humor

What a fun novel! There's a lot of double dealing, a lot of humor at everyone’s expense and a lot of action!

Neal Graham is hired by his father to hide the mistress of a man who is the other half of a famous television couple, who purport to be happily married. When the mistress decides to end the relationship, the man refuses to take no for an answer and she brings charges of rape. She goes into hiding until the trial and Neal is charged with babysitting her. The television husband’s business partners start looking for her and it is not to bring her flowers!

Listening to the audiobook of Amy Poehler’s Yes Please exceeds expectations. To hear the comedic build-up, delivery, and nuance of each joke she lands is a joy. Poehler tells us writing is hard and she is trying to lower expectations so when it turns out well we are impressed. However, there is no need to try and fool the reader; the writing is crisp, witty, hilarious, and often soul-searching. Yes Please showcases the hard work, time, and dedication Poehler puts into her comedy. 

This is not only a memoir; it is an exploration of a life in and outside the spotlight. I expected to enjoy this

Furiously Happy is a second memoir by Jenny Lawson, and she's just as outspoken, insightful and full of profanity as in the hysterically funny Let's Pretend This Never Happened (a Mostly True Memoir).

In this edition of Jenny Lawson’s life, she talks about her smart and normal daughter, and more looks into her life with her long-suffering husband, Victor, who truly loves her no matter what.

Jenny's anecdotal tale also gives us some insight into her many phobias: a fear of people and of going out in public which can be very hard for a writer out on a book tour. Jenny also talks about her love

If you've read Jenny Lawson's first book, Let's Pretend This Never Happened, or if you follow her online, you know that her head is a very, very strange place--in all the best ways, assuming your head is also a very strange place. I don't generally think my head is a strange place, but I do love the way Jenny Lawson's mind works and the way she writes about it, so maybe I'm stranger than I think I am.

Furiously Happy is much less autobiographical than her first book. She still tells stories about her life, but it's more about what she's been doing in recent years. Like in her first book

What a fabulous movie version of this amazing musical! This is arguably Stephen Sondheim's best musical with lyrics that will make you laugh, make you think, and make you rewind to listen to them again. Though I was nervous when the movie rights were sold to Disney, I was delighted to find they did not sugarcoat the potentially risqué topics of infidelity, child abandonment, and death.

The singing is fabulous with the two exceptions being the two biggest names, Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences clearly disagrees with me though, since Ms. Streep got

The wild, unpredictable shapeshifter Nimona has just appointed herself sidekick to archvillain Lord Ballister Blackheart, promising to aid him in his quest to prove to the kingdom that the Institute of Law Enforcement and Heroics is up to no good.  But NImona doesn't play by the normal rules, and she quickly has everyone in an uproar wondering just who she is and where her mysterious powers come from.

What starts as a whimsical, frivolous parody of traditional heroic notions of good and evil quietly and unexpectedly becomes a meaningful investigation into the concepts, couched in deep

Dealing with people is not always a pleasant experience. For Bernadette Fox, it's actually a form of extreme torture. The parents at the alternative school where her daughter, Bee, attends 8th grade are atrocious. For that matter, all Seattle residents (especially those transplanted from Idaho and Canada) are exhausting. She builds walls around her eccentric life, where she lives in a decaying former girls boarding school with Bee, her genius Microsoft-legend husband, and dog. A virtual assistant from India does her bidding, including making dinner reservations for a restaurant across town

If the phrase "training run" has ever been part of your vocabulary – whether in reference to you or someone near you – you're bound to get a laugh, cringe, and sigh out of My Year of Running Dangerously. Combining two of my favorite topics, memoirs and running, acclaimed journalist Tom Foreman uses his storytelling skills to recount his monumental return to distance running. His decades-long running hiatus came to an end when his daughter invited him to do a marathon with her, and after shaking some initial hesitation, Foreman went all in. You might worry that his story will run long, but the

This is the memoir of Aaron Hartzler, a writer and actor currently living in Los Angeles. The story covers his growing up years right here in the Kansas City metro.

Aaron was raised in an extremely conservative Christian home as the son of a preacher. As a child, he was thrilled by the idea of the Rapture, a highly anticipated event in which Jesus will return to Earth to gather his believers and take them directly into heaven. Aaron would jump as high as he could into the air while singing, hoping that he could catapult himself directly into heaven. But as he entered his teen years, Aaron

As he does for everyone in the end, Death has come for Granny Weatherwax.  The finest leader the witches never had, indisputably first amongst equals, Granny bequeaths her legacy to young Tiffany Aching.  Tiffany struggles to do the job in front of her when she has to manage her own steading, Granny's steading, train a new apprentice (and never before has a boy wanted to be a witch!), and stop the elven incursion into her world.  Not to mention reining in the Nac Mac Feegle clan.  Crivens!

