Over the last few weeks, I have been on a rather morbid streak of Death and Scariness.  Now I am ready to laugh.  There are many books that have a lot of humor, but these three abound in it.  Try them out for a light-hearted reading experience.


1.  Where'd You Go, Bernadette? By Maria Semple:


This is such a fun book!  In this sendup of suburban life in an exclusive Seattle neighborhood,  multi-tasking supermoms populate the landscape.  Bernadette seems to be a master at running the lives of her little family with flair.  But is she actually getting lots of help behind the scenes?  Is her life really so perfect, or are anxiety, secrets, and infidelity lurking in the shadows?  All is not what it seems in the perfect life of the main characters.  There was so much I could personally relate to in this book, particularly the scenes about the seriousness of school fundraisers.  These situations may seem outrageous,  but if you live in certain privileged areas, the craziness abounds when it comes to raising money for your kid's school.  I loved how Bernadette takes outsourcing to new heights.  This social satire will have you laughing and crying all at once.

2.  The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion:

I loved this book for it's wit and fun premise:  a socially awkward scientist sets out to find a wife.  With the aid of an hilariously inappropriate questionnaire,  the main character, Don, attempts to weed out incompatible potential mates.  It is implied in the book that Don has Aspergers, so when he meets the quirky and unpredictable Rosie he immediately writes her off as a possible mate.  Rosie is looking for her biological father.  Being that Don is a geneticist, he takes on the task of helping Rosie gather DNA to weed out who could be her dad (it is not at all because she is attractive, no).  As Don gets to know Rosie, he begins to let go of some of the order in his life, and let in spontaneity, fun, and love.  This is a book full of laughs, but also empathy for Aspergers people.  It is close to my heart.

3.  The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams:

This is a classic and one of my teen's favorite books.  Arthur Dent starts out the day squabbling with the government about demolishing his home to make way for a highway bypass, and ends the day on an alien space ship!  How can he even wrap his head around this new reality?  He can begin to read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, coincidentally written by his friend, Ford Prefect (an alien passing as a human).  This novel is full of British-style humor (which I adore).  As Arthur tries to navigate through his new reality, he meets strange species such as the Vogons, and tries not to get killed!  This is the start of a fun series.  I think all of my kids went through a British humor phase and this fed their addiction.  Silly fun!