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Humorous reads

All titles shelved in Fiction collection, except as noted:

Dark humor

Atkinson, Kate
Emotionally Weird: A Novel
(2000)
This comic novel explores the power of language and family.
Baer, Will Christopher
Penny Dreadful
(2000)
"Phineas Poe: defrocked cop, former morphine addict, part-time psychotic, and a man who has lost his heart to a woman who left him in a tub full of ice knows a bad day when he sees one. " Amazon.com
Beatty, Paul
Tuff: A Novel
(2000)
"The poet laureate of hip-hop, writes a send-up of American politics ..." Washington Post Book World
Cheever, Benjamin
Famous After Death: A Novel
(1999)
"Hilarious and just bad-natured enough to be cruel (that is, accurate) in its satire of modern greed and fame, an across the board winner." Kirkus Reviews
Cronley, Jay
Shoot!
(1997)
"Joe hires Tish, a beautiful hitwoman, to kill his wife Carolyn, and Carolyn hires hitman Danny to kill her husband Joe, but when neither Joe or Carolyn are home the night of the designated killings, it seems like the two killers may find true love." Amazon.com
Dunn, Mark
Ibid: A Life: A Novel in Footnotes
(2004)
In this novel written entirely in footnotes, Dunn holds up a funhouse mirror at the pedestaled residents of the age and asks why so many of the more famous ones did so many stupid things and rarely got called for them.
Johnston, Wayne
The Divine Ryans
(1999)
"If Holden Caulfield had a Canadian Irish-Catholic second cousin, he could easily be Draper Doyle Ryan, the nine-year-old narrator and hero of this deft and sweetly funny novel." Kirkus Reviews
Reilly, Rick
Slo Mo! : My Untrue Story
(2000)
"...dead on parody of the inner workings of big time basketball." Publishers Weekly
Valdes, Zoe
I Gave You All I Had: A Novel
(1999)
"Fidel probably won't be amused, but the rest of Valdés's (sic) readers are in for a treat." Kirkus Reviews
Wickham, Madeleine
Gatecrasher
(2000)
Lively prose needles the British upper class with a mixture of suspense and wit in this quirky tale of the escapades of Fleur the funeral crasher.

General fiction

—
Finbar's Hotel
(1999)
This serial novel of related short stories tells of the shenanigans that took place in a Dublin Hotel facing demolition.
—
Ladies' Night at Finbar's Hotel
(2000)
This is an almost-all-girl reprise of the collaborative fiction Finbar's Hotel.
Dawson, Carol
The Mother-in-Law Diaries: A Novel
(1999)
"A virtuosic blend of boisterous comedy and rueful family drama....a raffish, funny, and touching dispatch form the sex and marriage wars." Kirkus Reviews
Denzenhall, Eric
Money Wanders
(2002)
Jonah Eastman, disgraced Presidential pollster, is summoned home to Atlantic City by his ailing grandfather Mickey Price--a legendary Atlantic City gangster and owner of the Golden Prospect casino. When Mickey dies, Jonah is "persuaded" by mob boss Mario Vanni to help improve his image by launching a misinformation campaign aimed at gaining public acceptance and ultimately a way "outta the life."
Evaristo, Bernardine
The Emperor's Babe
(2002)
This quasi-historical novel, written in free verse, offers an irreverent and anachronistic portrait of Roman London.
Hecht, Julie
Do the Windows Open?
(1998)
"Isabelle is a riot; preternaturally observant and routinely terrified, she suffers through an inordinate amount of dental work, wears dark glasses at all times, and is afraid of buses with windows that don't open ..." Booklist
Heller, Jane
Sis Boom Bah
(1999)
"...an entertaining and amusing story....readers will be smiling broadly."
Library Journal
Heywood, Joseph
The Snowfly: A Novel
(2000)
"...absorbing narrative is part Tom Robbins, part David Copperfield with the Robbinesque taking over near the end." Publishers Weekly
Holden, Wendy
Farm Fatale: A Comedy of Country Manors
(2002)
Two couples converge on the quaint village of Eight Mile Bottom. With its eccentric residents, including a reclusive rock star, a nosy postman, a foxy farmer and one ghost with a knife in its back, they are soon swept up in various romantic entanglements, mix-ups, slipups and unlikely seductions in their search for ever-greener pastures.
Lipman, Elinor
Then She Found Me
(1990)
A teacher's staid life is turned upside down when her biological mother, a flamboyant talk-show hostess, tracks daughter down.
Mackay, Shena
The Artist's Widow
(1999)
A witty, acerbic exploration of the artistic impulse is revealed when a dead painter's family gathers to view his unfinished works.
McIlvoy, Kevin
Hyssop
(1998)
"Often hilarious charming, unpretentious, deep, poetic, life-filled. Life, tears, comedy, and love pour out of it at all points." Kirkus Reviews
Reid, Van
Mollie Peer, or, the Underground Adventure of the Moosepath League
(1999)
This is the fourth in the mysterious, comic, historical Moosepath League series.
Richardson, Bill
Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast
(1996)
Eccentric twin brothers maintain a bed and breakfast on an island near Vancouver.
Timm, Uwe
Midsummer Night
(1998)
This picaresque comedy is also a novel of ideas.

