Story Tags

Vladimir Putin in Fiction

The DC/Baltimore area seems to be inundated with Putin-based theater over the last year.

In honor of Women’s history month, here is a list of great memoirs by women. Everyone has a story, and reading the memoirs of remarkable, interesting women is a great way to get inspired this March. Here are a few great choices to get you started, from comedic essays to financial memoir.

Smashed Story of a Drunken Girlhood by Koren Zailckas

Young Women, Real Lives

The experience of being a young woman is its own, whatever other challenges or interests go along with it. Whether examining nature, negotiating the context of promiscuity or alcoholism, creating meaningful relationships with other women, or simply existing, these eight titles explore that experience with a sharp eye, some leading the reader to laughter and others to tears.

And Now, For Something Completely Different...

Biographies and Memoirs by the Famously Funny

"And now, for something completely different..." Laughing burns calories. Laughing releases endorphins. Laughter is the best medicine. I'm not a doctor. I'm just a librarian, but allow me to attempt to sell laughter as the best medicine through these autobiographical works of a few brilliant and famously funny people.

Laugh it Off

Surviving Parenting with Humor

Sometimes as a parent you are overwhelmed, lonely and just want to cry or scream. You are not alone. These authors look at the challenge of being a parent (mostly a mother) and laugh about it. They are honest to the point of absurdity and help the reader see the humor in the fact that your 2-year-old has a mental breakdown when you put his toast in the toaster because he really wanted just bread with jelly on it despite the fact that he continues to call it "toast." All of these authors have very different experiences and points of view, but they are all great reads.

Spending the holidays with people I want to punch in the throat: yuletide yahoos, ho-ho-humblebraggers, and other seasonal scourges

Absurd Christmas Reads

...because what's more absurd than the holidays?

I love Christmas. Last year I made a Christmas list (pun intended) called Scary Christmas to All which covered holiday ghosts, murder and, um, werewolves. I decided to do another reading list this year, but to focus on the funny and/or absurd side of the holidays instead. Family can be stressful. Escape, and come with me to the dark side.

The Dew Breaker by Edwige Danticat cover

Challenge Accepted: Read Harder 2017

Challenge #22: Read a collection of stories by a woman

A new year means new year resolutions and challenges. One reading challenge that I love to do is Book Riot’s 2017 Read Harder challenge. Instead of having people focus on a specific number of books, Read Harder challenges people to read different genres or authors that they may overlook.

Post Secret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God

These Are My Confessions

Just when I thought I said all I could say...

Forgive me reader, for I have sinned. For penance, I offer you book after book of guilty consciences, all of which are suitable for adult audiences. I Didn't Come Here to Make Friends: Confessions of a Reality Show Villain By: Courtney Robertson

Reading for the Laughs

Laughter is a difficult thing to draw from a page. Humor is subjective, fickle, cultural and not always timeless. It follows trends - is it fashionable to be sarcastic, dry, satirical, or crass? Is it bound to a certain language or a particular moment in history? Below you will find a list of books and stories that showcase a range of types humor and are at times side-splittingly funny.

If You Give a Blogger a Book Deal

They’ll Want a YouTube Channel

Whether it’s a writer of a food blog or the star of a YouTube Channel, books by Internet celebrities are here to stay. The wave of bloggers and YouTube celebrities turned writers has been going strong since the medium gained popularity in the early 2000’s. In many cases, these writers have challenged the odds to cultivate loyal, if sometimes niche, fan bases. In the end, the book still reigns supreme as these online personalities have gone on to write humor, how-to-guides, cookbooks, and even incredibly personal memoirs.