Top Ten Tuesday: Need a Laugh?

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic (hosted as always by The Broke and the Bookish) is “books to read when you’re in the mood for ______”.  I really enjoy these more open-ended themes because everyone’s posts have a greater chance of being tailored to their own personalities.

Along those lines, you may have noticed that I LOL a lot on the blog (or in comments). That’s true of me in real life too.  My family has always appreciated the humor in life, and I’m so grateful for that heritage. My ESOL students even know that my class is one full of laughter!

So in keeping with that idea, I’m going to tell you ten eleven my favorite books to read when I’m in the mood to laugh. (I really did try to keep it to ten.)

Any book by Jen Turano is a perfect combination of hilarity, romance, and suspense, but In Good Company is my favorite so far. It’s the second book in the A CLASS OF THEIR OWN series, so you may want to go back and read After A Fashion first (also a great choice if you’re in the mood for a laugh!). This is truly zany mischief at its best, and there were very few scenes where I was not at least grinning and at most giggling out loud! From little quirks to out-and-out hilarity, this book will bring joy into your life for sure!

My Review

I included The Secret History of the Pink Carnation in last week’s Blind Date With a Book post, and I’m including it again because I laughed nearly all the way through this book.  The author’s droll wit covered the asides, the banter, even the adventure with this wonderfully delightful air of humor. I said in my Goodreads review that it’s like the swashbuckling humor from “The Princess Bride” meets the family from “While You Were Sleeping” (without the guy in the coma … or the love triangle… and set in the early 1800s. But, you know, besides that. lol).

(This isn’t Christian fiction, so approach accordingly)

I know I’ve talked about The Best Man on several other Top Ten Tuesdays, but there’s a reason it’s one of my very favorite books. Several, actually. And for the purposes of this particular post, let’s focus on the fact that it’s hilarious! A scene that kills me every single time – no matter how often I’ve read it – is when Faith tries to sneak out of the pub through the bathroom window.  You could say it doesn’t quite go as well as she’d hoped.  You could also say that I need to not be actively drinking any sort of beverage while reading that scene or it will go up my nose.  And then there are her father’s blind dates!

(Again, this isn’t Christian fiction so please approach accordingly.)

Ok, yes yes yes – I just talked about a Kristan Higgins book. But (and please hear my whiny voice for this sentence) I simply couldn’t decide which of these two books I find to be the funniest. So I went with both. My blog. My rules. My prerogative. 🙂 The first couple of chapters of Catch of the Day had me literally crying with laughter, and some of the blind dates in this book did too. Just about nobody writes awkward hilarity like Kristan Higgins!

(same disclaimer applies for my Christian fiction followers)

As with Jen Turano, I could really recommend almost any of Regina Jennings’ books if you’re in the mood to laugh.  A Most Inconvenient Marriage is my favorite though. The antics of the two rather unruly children – Betsy and Josiah – amped up the hilarious mayhem but some scenes didn’t need their help at all to draw a laugh. I’m thinking in particular of the drunk horse (I literally did laugh out loud at this scene) as well as when Abigail and Jeremiah begin his physical therapy and are caught in an easily-misconstrued and rather indelicate situation. 🙂

Erica Vetsch has such a subtly clever way with words that sometimes just an otherwise innocuous sentence can become downright hilarious. In The Cactus Creek Challenge, be prepared for this kind of droll humor as well as an assortment of antics that will leave you with tears in your eyes from laughing so hard. Plus, there’s lots of action and swoonishly good romance… and, really, two stories in one!

The Gingerbread Bride by Amy Lillard was one of my favorite novellas in The 12 Brides of Christmas Collection from Barbour Publishing. Why? Because I laughed nearly all the way through it. (Are you seeing a theme here?)  Maddie Sinclair feels that Harlan Calhoun needs an extra push to fall all the way in love with her. So she purchases a “love potion” of herbs from her eccentric neighbor and bakes him some very special gingerbread cookies. At the last minute, she sees the error of her ways but it’s too late. Harlan has already gobbled up all the cookies! To make matters worse, he proposes nearly on the spot. Is it his heart talking or just the herbs? Lots of madcap mayhem as Maddie and her sister Grace try to straighten out this whole love potion debacle!

My Review of The 12 Brides of Christmas Collection

Yes, this is a children’s book. But Lily is my people.  And Kevin Henkes is one of my all-time favorite children’s author/illustrators because of the additional details he includes in his illustrations – details which often have me chuckling more than the story. Such is the case with Julius, The Baby of the World.

You may remember that I included Huckleberry Hearts by Jennifer Beckstrand in my KissingBooks 101 post during Valentine’s Week – and for good reason.  One kiss in particular will for sure curl your toes! But I would be remiss if I didn’t also include it here too. (Heads up – it will be on next week’s list as well lol.) I laughed out loud a lot while I read Huckleberry Hearts! Especially during the great pink shirt debacle.  And the scene where Cassie and Zach come upon Felty singing through a car window to a rather uptight visitor in an attempt to calm her down.  But what is he singing? LOL well…you just need to go see for yourself.

Mary Connealy’s Now & Forever is another book that I mentioned in my KissingBooks 101 post and again today. Even the kisses in this book, toe-curling though they may be, are laced with delightful humor! One of the things I enjoy most about Mary Connealy’s books is that the narrator is inside the characters’ heads and informs us of their thoughts with wry amusement. Sometimes, she bypasses wry amusement and goes straight for out-and-out hilarity! For example – Tucker’s ponderings to himself about Shannon and his feelings thereof …. and his attachment to his pants (it would take me too long to explain here – you just need to read the book). Also, the scene where the mountain men are planning their strategy for how best to retell the tale of Tucker and Shannon’s river adventure is pure comedic gold. In fact, Tim Conway was totally one of the mountain men in my mind.

My Review

Letters From Santa is the second Christmas novella to appear on the list today! Becca Whitham’s smart (sometimes sassy) writing makes this story all the more enjoyable for me.  Dialogue such as “Sit. I’m going to lecture you, and I don’t intend to be looking up your nose when I do it” and asides like “Of all the churches in all of Fairbanks, he would walk into hers. Or she into his. Whichever. It was still a Casablanca moment” set this novella apart from the holiday masses.

My Review

Pepper Basham writes in both the historical and contemporary romance genres – and does a marvelous job with both, I might add.  But in A Twist of Faith, her sense of humor truly shines. As my friend Stacey over at Beechtree Hollow said, “Sparks fly between Ms. ‘Is Not’ and Mr. ‘Ain’t’ creating hostility and attraction that had me laughing till my sides hurt.” Yep. I couldn’t have expressed it better, so I borrowed what she said 😉  The book doesn’t come out until April but if you want a sneak peek at one of my favorite funny scenes, click here.

That’s my top however-many-I-ended-up-with list of books I recommend reading if you’re in the mood to laugh! What are your go-to laughter-inducing books?