I gave this four stars for lack of ease for new readers.  Even if you've read all of the Tiffany Aching

Don’t be turned off by the title; Think Like a Freak by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner is a stimulating book that aims to entertain while educating and expanding the way one thinks. From the authors of Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics comes the third in the series of what I like to call “interesting non-fiction” that is easily accessible and understandable by the average reader.

The crux of this book is an economic look at various cases where people approached their situation differently than conventional wisdom would prescribe. The stories and studies range from how the world

Retired Army sniper Finn O'Donnell thinks he's buying a quiet little ranch near the sleepy little town of Burnt Boot, Texas. Near his family but far enough away that he can enjoy the peace, quiet and solitude after two tours in the Middle East. What Finn gets is a ranch right smack dab in the middle of two feuding Burnt Boot founding families whose shenanigans are always causing some uproar, a foul mouthed parrot, a tiny dog, an interfering bossy grandma and her busybody friends from town, and a ranch hand who hates ranching and her nephew who are trying to avoid witness protection. Not

Let's face it, light-hearted love stories are not my go-to genre. Were it not for the well-crafted recipe of humorous dialogue, characters with quirky faults, and attention to vulnerable emotions, this love-at-first-sight story, would simply be fluff. But it's not. Instead it's the decadent ganach filling the inside of our storytelling pastry that literary so-so fluff only wishes it could be.



Rainbow Rowell is a master at creating an underdog you can't help but root for. Lincoln finds himself in a lonely job monitoring company emails and unexpectedly falls for a woman whose messages keep

I'll cut to the chase: Listen to this book. Narrator Dion Graham turns an already great memoir by Dave Eggers into an absolutely entertaining bundle of ah-mazing. The words burst with personality and energy thanks to his narration, perfectly capturing the author's tone. (No surprise, turns out there are multiple Eggers-Graham audiobooks out there.) You'll forget you're basically listening to a giant monologue. 

So what's it about? In A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Eggers shares a heartfelt account of his life after suddenly becoming the guardian of his young brother when both

I immediately fell for Denton Little. Born at a time when people know the date they will die, Denton knows his funeral is today. No surprise. Tomorrow is his death date. No big deal. But waking up in the bed with his best friend's sister? Now that is a surprise.  And a big deal.

The next day, his death date, strange things start happening. Sure he's going to die, but what is this huge bluish-purple bruise on his leg? And the little red pulsing lights within it? Denton's decided since he's going to die tomorrow anyway, he might as well not worry his mom or dad. However, this only works for so

Sixteenth in the Puzzle Lady series, Hall’s Puzzled Indemnity is still as funny as ever! Cora Felton, the famous puzzle lady has a secret; she can’t solve crossword puzzles. But she can solve a mystery. Cora is just your typical grouchy lady trying to quit smoking without help, and she’s got too many ex-husbands to count.

Cora is asked to protect Brittney from a husband who wants to kill her for the insurance money, but it’s his car that blows up in front of the police station. Right in front of Cora and Brittney, leaving them with too many unanswered questions. Was he in the car? How did the

Pamela Morsi used to write wonderful Americana romances in the 90s, and I’m glad to see that her humor and poignant understanding of human behavior is still very much in evidence with her shift to contemporaries. The Bikini Car Wash feels a lot like her older historicals because of the small town setting and the ensemble cast. There have never been a ton of authors that wrote good Americana or Frontier Western romances, but Morsi is one of the best because of the way she portrays small town life with a realistic and sympathetic hand. Her characters are always drawn with lots of affectionate

Whether you're a lush (as Betty White says, "Vodka is a kind of hobby") or a teetotaler, this book will fascinate and entertain (I was laughing out loud at least once every chapter). I particularly recommend the eAudiobook, which I listened to on a long road trip. It made the time fly by, listening in turn to chapters about the history of yeast and the chemical reasons behind hangovers (and their "cures"), to the author's anecdotes about visiting famous breweries and drinking tragically expensive scotch in distinguished New York City bars. The narrator, Sean Runnette, has a pleasingly apt

“Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”  “Inconceivable.” “Have fun storming the castle.” “Never get involved in a land war in Asia.” “Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” “Get used to disappointment.” “Mawidge. That bwessed awangement!” “You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you"..."You seem a decent fellow. I hate to die.”

The Princess Bride is one of the most widely quoted films of all times. The swashbuckling/fairy-tale/romance/adventure story is enjoyable for both young people and adults, suitable for the former

If you were born after 1985, you’ll remember the high school game Never Have I Ever where those playing each put their hands into a circle, and one by one everyone goes around and says something they’ve never done. If you’ve done the stated action, you put a finger down, and the last person with fingers remaining “wins” the game. Or do they?

