Belly laugh, guffaw, chuckle, slap your knee, cackle, chortle, snicker, snort, or simply smile from these funny fiction reads sure to lift your spirits.
The Duke & I by Julia Quinn
Banter-filled / Sarcastic
In an effort to keep himself footloose and single in spite of the efforts of the town’s matchmakers, Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings, begins a sham courtship with Daphne Bridgerton.
The Sellout by Paul Beatty
Satirical
A young black man grows up determined to resegregate a portion of an inner city, aided by a former Little Rascals star who volunteers to be his slave. This illegal activity brings him to the attention of the Supreme Court, who must consider the ramifications of this (and other) race-related cases. Readers who can handle provocative language and racial stereotypes will appreciate the glee that Paul Beatty brings to his critique and questioning of black identity.
Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano
Farcical comedy of errors / Tongue-in-cheek
When struggling suspense novelist and single mom Finlay Donovan is mistaken for a contract killer, she inadvertently accepts the offer to dispose of a problem husband in order to make ends meet, discovering that crime in real life is a lot harder than fiction.
The Woman Who Died a Lot: Now with 50% Added Subplot by Jasper Fforde
Wacky / Absurd
Forced into semi-retirement after an assassination attempt, Thursday Next finds her recuperation challenged by the personal and professional struggles of her children and Goliath’s constant attempts to replace her with synthetic duplicates.
Dial A for Aunties Jesse Q. Sutanto
Witty banter / Slapstick
Accidentally causing the death of a blind date, Meddy is persuaded by her meddlesome Chinese-Indonesian mother and aunts to dispose of the body, which upends a billionaire’s wedding and Meddy’s reunion with a former flame.
No Sunscreen for the Dead by Tim Dorsey
Quirky / Dark humor
Serge’s visit to a scandal-tainted Florida retirement village turns into a Robin Hood-like crusade to save the residents’ stolen funds, an effort challenged by two nosy detectives.
Been There, Married That by Gigi Levangie
Wry / Over-the-top
Agnes Murphy Nash is the perfect Hollywood wife – she has the right friends, the right clothes and even a side career of her own as a writer – until her bigshot producer husband decides it is time to end their marriage.
Sourdough by Robin Sloan
Parody
Enduring a virtually solitary existence working for an ambitious software company, an exhausted coder is bequeathed a sourdough recipe from sibling bakers who are forced to close their shop, a gift that leads to a new vocation, a legal dispute and a venture into a secret market that fuses food with technology.
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
Amusing
Taken hostage by a failed bank robber while attending an open house, eight anxiety-prone strangers—including a redemption-seeking bank director, two couples who would fix their marriages and a plucky octogenarian—discover their unexpected common traits.
