My favorite books to make you snort your drink out your nose

Why am I passionate about this?

I have a Master’s degree in Philosophy and for a (very) brief time was a stand-up comic (now I'm more of a sprawled-on-the-couch comic). Despite these attributes, I have received four Ontario Arts Council grants.  This Will Not Look Good on My Resume was shortlisted for the Rubery Book Award, and excerpts from my several other books have appeared in The Cynic Online Magazine and 222 More Comedy Monologues, and on Erma Bombeck’s humor website.  


I wrote...

This Will Not Look Good on My Resume

By Jass Richards,

Book cover of This Will Not Look Good on My Resume

What is my book about?

Everyone gets fired at least once in their life. And if not, well, they're just not trying very hard. And we all think of brilliant and immature 'shoulda saids' and 'shoulda dones' for weeks after. (Okay, years.) A quirky bit of fun that slaps you upside the head.

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Just One Damned Thing After Another

Jass Richards Why did I love 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?

By Jodi Taylor,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked Just One Damned Thing After Another as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Time Travel meets History in this explosive bestselling adventure series.

`So tell me, Dr Maxwell, if the whole of History lay before you ... where would you go? What would you like to witness?'

When Madeleine Maxwell is recruited by the St Mary's Institute of Historical Research, she discovers the historians there don't just study the past - they revisit it.

But one wrong move and History will fight back - to the death. And she soon discovers it's not just History she's fighting...

Follow the tea-soaked disaster magnets of St Mary's as they rattle around History. Because wherever the…


Book cover of I'm Alice, I Think

Jass Richards Why did I love 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?)

By Susan Juby,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked I'm Alice, I Think as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The hilarious diary of Alice and her attempts to survive the embarrassments that are her parents, the small-minded nature of her hometown, and her own struggle to fit in. Highly observant, satirical and wise.

Fifteen years old and nursing a "serious case of outcastitis," Alice MacLeod is having a hard time finding anything much to like in small town Smithers, British Columbia. Her mum's a folk-festival hippie chick with a hair-trigger temper, her dad's a mild and reasonable sort of loser who hides out in the basement trying to write soft-core romance novels, and her last school counsellor threw a…


Book cover of The Spellman Files

Jass Richards Why did I love 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.

By Lisa Lutz,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Spellman Files as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the award-winning author of The Passenger comes the first novel in the hilarious Spellman Files mystery series featuring Isabel “Izzy” Spellman (part Nancy Drew, part Dirty Harry) and her highly functioning yet supremely dysfunctional family of private investigators.

Meet Isabel “Izzy” Spellman, private investigator. This twenty-eight-year-old may have a checkered past littered with romantic mistakes, excessive drinking, and creative vandalism; she may be addicted to Get Smart reruns and prefer entering homes through windows rather than doors—but the upshot is she’s good at her job as a licensed private investigator with her family’s firm, Spellman Investigations. Invading people’s privacy…


Book cover of The Best Laid Plans

Jass Richards Why did I love 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'."  

By Terry Fallis,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Best Laid Plans as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

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…


Book cover of Make Russia Great Again

Jass Richards Why did I love 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.

By Christopher Buckley,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Make Russia Great Again as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In "the Trump satire we've been waiting for" (The Washington Post), award-winning and bestselling author of Thank You for Smoking delivers a hilarious and whipsmart fake memoir by Herb Nutterman-Donald Trump's seventh chief of staff-who has written the ultimate tell-all about Trump and Russia.

Herb Nutterman never intended to become Donald Trump's White House chief of staff. Herb served the Trump Organization for twenty-seven years, holding jobs in everything from a food and beverage manager at the Trump Magnifica to being the first general manager of the Trump Bloody Run Golf Course. And when his old boss asks "his favorite…


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The Sailor Without a Sweetheart

By Katherine Grant,

Book cover of The Sailor Without a Sweetheart

Katherine Grant Author Of The Viscount Without Virtue

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Novelist History nerd Amateur dancer Reader New Yorker

Katherine's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

Enjoy this Persuasion-inspired historical romance!

Six years ago, Amy decided *not* to elope with Captain Nate Preston. Now, he is back in the neighborhood, and he is shocked to discover that Amy is unmarried. Even more surprising, she is clearly battling some unnamed illness. Thrown together by circumstances outside their control, Nate and Amy try to be friends. Soon, it becomes clear that their feelings for each other never died. Has anything changed, or are they destined for heartbreak once more?

The Sailor Without a Sweetheart

By Katherine Grant,

What is this book about?

Is love worth giving a second chance?

Six years ago, Amy Lamplugh decided not to elope with Nate Preston. Ever since, she has been working hard to convince herself she was right to choose her family over Nate.

Now, Nate is back. After an illustrious career as a naval captain, he faces a court martial for disobeying orders while fighting the slave trade. He accepts an invitation to await the trial at a country estate outside of Portsmouth - and discovers he is suddenly neighbors with Amy.

Nate is shocked to find that Amy didn’t end up marrying someone rich…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in private investigators, Russia, and time travel?

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