In Katie Heaney’s debut book Never Have I Ever: My Life (So Far) Without a Date, Heaney meticulously illustrates her love life starting at the mature age of five. While her promiscuous grade school days, laden with multiple crushes and several boyfriends at the same time, may foreshadow an equally

In what master’s work will you find Denzel Washington and Keanu Reeves as brothers? Shakespeare, of course. The 1993 movie adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing also stars Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh, and Micheal Keaton. It is a rollicking tale of mistaken identities with dashing princes, sharp tongued wenches, and evil plots.

The valiant knight Claudio yearns for the virginal Hero. Noble Don Pedro promises to arrange it, while The Evil Prince vows to break the lovers apart. Meanwhile, Beatrice and Benedict break everything but each other’s heads on their rocky road to romance

Before the success of the young adult novels Eleanor and Park and Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell debuted with the adult fiction novel Attachments.

Set at the end of 1999 with Y2K pending, Attachments tells the story of three newspaper employees, Lincoln, Jennifer and Beth. Lincoln is a night systems security officer, whose main duty is to monitor employee emails for potentially inappropriate or prurient activity. Jennifer and Beth are best friends whose emails get flagged to Lincoln on a regular basis. Amused by their snarky and clever non-work related conversations, Lincoln decides not to report their staff email abuse, and instead continues to read their personal email exchanges.

Have you ever felt like you were the only one on the planet to do something? For botanist astronaut Mark Watney, this is a reality for everything he does. Abandoned by the rest of his crew during an unforeseen dust storm, Watney is stranded on Mars after his team fled, thinking it too late to save him. Completely isolated from the rest of humanity, Watney has to figure out not only how to survive, but also how to get back home.

This book is, at its core, a man-versus-nature story, with nature being the Mars atmosphere. Watney must figure out how to grow food in a freezing cold environment

Let's say you've heard of this "funny fantasy series" called Discworld by some guy named Terry Pratchett. You've never read any of the books, but you're intrigued. Unfortunately, there are a lot of books in the series and there doesn't seem to be an obvious book to start with. What should you do?

I'll tell you what you should do: read Small Gods. Many of the Discworld novels are tied to one story arc or another, but Small Gods is independent. (The only recurring Discworld character in the book is Death, but you don't need to have read any other Discworld books to be familiar with Death. It's

This album is a fantastic treat, the true definition of a "hidden gem." I'm not entirely sure why I first purchased this album on its release. Maybe because I was so into Ben Folds at the time and this album is produced by Folds. I had heard William Shatner's previous attempts at "singing" so I was not expecting much besides something to laugh at and listen to every once in awhile. However, Has Been became an album that I have listened to regularly for the last decade. Folds did a wonderful job pulling great emotion from Shatner and focusing more on a spoken-word vibe for the album instead of

My Dog is a sweet exploration of the relationship between man and dog.  You will be delighted to see a spunky Isaac Mizrahi rave about his pooches, listen to Richard Gere’s brief philosophical tidbits about his dog and get a peek into the beautiful connections between dogs and their humans. 

I really appreciated how the film gracefully skips from one interview to the next, constructing an exciting collage of poignant moments and revelations and giving ample opportunities to see my favorite people and their dogs.

Daniel Shire, a boy with autism, created a bridge between his world and his

"Why are we here? What is love? Is there a Loch Ness monster? Does God send text messages?" These four lines, and "Jessie's Girl," were about all I had to go on before cracking open Rick Springfield's debut fiction novel. It follows an early thirties, recently divorced, recovering slacker as he ponders his existence. It leads him on a quest that ends up with a 1-800 hotline to God, a recently "freed" nun, and a date with the Loch Ness monster. While it does take a little time to pick up, and it can be somewhat shocking at points, it was a thoroughly enjoyable read, and once I got hooked, I

Edie and Richard Middlestein have been married for over 30 years, enjoying their family life in Chicago. But as their relationship stops growing and Richard decides to leave, all Edie can seem to do is grow.  She is obsessed with food and eating.  Will the family save her from herself?  Will Richard come back and continue loving every ounce of her?  One particular scene in The Middlesteins made me realize just how much this woman is eating:  Edie's daughter-in-law follows her from the house to McDonald's, then to Burger King, and on to the Chinese restaurant, watching Edie order, eat and throw

Redshirts is a thoroughly engaging read, with interesting characters, snappy dialogue, and a plot that transports from comedic to thought-provoking at will. The story follows the adventures of a group of "Redshirts" as they fight for survival and try to unravel the mystery of a curse that plagues their ship. Will they figure it all out, or will they suffer the same grim fate so many "Redshirts" have before?  If you are a fan of Star Trek, or science-fiction in general, do yourself a favor and check this one out! The three codas at the end of the novel take a little bit to warm up to, but add

Kitty lovers will appreciate Caroline Paul's humor, devotion and manic-depressive curiosity in Lost Cat.