love to hear what’s on your list.  Spread the joy, baby.  I could always use more laughs, couldn’t you?