It’s a great feeling to laugh out loud at a book. Here are the nominees for the funniest books of 2023:
- The Fowl Twins Trilogy
- A Series of Unfortunate Events (13 Book Series)
- Flipped
- The Thursday Murder Club
- Rewind
The Fowl Twins – Eoin Colfer
A spinoff trilogy from one of my favorite authors Eoin Colfer, it was always going to be hard to top the humor and adventure of the original trilogy. In a genius move, Colfer took both the coldblooded wit and intuitive nature of the series original protagonist Artemis and split them into his two younger brothers Miles and Beckett. Beckett becomes one of the most endearing and hilarious characters I’ve ever read as the two get into hijinx and world-saving adventures across three books. The humor ventures into potty-humor at times, but this series will undoubtably get your chuckling early and often.
A Series of Unfortunate Events – Lemony Snicket
This is a series that everyone around me thought I would love, but I just thought it would be too repetitive for my taste. Everyone else was right. You know that when the narrator defining one of his word choices gets you laughing you are in for a treat. Each side character, main character, and especially the antagonist Count Olaf all have a very distinct voice and style, and it ventures deeply into the territory of dark humor without become too cynical. As a bonus, Tim Curry performs the audiobooks, and having him sing the theme song to the VFD in The Hostile Hospital was one of the fictional highlights of the year. Golden stuff.
The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman
A talented group of 70 year olds in a nursing home decide to break up their humdrum lives by coming together to…solve murders! I only read the first in the series, but you can bet I’ll be continuing in 2024. Each member of the team has their own comedic flair, whether its the slightly bumbling, but curious Joyce, the blunt Ron, the intelligent but awkward Ibrahim, or the ultra competent leader of the group, Elizabeth, each character has their own contributions and chance to shine throughout the story.
Flipped – Wendelin Van Draanen
All right a bit of a spoiler alert. This one is actually more a touching dramedy than a laugh out loud comedy like others on this list, but this book had the moment I laughed the hardest at all year, so it gets an automatic honorable mention. This coming of age story has a fun storytelling device where the story flips back and forth between Bryce and Julie, who tell the same story but with their unique points of view. Since this takes place through late elementary school and junior high, you can imagine that the drama that comes during those ages comes into play. Some great messages and tear jerker moments made this a 5 star read for me.
Rewind – Lisa Graff
Probably one of the lesser known books on the list, it tells the story of a 12-year-old girl named McKinley who is preparing for her 1993 themed dance in 2023, and suddenly finds herself teleported back to the actual 1993! Of course, its there that she meets her parents and gets a unique view of what they were like before they were the tightly strung versions she knows. If you took the premise of Back to the Future and told it through the vibe of 13 Going on 30 you can kind of get an idea for what this book is trying to accomplish.
