Just like a good chef appreciates a Twinkie once in a while, so it goes with book lovers.
Serious stories and true-life tales are immensely satisfying—but so is a good chuckle. Here are eight great choices that deliver the funny.
William Shakespeare’s Star Wars
Ian Doescher
You only thought you had every Star Wars book ever written. Now there’s one more—a super spiffy parody of the battle with the Dark Side, all in iambic pentameter.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
A parody of a classic that launched a series of others, including “Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.” Elizabeth Bennet is a badass.
Fifty Shades of Mr. Darcy
William Codpiece Thwackery
The wildly popular E.L. James trilogy is lambasted in this takeoff featuring Lizzy Steele and Christian Darcy.
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales
Jon Sciezka and Lane Smith
Don’t wait to introduce your kids to the art of parody. Sciezka and Smith’s work is imaginative, hilarious and wonderfully illustrated.
Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead
Max Brooks
Consider it the companion piece to Brooks’ “World War Z”—the guide is a how-to manual if you find yourself mano a mano with a brain eater.
Nightlight: A Parody
The Harvard Lampoon
If you are looking for quality satire, look no further than the Lampoon, with their quick-witted roast of the Stephanie Meyer trilogy.
A Game of Groans
George R.R. Washington and Alan Goldsher
Summer is coming. And with it, a send-up of almost every plot point from George R.R. Martin’s hit science fiction/fantasy series.
The Wit and Wisdom of Tyrion Lannister
George R.R. Martin
Proving even authors have a sense of humor about what’s popular and what’s not, Martin has penned an ode to fiction’s favorite little person of the moment, Tyrion Lannister.
