Top Ten Tuesday- Books that Make Me Giggle

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Since our  topic is a freebie this week, I’m going to list some YA books that are funny. I’m a huge dork. I love a book that can make me chuckle.   Or laugh.  And I really love books that can make me snort (it happens more often than I should admit).

1. The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot– Any book where the characters make lists of the hottest cartoon characters of all time, or use awesome terminology like Baby Licker, or that has a protagonist whose inner spazz shows itself outwardly often (quite often) is a winner.  No matter how many times I read these I still laugh.

2. Books by Leila Sales- I loved Mostly Good Girls and Past Perfect because Sales is so funny. Her characters are hilarious.  Seriously. I only wish I had that ability to make people laugh.

3. Ten Things We Did and Probably Shouldn’t Have by Sarah Mylnowski- Yes,  someday I will actually review this book. At this point, I’m due for a re-read because I read it six months ago. But all of the funny still stands out in my mind.  I mean it’s a list. A list of ten stupid things that April and her bestie do (though if you ask me, they do waaaaay more than ten stupid things) and yet that’s the beauty of being a teenager— not having to apologize for being one.

4. Anything by Stephanie Perkins- So far we’ve had Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door, both of which have such a sweet, romantic vibe . At the same time, Perkins is witty and she knows how to make fun without being mean and how to insert humor without making it seem like she’s trying too hard.

5. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen– Oh I love this book.  It’s the relationships, the banter (and of course, the swooniess) that makes me read it over and over again. This is where Dessen coined phrases like “bettaquit” and “tragical.”It’s nothing less than awesome.

6. This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen– I’m listing this one separately  only because although Dessen is an amazing writer, not all of her books are funny. They all have a certain sweetness and beauty to them, but this one (and the one above) have the most humor.  I loved Dexter. I mean come on. The Potato Opus.  You gotta love that.

7. The Boyfriend books by E. Lockhart- Oh my goodness, Ruby Oliver, you and your sarcasm kill me.  These books are so, SO funny I don’t even know where to begin.  Just read them. Trust me.

8. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks by E. Lockhart– Again, I need to separate this from Lockhart’s above series. Although they are both very funny, they’re completely different.  Frankie is so witty and this is such a fun girl-power book where she, in trying not to be left out, basically ends up telling the boys in her school’s secret society that they can suck it. This one will be required reading for my daughters.

9. The Jessica Darling series by Megan McCafferty- Yes, Jessica is one grumpy girl, but she is admittedly hilarious.  I think it’s her crankiness combined with her honesty that make her so funny. I mean how can you not love a character whose own father calls her Jessica Not So Darling? And who, in the book, shares her name with a porn star?  It’s the makings of some serious funny, let me tell you.  I favor the first two books and the very last one,  but the entire series is solid.

10. The Percy Jackson books by Richard Riordan- I love this series. I think they’re so creative and fun. And Percy has the cutest inner monologue.  If I had a son, I’d want him to be Percy.

11. Emma by Jane Austen- Oh, Emma is so funny.  For some, I recognize that it’s hard to get around the heavy dialogue and descriptions, so it may not be the first book you think of when funny comes to mind. But Emma is so shallow and so slow about understanding men and women.  It makes for such fun.  My ten-year old and I recently read it together after I’d told her how much I love it and even she was cracking up.  This one’s a keeper.