Heartbreak, alcoholism, dead people, religion and military bureaucracy: We know we’re not supposed to laugh about that stuff, but we can’t help it when we read the books by the writers in this week’s list (not to mention class issues, recluses, self-improvement and choking—real gut-busters!). Some books are just funny but these books make us feel all over again like we’re in the back row of 7th-grade science class tittering after the teacher discusses human anatomy. So bring on the dire news headlines—we’ll be laughing all week long.
NONFICTION
Released: Oct. 1, 2007
"A biblical travelogue--and far funnier than your standard King James."
Esquire editor-at-large Jacobs, who read the entire 2002 Encyclopedia Britannica for
The Know-It-All (2004), embarks on his second lofty exploit: a year of living the Bible "as literally as possible."
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NONFICTION
Released: April 1, 2003
"Informative, yes; entertaining, absolutely. (11 illustrations)"
Fascinating, unexpectedly fresh and funny look at the multiplicity of ways in which cadavers benefit the living.
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FICTION
Released: May 15, 2001
"Palahniuk is a cheerful nihilist with a mordant wit and a taste for scatological humor. Fair warning: some may find his language and imagery offensive."
The author of
Fight Club (1996) takes as the hero of his fourth novel an unlovable loser who
doesn't blame Mom.
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FICTION
Released: Aug. 1, 1992
"Not a false note anywhere."
A warm, frank, and very funny account of family life and pregnancy as Irish writer Doyle (The Commitments, 1989; also see below) continues the saga of the endearing working-class Rabbitte family of Barrytown, Dublin.
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