Though I generally tend to read thrillers when I need to distract myself from what is happening around me, there are some non-thriller titles that I pick up when my heart feels heavy and I need something to cheer me up. Books like ‘Matilda’ and ‘The Twits’ by Roald Dahl and anything by David Sedaris and Nick Hornby have witty writing and funny plots and I would recommend these if you were looking for some fun reads. 

But for me, there are some OG (cue in an eyeroll here for the millennial slang) of funny books the thought of which just instantly cheers me up. I can pick these books up and because I know the plot like the back of my hand I don’t even have to read it cover to cover. I just randomly flip to a page and read a passage or a line here and there. This week, I thought I’d share them with you as we could all do with some joy in our hectic lives.

Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome

Published in 1889, ‘Three Men in a Boat’ by Jerome K Jerome is a hilarious book about a two-week boating vacation. It was initially meant to be a serious travel guide but ended up becoming an account of three friends and their dog on a boating trip. The author and his friends are tired of regular life and decide to take a vacation. The book describes the adventures of the friends during their trip along the River Thames from Kingston to Oxford. There are mishaps and comic encounters that will leave you in splits. The writing is also funny and you get glimpses of London that will make you feel like you are actually there.

Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding

I love Helen Fielding for creating Bridget Jones. In my head, she’s not just a fictional character but someone who actually lives somewhere in this world and ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’ is actually her diary. The book is well written, funny, and relatable. You are privy to the character’s weaknesses and flaws and that makes her extremely endearing. Her thoughts are laugh out loud funny. You can’t believe she is serious about all the things she stresses about. Reading the book or even parts of it always brings my deepest insecurities to the surface and forces me to look at them in a light manner. It was published in 1998 but it’s as relevant today as it was back then.

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Tina Fey is an American actress, writer, and comedian. She gained popularity for creating and starring as Liz Lemon in the popular show ‘30 Rock’. She created the musical adaptation of the popular movie ‘Mean Girls’. She has appeared in the Time 100 list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Her memoir ‘Bossypants’, which was subject to a bidding war among publishers, came out in 2011. I asked a cousin who was in the US to send me a copy of the book as it wasn’t available in Nepal back then. I’m someone who never asks for such favors so you can imagine how badly I wanted to read the book. Bossypants is funny, inspirational, and makes you want to take life a little less seriously.