Funny Fiction

Hissy Fit  by Mary Kay Andrews
Calling off her high-society wedding after discovering her fiance's infidelity, Keely Murdock faces financial ruin before receiving assistance – and an opportunity for revenge – from the new owner of a local bra company. Also try Little Bitty Lies.

Big Trouble  by Dave Barry
A fiction debut that describes the lives of the troubled denizens of Coconut Grove, Fla., including a career-threatened adman, an alcoholic embezzler dodging a couple of hit men and their dysfunctional families. A genuine slapstick caper. Also try Tricky Business.

Florence of Arabia  by Christopher Buckley
Florence Farfarletti has a plan for female emancipation in the Middle East and enlists the help of a diverse group to help her carry out her plan of reaching her audience with TV shows. Also try Little Green Men.

Welcome to Temptation  by Jennifer Crusie
Sophie Dempsey wants to help her sister film a video and then get out of Temptation, Ohio. Mayor Phin Tucker wants to play pool with the police chief and keep things peaceful. But when Sophie and Phin meet, they both get more than they want. Also try Bet Me and Strange Bedpersons.

Girls' Poker Night  by Jill Davis
After landing a job as a reporter at the "New York News," Ruby Capote joins three other women for evenings playing poker and finds herself falling for her intriguing and challenging boss, Michael.

The Eyre Affair  by Jasper Fforde
Surreal and hilariously funny, this novel takes place in a world where one can literally get lost in literature. Thursday Next, Special Operative in literary detection, tries to stop the world's Third Most Wanted criminal from kidnapping characters, including Jane Eyre, from literature. Also try the rest of the Thursday Next series and The Big Over Easy: a Nursery Crime.

Standing in the Rainbow  by Fanny Flagg
As the story begins, it is 1945, the war is over, the economy is booming, and there is no better place in the world than Elmwood Springs, Missouri – at least according to 10-year-old Bobby Smith. The novel spans the next few decades as historical events that impact little Elmwood Springs are duly noted, and everything is infused with the gentle humor and joie de vivre that are Flagg's stock-in-trade.

Paradise Park  by Allegra Goodman
Sharon Spiegelman, abandoned in Honolulu by an erstwhile boyfriend, asks one of the best questions in a novel this year: "How come Gary got to pursue his causes while all I got to pursue was him?" Thus begins Sharon's quest for practically everything – a man, a home, a life, a cause and a spiritual understanding of the cosmos.

The Accidental Bride  by Janice Harayda
This debut novel is a witty and wise comedy of manners that pays homage to Jane Austen. Lily Blair, 27, a newspaper reporter and free spirit, has become engaged in haste and refuses to repent. Shortly before her wedding to "the third richest man in the second largest city in Ohio," she decides to call the whole thing off – but can she?

Infernal Affairs  by Jane Heller
Barbara Chessner is overweight and prematurely gray, her real-estate career has hit the skids, and her husband announced that he wants a divorce, Chessner hits the bottle to drown her sorrows and then stumbles outside into a thunderstorm to cry to the heavens, "I'll do anything you ask. Anything!" She awakens the next morning with a blonde centerfold's body, and suddenly, she's selling houses like hotcakes. It's a fiendishly funny novel, with riotous surprises and nonstop action. Also try Princess Charming and Best Enemies.

Catch 22  by Joseph Heller
It's like no other novel, a satirical black comedy that has its own extraordinary character – both outrageously funny and strangely affecting. Set in the closing months of World War II in Italy, Catch-22 is the story of a bombardier named Yossarian, who is frantic and furious because thousands of people he hasn't even met keep trying to kill him. It is a microcosm of the 20th-century world as it might look to someone dangerously sane.

Sick Puppy  by Carl Hiaasen
A devilishly funny caper revolving around the environmental exploitation of Florida by greedy developers. When a budding young eco-terrorist begins a campaign of sabotage against a grotesque litterbug, he gets much more than he bargained for. Bogus big-game hunters, a Republicans-only hooker, an infamous ex-governor who's gone back to nature, thousands of singing toads and a Labrador retriever are all characters in this story with an ecological plea. Also try Lucky You, Skinny Dip or just about any other by Hiaasen.

Compromising Positions  by Susan Isaacs
Long Island housewife Judith Singer takes it upon herself to investigate the murder of a local periodontist and picture-taking lothario and discovers an attractive homicide lieutenant and her own potential as a woman. This book is a wicked satire on suburban life with a sassy heroine set among even zanier characters.

Lake Wobegon Summer 1956  by Garrison Keillor
During the summer of 1956, 14-year-old geek Gary struggles with the hormonal pains and obsessions of puberty as he experiences a passionate devotion to his rebellious cousin Kate and pursues his dream of becoming a writer, but when Kate gets into trouble with the local basketball star, Gary is forced to deal with the first pangs of a broken heart. Also try: Love Me and Keillor's other "Wobegon" novels.

Confessions of a Shopaholic  by Sophie Kinsella
Financial journalist Rebecca Bloomwood seeks solace from the boredom and pressures in life with her shopping, a solution that brings her close to financial disaster, until she encounters a story that will change her life. Also try the rest of the "Shopaholic" novels.

The Pleasure of My Company  by Steve Martin
Daniel, a troubled man who lives alone, detached from the world, passes his time filling out contest applications and counting ceiling tiles, until his attachment to Clarissa and Teddy helps him rediscover the outside world. Also try Shopgirl.

Fluke  by Christopher Moore
A whale researcher's unusual observation of a humpback whale with "Bite Me" scrawled on its tail starts an adventure involving an age-old conspiracy, a megalomaniac undersea ruler and a bizarre long-distance love affair. Also try Lamb and The Stupidest Angel.

Step-Ball-Change  by Jeanne Ray
Caroline and her husband Tom deal with the romantic ups and downs of their daughter Kay, who has become engaged to the richest bachelor in Raleigh, and Caroline's sister Taffy, who is getting a divorce from the wealthiest man in Atlanta.

Still Life With Woodpecker  by Tom Robbins
A love story that takes place inside a pack of cigarettes reveals the moon's purpose, differentiates between outlaws and criminals, and presents portraits of powerful Arabs, exiled royalty and pregnant cheerleaders. Also try Skinny Legs and All and Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas.

Man Who Ate the 747  by Ben Sherwood
J.J. Smith loves his job as Keeper of the Records for "The Book of Records," but even he is not prepared for the ultimate record breaker: a man who is ingesting a 747, piece by piece, to prove his love for a woman.

A Confederacy of Dunces  by John Kennedy Toole
Many words could be applied to this novel: astonishing, extravagant, lunatic, satiric and peculiar, but it is above all genuine, skillful and unsentimentally comic. It is the story of Ignatius Reilly, a monstrously fat 30-year-old boy, his drunken mama and their unutterably awful life in New Orleans.

Number 10  by Sue Townsend
In this political farce, the Prime Minister becomes detached from the concerns of his voting public, so he dresses in drag and tours the British countryside to see how the lower millions lead their daily lives.

Good in Bed  by Jennifer Weiner
Cannie Shapiro is in her late twenties, funny, independent and a talented reporter. After a breakup with her boyfriend of three years, she reads his debut column, "Good In Bed," in the women's magazine Moxie. Titled "Loving a Larger Woman," this very personal piece triggers events that completely transform her and those around her. Cannie's adventures will strike a chord with all young women struggling to find their place in the world, especially those larger than a size eight. Also try In Her Shoes.

List Updated 9/07