Mystery & suspense

Barry, Dave
Big Trouble
(1999)
"A delightful romp through the less noble side of Miami life." Booklist
Crispin, Edmund
The Moving Toyshop: A Detective Story
(1981)
M
"A poet - partly based on the young Philip Larkin - returns to Oxford one night, and discovers a body in a toyshop. The next morning the toyshop is gone: Hilarious adventures ensue." Washington Post Book World
Edwards, Ruth Dudley
Publish and Be Murdered
(1999)
M
Edwards jabs the Establishment with the misadventures of civil servant Robert Amiss and his sleuthing partner.
Gorman, Edward
Save the Last Dance for Me
(2002)
M
Vice President Richard Milhous Nixon is coming to town and Judge Esme Whitney enlists Iowa detective Sam McCain to prevent the population of Black River Falls from looking like "a bunch of hillbillies."
Hautmann, Pete
Mrs. Million
(1999)
"A hilarious take on the larcenous lemmings that swarm around a lottery winner." Kirkus Reviews
Hiaasen, Carl
Strip Tease: A Novel
(1993)
This marvelous madcap yarn pits a stripper vs. a congressman.
Snyder, Keith
Coffin's Got the Dead Guy on the Inside: A Jason Keltner Mystery
(1998)
M
This quirky mystery is equal parts Henny Youngman jokes and computerese.

Romance

Crusie, Jennifer
Crazy for You
(1999)
"sexy, lighthearted confection...one of the few in the genre (romance) who can make you laugh out loud." Kirkus Reviews
Cusk, Rachel
The Country Life
(1997)
"Witty, sharp, strangely good natured - for fans of Cold Comfort Farm..." Kirkus Reviews
Goldsmith, Olivia
Young Wives: A Novel
(2000)
"Lots of romance and revenge ... all of it pleasingly funny ..." Book World
Holden, Wendy
Bad Heir Day
(2001)
Anna gives up men forever, becomes a nanny and finds herself living with a family whose members are caricatures of her worst dreams. Who will save her? Will it be the Scotsman Jamie, heir to a castle?
Schine, Cathleen
The Evolution of Jane
(1998)
"A beautifully descriptive travelogue of the Galápagos, loaded with mini-lectures on natural history, evolutionary theory and Darwiniana, wrapped around a rollicking family saga tinged with hints of sexual intrigue." - New York Times Book Review

Familiar favorites

Adams, Douglas
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
SF
Anderson, William C.
Penelope, the Damp Detective
Block, Lawrence
The Burglar in the Library
M
Brown, Rita Mae
Bingo
Davies, Robertson
Tempest-Tost (and others in the Salterton Trilogy)
De Vries, Peter
The Blood of the Lamb
Edgerton, Clyde
Walking Across Egypt: A Novel
Flagg, Fannie
Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man
Gibbons, Stella
Cold Comfort Farm
Hammett, Dashiell
The Thin Man
M
Keenan, Joe
Putting on the Ritz
Keillor, Garrison
Lake Wobegon Days
Kinsella, W. P.
Fencepost Chronicles
Lodge, David
The British Museum Is Falling Down
McCorkle, Jill
July 7th: A Novel
Rudnick, Paul
I'll Take It: A Novel
Russo, Richard
Nobody's Fool
Townsend, Sue
The Adrian Mole Diaries
Tyler, Anne
Breathing Lessons
Westlake, Donald
The Hot Rock (and others in the Dormunder Series)
M
Wilcox, James,
Miss Undine's Living Room: A Novel