Funny books for any day of the week

If you are looking for some fun books to brighten up your day, take a look at these curated by the Wantate review team.

Diary of a Drag Queen by Crystal Rasmussen (2019)

Before Crystal was Crystal, Tom was born in a tough town full of tough men and even tougher women. Quite how, many years later, they found themselves indulging in the pleasures of the night with a 79-year-old builder before knocking over his sister's ashes while trying to feed him a Viagra is genuinely a story to behold.

Then there’s the time they... actually, it’s better you read her other stories for yourself. Bohemian, yes, but Rasmussen's stories are anything but a drag – they're funny, heartfelt, and so lurid they should come with a free defibrillator. But more than that, they are shatteringly honest. Because their life hasn’t all been big-heels and butterfly eyelashes. There have been dark times, too.

Poetic, distinctive, and neck-achingly funny, this is the story of how Rasmussen set their "glam and gorj" inner diva free.

Reasons to Be Cheerful by Nina Stibbe (2019)

Nina Stibbe has mastered the balance of pathos and humour, so it’s hard to recommend just one of her books. But Reasons to Be Cheerful perhaps best exemplifies her acute ability to revel in the inherent absurdity of everyday life.

Stibbe’s most recent novel follows teenager Lizzie Vogel, whose new job as a dental assistant seems to promise independence until it doesn’t. Instead, Reasons to Be Cheerful revels in the youthful, mundane heartbreak of realizing that autonomy doesn’t equate to freedom. She’s still tied to her alcoholic mother, her sexless boyfriend, and the seemingly endless parade of small tragedies (foot fungus, a disrespectful boss) that life can sometimes be.

Insightful and comic in equal measure, Reasons to Be Cheerful might just turn your bad day into a hysterical one.

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