Recommended Reading for April – Funny Fiction

Neil Gaiman (American Gods) and Terry Pratchett (The Color of Magic) team up to create a hilarious story about good, evil, and the end of the world. According to the world’s only completely accurate book of prophecies, The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner. Although it’s what they’ve worked for, angel Aziraphale and demon Crowley find that they’re not especially looking forward to the apocalypse. They’ve been on Earth since The Beginning and they’ve grown to like it. So now they’re off to stop the Rapture, but first they’ll have to find the Antichrist, who seems to have been misplaced… http://bit.ly/2JyBzpq

W. Bruce Cameron is the author of the best-selling A Dog’s Purpose and his love for canine companions comes through in this funny mystery. Ruddy McCann has experienced a seismic drop in popularity. He used to be a college football star; he is now Kalkaska, Michigan’s full-time repo man and part-time bouncer. It was already a pretty crummy life before he started hearing a voice in his head. The voice is named Alan, and he says he’s a dead realtor who wants Ruddy to solve his murder. Ruddy decides a voice in your head seeking vengeance is best ignored. He figures his efforts would be better spent helping his sister keep the bar afloat, and wrapping up a particularly trying repo job. But it’s hard to avoid a voice in your head, and soon Ruddy is trying to figure out what happened to Alan and avoid the same fate for himself. http://bit.ly/2IHiDU9

If you’re looking for funny romance, check out any of Jennifer Crusie’s books. They’re all great, but Agnes and the Hitman is one of my favorites. Food writer Agnes Crandall’s life goes awry when a dognapper invades her kitchen one night, seriously hampering her attempts to put on a wedding that she’s staked her entire net worth on. Then Shane ("no last name") crawls through her window to "save her." Shane may be Agnes’ hero but he’s also a professional hitman and he’s got problems of his own: he’s got a big hit scheduled, a rival trying to take him out, and an ex-mobster uncle who’s lost five million dollars. Soon Agnes and Shane have their hands full with greedy relatives, florists, treachery, flamingos, mothers of the bride, and – most dangerous of all – each other. http://bit.ly/2EAngx2

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution called Christopher Moore "Stephen King with a whoopee cushion and a double-espresso imagination." His books have lampooned Shakespeare (Fool), vampires (Bloodsucking Fiends), marine biologists (Fluke), Death (A Dirty Job), and even Jesus Christ (Lamb). In Sacré Bleu, he takes on the art world with the story of a young baker-painter as he joins Henri Toulouse-Lautrec on a quest to unravel the mystery behind the supposed "suicide" of Van Gogh. The story is part mystery, part history (sort of), part love story, and all hilarious! http://bit.ly/2IFsppS

Twelve-year-old Elvis Babbit has a head for facts: she knows science proves yellow is the happiest color, she knows a healthy male giraffe weighs about 3,000 pounds, and she knows that the naked mole rat is the longest living rodent. She also knows she should plan to grieve for her mother, who recently drowned while sleepwalking, for exactly eighteen months. But there are also things she doesn’t know – like how to keep her sister Lizzie from poisoning herself while sleep-eating, or why her father has started wearing her mother’s bathrobe around the house. Rabbit Cake is a hilarious and heartbreakingly honest look at grief, family, and humor after loss. http://bit.ly/2qoHcOS

As professors struggling towards tenure in New York City, Rachel and her boyfriend Nick live very modest lives, so when Rachel agrees to spend the summer in Singapore, she envisions a humble family home and long drives exploring the island with the man she hopes to marry. But Nick’s home looks more like a palace, and with one of Asia’s most eligible bachelors on her arm, Rachel might as well have a target on her back. Soon to be a movie, Crazy Rich Asians is a decadent and delicious novel offering a peek inside the lives of the rich and famous. http://bit.ly/2IHPvfF