Laugh-out-Loud Books

Our Laugh-out-Loud Books Collection highlights titles that bring levity to literature through satire, dark humor, or hilarious dialogue. Representing genres ranging from romantic comedies to classic children's titles, this Collection features titles to tickle every reader's funny bone.

Genre Play, Fiction

Themes Politics & Government, War, Femininity

Tags Classic Fiction, Ancient Greece, Comedy & Satire, Gender & Feminism, Politics & Government, Military & War, Education, Education, Dramatic Literature, Humor

Lysistrata (411 BCE) was written by the best-known Greek comic poet, the Athenian playwright Aristophanes. We know little of Aristophanes’ life outside of his work. His birth and death cannot be firmly dated, but he was believed to have been born around 460 BCE and died sometime in the mid-380s BCE. His active period, though, is more certain— around 425 to 388 BCE—making him a contemporary of other fifth-century Athenian luminaries like Socrates, Euripides, and... Read Lysistrata Summary

Publication year 1965

Genre Play, Fiction

Themes Appearance & Reality, Justice, Perseverance, Hope, Emotions/Behavior: Courage

Tags Historical Fiction, Drama, Music, Humor, Historical Drama, Education, Education, Dramatic Literature, Romance, Classic Fiction

Man of La Mancha, by Dale Wasserman, Joe Darion, and Mitch Leigh, took the world of musical theater by storm when it premiered in 1965. This story of Miguel de Cervantes and his comic knight, Don Quixote, won five Tony Awards as well as the Drama Critics Circle Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Variety Drama Critics Award, and the Saturday Review Award. The original production ran for over 2,000 performances and remains popular... Read Man of La Mancha Summary

Publication year 2005

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Family

Tags Animals, Modern Classic Fiction, Biography, Humor

Marley and Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog (2005) is an autobiography by journalist John Grogan. This guide is based on the 2005 first edition. The story was inspired by the overwhelmingly positive reaction to Grogan’s obituary for his dog Marley.The book was adapted into a full-length film in 2008 and has also been adapted into a series of children’s stories about Marley. The title is borrowed from a chapter near the... Read Marley And Me Summary

Publication year 1988

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Literature, Perseverance

Tags Fantasy, Classic Fiction, Children`s Literature, Bullying, Education, Education, Humor

Roald Dahl’s 1988 children’s fantasy Matilda tells the darkly humorous story of a brilliant and kindly little girl who reads grown-up books, plays pranks on her emotionally abusive parents, and uses her telekinetic ability in her battles with a tyrannical school principal.Dahl is widely considered one the greatest children’s storytellers. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide; they include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, The BFG, and... Read Matilda Summary

Publication year 2012

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Death

Tags Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Humor

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, by Jesse Andrews, introduces us to Greg S. Gaines, 17-year-old senior at Benson High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Greg is also the narrator of the novel. Over the course of his educational career, he has diligently developed a system that allows him to survive the daily pandemonium of life in high school. He maintains a surface-level, friendly-but-not-too-friendly connection to every clique in school so that he can remain... Read Me and Earl and the Dying Girl Summary

Publication year 1990

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Race, Community

Tags Historical Fiction, Education, Education, Modern Classic Fiction, Canadian Literature, Humor

Medicine River, originally published in 1989, is a novel by Thomas King, one of the most prolific Indigenous American writers of the 20th century. The title of the novel takes its name from the town in Alberta, Canada, where the characters live, near a Blackfoot reservation. Their stories, as told by protagonist Will, delve into themes such as Friendship and Forbearance within the frame of Life in an Alberta Blackfoot Community. As Will tells these... Read Medicine River Summary

Publication year 2000

Genre Essay Collection, Nonfiction

Tags Creative Nonfiction, Humor, Biography

David Sedaris’s Me Talk Pretty One Day is a collection of twenty-seven essays exploring the author’s childhood in North Carolina, his relationship with his family, his time living in France, and observations about American social life. The book is comprised of two sections, Part One and Part Deux in which the latter half focuses primarily on Sedaris’s time in Normandy, France. Told with sardonic humor, each chapter deploys various levels of fantasy, irony, and other... Read Me Talk Pretty One Day Summary

Publication year 2023

Genre Graphic Memoir , Nonfiction

Themes Family, Language, Race, Coming of Age, Death, The Past, Immigration

Tags Children`s Literature, Humor, Biography

Publication year 2015

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags Sociology, Humor, Psychology, Psychology, Relationships, Romance

Aziz Ansari’s Modern Romance, published in 2015, is a nonfiction work that combines statistics, interviews, and comedy to explore the current landscape of dating in the modern age. Ansari is an actor and comedian, as well as a writer. He got his start on television in the role of Tom Haverford in Parks and Recreation, which ran on NBC. He starred in Human Giant and went on to perform in several movies. His first comedy... Read Modern Romance Summary

Publication year 1961

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Regret, Guilt, War, Good & Evil, Truth & Lies

Tags Science Fiction, Humor, American Literature, Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Satirical Literature, Military & War, World War II, Postmodernism

Mother Night, by Kurt Vonnegut, is a World War II novel first published in 1961. Vonnegut’s third novel, it garnered little recognition when it was first released, and it wasn’t until Vonnegut’s success with Cat’s Cradle in 1963 and his breakout fifth novel, Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), that Mother Night was revaluated as a powerful work of moral exploration by an author who would go on to become America’s leading satirist and who is now recognized as... Read Mother Night Summary

Publication year 2010

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Race, Animals, Appearance & Reality, The Past, Place, Family, Colonialism, Community, Religion & Spirituality

Tags Humor, Magical Realism, Symbolic Narrative, Fantasy, Realistic Fiction, Addiction & Substance Abuse, Social Justice, Race & Racism, Religion & Spirituality, Trauma & Abuse, Education, Education