The best books to make you snort your drink out your nose

Why this book?

It's hilarious. The characters, the situations, and most of all the writing. Taylor's choice of words is perfect. Her comedic timing is even better. Best of all, there are now 13 books in the series.

About ten pages into a library copy (the author was recommended to me by a fan of my own work), I knew I had to buy my own copy. Not only did I want to savour the book, reading only one chapter a day (which took a lot of willpower), but I wanted to underline every single excellent bit. And there are so many … I'm opening the book at random … "How did you find the East Gate?" "I was looking for the South Gate." See?

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Why this book?

I found out after I'd read and thoroughly enjoyed this novel that it's classified as YA. Pity. It made this adult laugh and laugh often. Alice is a refreshing change to … normal. Fortunately, there are two more books in the series.

I was so disappointed that the novel did not win the Leacock (technically, the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour). It definitely should have. But then … written by a woman … blah blah when will men get over themselves?)

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Why this book?

I'm not much into family, so it says a lot that I'm putting this one on my list. At least the Spellmans are dysfunctional. In a funny way. And that's an impressive achievement. There are six books in this series, and I've read them all. No question, time well spent.

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Why this book?

I can understand why this novel won the Leacock. Fallis is brilliant. Brilliantly funny. And when writing about Canadian politics, no less.  

Having read this one, I went ahead and purchased every novel he's written since. I like some better than others, but I do like them all. As with Taylor's books, I read only one chapter a day. And underline the excellent bits. Again, at random … "… his face, well, was almost purple. The folks at Crayola might call it 'Violent Violet'."  

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Why this book?

Oddly enough, like Fallis, Buckley tackles politics with humour, but my god, he tackles Trump. Hard to make such a disaster funny. As with Taylor, I love his comedic timing. And his footnotes. (The one for "j'accuse!" is "French for 'this is really a bit much.'" And for "nolo contendere", "Legal Latin for … 'Whatever'.")

Again, I've read pretty much everything Buckley has written, and I think this, his most recent, is his best.  And that's frickin' impressive. Because he's written 18.

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