HUMOR
Humor as a genre is generally defined as writing in which the main narrative goal is laughter. Currently, the genre often appears as humorous essays and humorous memoirs. Simple compilations of jokes are less common these days, with the exception of serialized cartoons. Humor, of course, can be found as a component of most good writing, including the great tragedies of Shakespeare (the Fool and similar roles). In addition, most genres have humorous sub-genres, such as humorous romance (Meg Cabot, etc.), humorous mystery (Carl Hiaasen, etc), humorous fantasy (Piers Anthony, Roald Dahl, etc.), and so on.
Humor writing can have a tone from light to dark, from witty to gross, with observations on human nature that vary from the insightful to the prohibited. Humor writing is one of the most difficult forms of writing for a number of reasons; what people find funny varies with age, geography, culture, maturity, gender, education, current events, and other factors. The successful telling of humorous stories, in particular, is dependent on factors such as the timing of revelations and the sequential build-up to a final discordance or shift in perspective. Hyperbole, metaphor, reduction to absurdity and reframing are all techniques used in humor writing.
All books on this list are in the Barrington Public Library Collection – if you enjoy a particular type of book, you might want to go to the shelves in that area and simply browse, both for other books by that author and other similar writing. In addition, don’t forget to check the New Books display in the center of the library.
155.9 LAR - LaRoche, Loretta, Relax–You May Only Have a Few Minutes Left: Using the Power of Humor to Overcome Stress in Your Life and Work
306.7 MAC - Mac, Jeff, Manslations: Decoding the Secret Language of Men
741.5 TRU - Trudeau, G B, *The Doonesbury Chronicles
814.54 EPH- Ephron, Nora, *I Feel Bad about My Neck and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman
NEW LP 814.54 SCO - Scottolin, Lisa, Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog: The Amazing Adventures of an Ordinary Woman (As of now, Large Print Collection, New Books 2010)
814.54 SED - Sedaris, David, *Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
814.54 WAS - Wasserstein, Wendy, *Shiksa Goddess
817 NOR - Northcutt, Wendy, *The Darwin Awards
817.008 JOK- Brown, Judy, Joke Stew: 1,349 More Hilarious Servings from Today’s Hottest Comedians
817.5 BAR- Barry, Dave, *Dave Barry’s History of the Millennium (So Far)
817.508 REM - Remick, David & Finder, Henry, Disquiet, Please: More Humor Writing from The New Yorker
817.54BRO- Browne, Jill Conner, *The Sweet Potato Queen’s Field Guide to Men: Every Man I Love is Either Married, Gay or Dead
817.54 CAR- Carlin, George, *When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops
817.6 STE - Stewart, Jon, America (The Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction
817.5 T536t - Thurber, James, *The Thurber Carnival
More Humor
J and Y Kin - Kinney, Jeff, Diary of a Wimpy Kid (other titles in this series can be found in the Juvenile and Young Adult collections under the author’s last name)
Comic Strip F - Larson, Gary, The Far Side (other titles in this series can be found in the Young Adult collection under this designation)
NOT - Notaro, Laurie, There’s a (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going to Hell: a Novel of Sewer Pipes, Pageant Queens, and Big Trouble (title can be found in the adult fiction collection under the author’s last name)
Compiled by the BPL Reference Staff.
