Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Top Ten Tuesday: Funny Books About Serious Things


Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s list is all about funny books. I don’t read a lot of funny books. I’m more of a death, doom, disease, and destruction kind of person. So, here are some funny moments that I’ve found in serious books.



Funny Moments In Serious Books





1. To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee


If you grew up in the US, you probably had to read this book in school, and you probably spent a whole English class talking about racism in the 1930s American South. But, remember Scout’s ham costume? And when Jem got his pants caught in the fence? Yeah, those were good moments.






2. Angela’s Ashes – Frank McCourt


This book about a family living in extreme poverty probably belongs on a list of the most depressing memoirs ever, but the author has hilarious ways of describing his family members and their hypocritical Irish Catholic beliefs.






3. Illuminae – Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff


Bombings, plagues, and mass destruction aren’t funny, but the characters are. I laughed out loud at some of their conversations.






4. Going Bovine – Libba Bray


The main character is dying from mad cow disease. This is made slightly less depressing by the fact that the side character is a talking garden gnome.






5. Feed – M.T. Anderson


It’s a dystopia . . . where the characters go on dates to a filet mignon farm and wander through a maze made out of raw steak.






6. Any book by Rainbow Rowell


If you’ve never read a Rainbow Rowell book, you need to. Immediately. She writes about serious subjects, but the dialogue in her books is hilarious.






7. American Born Chinese – Gene Luen Yang


This graphic novel is about immigration and the difficulties of being Asian-American. It has some . . . um . . . interesting depictions of Chinese-American stereotypes.








8. Looking For Alaska – John Green


We all remember the traumatizing death part of this novel, but there was also that thing about the stripper . . .






9. The Martian – Andy Weir


The main character is stranded alone on Mars. For years. At least he has a sense of humor about it.






10. Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda – Becky Albertalli


Imagine being blackmailed into revealing your deepest secret. That happens in this book, but there’s also a lot of witty banter and a boy who loves Oreos as much as I do.





What is your favorite funny book?





11 comments:

  1. I really like how you did this with the funny moments in serious books - Great idea!

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  2. I read "American Born Chinese" for a Diversity project in my Children's Literature course a year or so back. I was equal parts moved and confused, but it all made sense by the end of the work.

    I haven't read any of the other works (other than "To Kill a Mockingbird", but I can't remember any of it). I do desperately want to read "Eleanor & Park", I just haven't gotten around to it yet. You've reminded me, so now it's back on my list!

    Great TTT!

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  3. I love your description for Illuminae - haha! My TTT

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  4. I like the direction you took this list in! I don't read humor either... I included Illuminae on my list too - the characters were hilarious!

    Here are my Top Ten!

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  5. I thought the funniest part of TKAM was Dolphus drinking Coke wrapped in a paper bag, like it was booze.

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  6. I love this weeks topic, I am such a fan of books that can make me laugh. You've got some great picks this weeks, and I am definitely going to add a few of these to my own TBR. Thanks for the recommendations! :) You can check out my picks here.

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  7. The only ones I've read on here are the Rainbow Rowell books and they were funny. :) Great choices.
    My TTT: http://www.anovelglimpse.com/2016/04/19/top-ten-tuesday-ten-books-that-will-make-you-laugh-or-at-least-chuckle/

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  8. Great list!! I love the spin on the topic! I need to check out some of these books!

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  9. Wow great list and TKAM is one of my favorite books!

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  10. This list is perfect. And I've actually read most of these books (yay!). :D

    Oddly enough, I don't remember the meat maze in Feed. I did enjoy their slang, though. All of the dialogue in that book was so ridiculous that it made for good contrast to the sadder moments.

    And The Martian...never have I gone from laughing out loud to tearing up to laughing again so quickly as I did with that book. Such a goodie. <3

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  11. Simon Vs is totally hilarious AND I LOVE IT FOR THAT. <3 And I also want to try The Martian! Despite not really being a hardcore sci-fi person myself...I've still heard it's entirely hilarious and I neeeed to try it. ;D
    Thanks for stopping by @ Paper Fury!

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