Popular North American Humor Books

Find humor books written by authors from North America for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (50)

41.

The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino EN

Rating: 3 (2 votes)
Country: North America / Cuba flag Cuba
Description:
"Cosimo di Rondó, a young Italian nobleman of the eighteenth century, rebels against his parents by climbing into the trees and remaining there for the rest of his life. He adapts efficiently to an existence in the forest canopy he hunts, sows crops, plays games with earth-bound friends, fights forest fires, solves engineering problems, and even manages to have love affairs. From his perch in the trees, Cosimo sees the Age of Enlightenment pass by and a new century dawn. Long considered one of Calvino's finest works, The baron in the trees exemplifies this brilliant writer's gift for fantasy."... continue

42.

The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis EN

0 Ratings
Description:
WINNER OF CBC CANADA READS WINNER OF THE STEPHEN LEACOCK MEDAL FOR HUMOUR Here’s the set up: A burnt-out politcal aide quits just before an election—but is forced to run a hopeless campaign on the way out. He makes a deal with a crusty old Scot, Angus McLintock—an engineering professor who will do anything, anything, to avoid teaching English to engineers—to let his name stand in the election. No need to campaign, certain to lose, and so on. Then a great scandal blows away his opponent, and to their horror, Angus is elected. He decides to see what good an honest M.P. who doesn’t care about bei... continue

43.

The Best Short Stories of O. Henry by O. Henry EN

Rating: 5 (2 votes)
Description:
"Modern library of the world's best books"--Colophon.

44.

The Lost Continent : Travels in Small Town America by Bill Bryson EN

0 Ratings
Description:
Bill Bryson drove 14,000 miles in search of the mythical small town of his youth. Instead he found a lookalike strip of gas stations, motels and hamburger joints; a continent lost to itself through greed, pollution and television, and lost to him because he had become a foreigner in his own country. A funny and serious view of smalltown America.

45.

The Midwest Survival Guide : How We Talk, Love, Work, Drink, and Eat . . . Everything with Ranch by Charlie Berens EN

0 Ratings
Description:
From comedian and journalist Charlie Berens, creator of the viral comedic series "The Manitowoc Minute"--a hilarious full-color guide to Midwestern culture. Someone once said, "Love means never having to say you're sorry," but that guy was from Brooklyn. Midwesterners say sorry at least fifty different ways. They'll even interchange it with hello...and goodbye. Speaking of goodbyes, those can last for hours in the Midwest...sometimes days if you're not prepared. That's where The Midwest Survival Guide comes in. It will keep some poor soul from missing their flight to Burbank because an epic Mi... continue

46.

The Rest is Silence by Augusto Monterroso EN

Rating: 2 (1 vote)
Description:
The lone novel by a Latin American author of very short fiction (praised as “the most beautiful stories in the world” by Italo Calvino)—an antic, metafictional send-up of the Mexican literary scene told through the unreliable recollections of an aging critic’s friends, relatives, and attendants. The one and only novel by the renowned Guatemalan writer Augusto Monterroso—Latin America’s most expansive miniaturist, whose tiny, acid, and bracingly surreal narratives Italo Calvino dubbed “the most beautiful stories in the world”—The Rest Is Silence presents the reader with the kaleidoscopic portra... continue

47.

The Sellout : A Novel by Paul Beatty EN

Rating: 3 (1 vote)
Description:
"Raised by a single father--a controversial sociologist at Riverside Community College--[the narrator] spent his [Los Angeles] childhood as the subject in psychological studies, classic experiments revised to include a racially-charged twist. He also grew up believing this pioneering work might result in a memoir that would solve their financial woes. But when his father is killed in a shoot-out with the police, he realizes there never was a memoir. All that's left is the bill for a drive-thru funeral and some maudlin what-ifs"--

48.

The White Boy Shuffle : A Novel by Paul Beatty EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Description:
A slapstick satire on race relations featuring Gunnar Kaufman, a black writer from Santa Monica who becomes famous by saying all the right things whites want to hear. The novel pokes fun at both blacks and whites. A first novel.

49.

The World According to Garp by John Irving EN

Rating: 5 (5 votes)
Description:
The story of T.S. Garp, the bastard son of a feminist leader who is ahead of her time.

50.

Y/N by Esther Yi EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Description:
Finalist for the 2023 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2023 New York Times 2023 Critics' Pick New Yorker Best Book of 2023 (Essential Read) NPR Best Book of 2023 TIME Must-Read Book of 2023 Bookshop.org Best Book of 2023 Chicago Public Library Favorite Book of 2023 Ms. Magazine Best Book of 2023 It’s as if her life only began once Moon appeared in it. The desultory copywriting work, the boyfriend, and the want of anything not-Moon quickly fall away when she beholds the idol in concert, where Moon dances as if his movements are creating their own g... continue