Cachinnate 

Cachinnate means loud or raucous laughter. And my interpretation is books that made me laugh out loud, in a good or a bad way.

Humor as a genre is oft difficult to write about and, therefore, tough to find laugh-out-loud books to read too. I am always on the lookout for a humorous book to read and would welcome recommendations from my readers on this. Sharing my top five favorite books, which have an awesome sense of humor and timing to tickle anyone’s funny bones to cachinnate with force.

My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell

This one is a classic read about an extremely dysfunctional family that just cannot seem to agree on anything. On top of that the love for the animal kingdom has been presented in the most delightful way in this book. The story has been written by the youngest member of this family in the most candid and quirky way.

Also read the review of My Family and Other Animals

The Vinyl Cafe Series by Stuart Mclean

Set in Canada, this series has a nuclear family of four at its core who seem to get into all sorts of incidents with their neighbors, at their workplace, school, barber and even on the street. The anecdotes are heartfelt funny and thrill the reader with their unpredictability.

I stumbled over a series of podcasts on Audible and am hooked to them. Check them out if you yearn to cachinnate out loud.

Also read my review of The Vinyl Cafe series

Intrigued? Pin it for later!

 

The Collected Short Stories by Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl ( 1916-1990) needs no introduction for who is not familiar with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or Matilda? Beauty of Dahl is that he wrote with equal ease for kids as well as adults. While his children’s stories are widely read among  the young readers, the adults are not far behind. He wrote simple tales but with a hidden sting which amuse the reader to the core. Though one may find some dark tones in his writings, there is a general kind heartedness in his writing.

This book has all the short stories that Roald Dahl ever wrote for grown ups. It’s an omnibus of his books, namely, Kiss Kiss, Switch Bitch, Over to you, Someone like you and eight more unexpected tales. Some of his tales will seem adulterous and salacious; reader caution is advised.

I love the dubiousness in his stories though they may appear dark and convoluted to some. His heroes appear to have flaws and seem to fall flat on their face at most times. Some of his tales leave the ending to the reader’s discretion and may lead towards the most outlandish result.

Needless to say I am a fan of his tale-telling; might say something of my bent of mind too 😉

For a detailed analysis of the stories, read my review of this book by Roald Dahl

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

I was introduced to The Rosie Project by a bookish friend who told me this book is all about Sheldon (from the popular sitcom The Big Bang Theory) falling in love. Well actually the protagonist is modelled on the lines of Sheldon’s quirky and eccentric behavior. And for someone in love with Sheldon, I just had to read this book.

Boy am I glad that I did. This book is a whale of laughter and I was chuckling throughout the entire read.

The book is about an academician – Professor Don Tillman who has Asperger’s syndrome (unknown to him) and is also mildly Autistic. He is fastidious about punctuality and working out well timed activities like shopping, cooking, etc to the last second. Don doesn’t like being touched and takes things literally, which leads to much hilarity. He works as the Associate Professor of Genetics at the Melbourne University, Australia. So being academically inclined, makes him intellectually superior to most people. Something which precludes his social engagements to almost always end in a disaster.

Don decides he will remain single till an acquaintance surprises him by complimenting him as great husband material. But being thoroughly fed up of the dating game, he decides to begin the Wife Project. He devises a sixteen page long questionnaire which he must now send out to all the probables out there. He would simply use analytical tools to find the “one” for him.

Needless to say, the entire idea bombs on him and in the most unexpected way. You have to read the book to find out more.

You could also read my review of this book

Anxious People by Fredrik Bachman

This book has the most unbelievable setting. An open house is in progress where several people are viewing the property and assessing it as a future home. Just then a bank robber barges in and holds the entire house hostage on gunpoint. When the seize is over, the police are left baffled as the bank robber seems to have vanished into thin air.

The entire book is held up by the awesome ensemble of characters, each quirky and eccentric in varying degrees. These are everyday people, struggling with everyday needs and their response to the entire situation is hilarious. Imagine being more worried about the pizza toppings than being held hostage. Or the mental state of the police officer who has come to rescue the hostages and instead ends up taking food orders from everyone.

Though the book has serious undercurrents in issues like housing, corporate greed, suicide, etc; the tale is heart warming and told in the most lucid fashion.

Well that’s my list of the 5 most funny books on my bookshelves. I would love to find out more such and if you have any great recommendation for the same, do drop the name in the comments below.

Coming up tomorrow D for Diversity!!

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For the uninitiated, AtoZ challenge is a blogging challenge wherein one has to write on every alphabet from A to Z and post on all days of April, except Sundays. Usually its better to devise a theme as it makes it easy to write the posts. Plus readers have a reason to stay hooked too.

I am participating in this years challenge with Life Of Leo with a shared theme of quirky bookish words. Both of us are interpreting the words as per our reading tastes.