6 Books That Will Make You Laugh

From the bestselling author of Nothing to See Here, a Read with Jenna pick, comes an “unbelievably adorable sibling road trip” story, in which a woman meets a man claiming to be her half brother. Together, they search for their absent father and unknown siblings, uncovering a complex family legacy. “Kevin Wilson continues to do whimsy with as much heart as any writer ever has,” praised The Boston Globe.

All Fours is one of those rare books that’s laugh-out-loud funny while being a profound reflection on life. July turns midlife crisis into performance art, mining the absurdity of desire, marriage, and self-discovery with such fearless honesty that you can’t look away—though it can get incredibly cringey at times. The LA Times called it “deeply funny and achingly true,” a novel that “feels like being seen, like being caught and held,” one that widens the space around sexuality in ways that feel joyfully radical.

In this delectable novel from the bestselling author of Salt and Cod, a 2,000-year-old cheesecake recipe upends life on West 86th Street. Set in the 1970s Upper West Side—where poppyseed strudel and gossip flow in equal measure—Cheesecake charts the rise of one Greek family’s restaurant and the gentrification it fuels, one slice at a time. “The atmosphere [Kurlansky] creates is vivid and oh-so-New York," says Kirkus Reviews. "Good fun.”

This satire of the publishing and entertainment industries catches people at their most ridiculous and revealing, skewering the small hypocrisies of race, class, and ambition with sharp, knowing humor. We guarantee that this one will make you laugh, wince, and recognize yourself, sometimes all in the same paragraph. The New York Times described Colored Television as “funny, foxy and fleet… the jokes are good, the punches land, the dialogue is tart.”

Originally published in Sweden in 2012, A Man Called Ove follows a solitary man whose strict routines and isolation are disrupted by new neighbors and unexpected friendship. Through everyday detail and dry humor, Backman examines community, grief, and connection across generations. James McBride called it “a magnificent homage to humanity and to the possibility of friendship and faith in long-lost love,” noting its “one of those good stories that connect.”

In this buzzworthy novel an Italian village is on the brink of collapse, and the mayor is convinced the end is near. With a disgraced postman, a shuttered ristorante, and grim prospects, things look bleak—until a truffle is discovered that could either save or doom the town. “Kira Jane Buxton’s story about truffle mania whisks us away to Italy and serves up one buttery page of comedy after another,” raves The Washington Post.