Today's Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and the Bookish asks us what books make us swoon- I just can't. Nothing makes me swoon, except maybe a bare-chested firefighter playing with a baby and a puppy simultaneously, and that's not even a done deal. I don't even like the word swoon. I do like to laugh, though, and I appreciate well-written books that crack me up. Here are ten of my favorites:
1. How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely- His narrator spells out the formula for how to make it big as a writer, throwing in some competition thinly masked as Nicholas Sparks and John Grisham.
2. Family Fang by Kevin Wilson- This family of performance must once again reunite.
3. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller- The book is just completely outlandish, whether criticizing bureaucracy, describing women, or explaining how to get extended leave in hospital care.
4. The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine by Alina Bronsky- The narrator, Russian Rosa, is outraged when her daughter ends up pregnant. She ends up loving her granddaughter and desperately wants to get the three of them out of the Soviet Union.
5. Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell- A hitman for the mob pretends to be a doctor.
6. Nick Hornby- It was hard to narrow it down to just one, but his dry British humor is great. I'm definitely partial to How to Be Good, which handles religion.
7. Tom Perrotta- Another author that I find in generally humorous, from Election to even his most recent, The Leftovers.
8. Gary Shteyngart- The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Absurdistan, and Super Sad Love Story are equally hilarious.
9. Flimsy Little Plastic Miracles by Ron Currie Jr.- A writer travels to a small island in the Caribbean to get over (and write about) the woman he loves.
10. Tobacco Road by Erksine Caldwell- I remember reading this in college and being floored by how crass it was for the time period for which is was written.
Great list, good to see another Shyeyngard fan (even if I haven't read The Russian Debutante's Handbook or Absudistan). Nice to see Catch 22 on the list as well as Beat the Reaper, that book was funny until the autofibulectomy.
ReplyDeleteGreat approach to this week's topic! ;) Your list reminds me that I should check out Gary Shteyngart's books at some point :) I agree re: Catch-22, it's a pretty mad book xD
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Yeah, I don't swoon. I don't say the word swoon. Just...no. I switched my topic too, I did books that were supposed to make me swoon, but didn't. Love #6 and #7.
ReplyDeleteI loved how you adapted this list :). I've only read Nick Horny's Fever Pitch and I loved it because I'm a football fan as well. There were definitely moments that made me laugh so much because I could relate to some of it because I follow the sport. I own About a Boy but I haven't read it yet, but I've heard good things about it. Have you read that one?
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