We regularly get asked for funny book recommendations so here is a list of recent comedic releases. These picks range from the charming and heartwarming, to the razor-sharp and delightfully snarky.

For something charming and affectionate…

Less by Andrew Sean Greer

The winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2018 introduces Arthur Less, a failed novelist on the brink of fifty. When a wedding invitation arrives from an ex-boyfriend of nine years, Arthur can’t say yes – it would be too awkward; he can’t say no – it would look like defeat. So, he begins to accept the invitations on his desk to half-baked literary events around the world. Arthur almost falls in love, almost falls to his death, and puts miles between him and the plight he refuses to face.

For something scandalous and risqué…

Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood

Patricia Lockwood grew up under the rein of her father – a ‘gun-toting, guitar-riffing, frequently semi-naked’ Catholic priest. When an unexpected crisis forces her and her husband to move back into her parents’ rectory, she must learn to live again with the family’s simmering madness and to reckon with the dark side of her religious upbringing. In her memoir, Lockwood digs into both her childhood and return home with an absolutely wicked sense of humour.

For something bizarre and sarcastic….

Inappropriation by Lexi Freiman

Starting at a prestigious private Australian girls’ school, 15-year-old Ziggy Klein is confronted with an alienating social hierarchy that hurls her into the arms of her grade’s most radical feminists. Plagued by fantasies of offensive sexual stereotypes and a psychotherapist mother who thinks bum-pinching is fine if it comes from the heart chakra, Ziggy sets off on a journey of self-discovery that moves from the Sydney drag scene to the extremist underbelly of the internet to the coastal bohemia of a long-dissolved matriarchal cult.

For something droll and snarky…

You Think It, I’ll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld

You Think It, I’ll Say It is the first collection of short fiction from the ever-brilliant Curtis Sittenfeld. These dazzling stories demonstrate how even the cleverest people tend to misread others, and how much we all deceive ourselves. Sharp and tender, funny and wise, this collection shows Sittenfeld’s knack for creating real, believable characters that spring off the page, while also skewering contemporary mores with dry wit.

For something dark and edgy…

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori)

Keiko has never really fitted in. At school and university people find her odd and her family worries she’ll never be normal. To appease them, Keiko takes a job at a newly opened convenience store. Here, she finds peace and purpose in the simple, daily tasks and routine interactions. But in Keiko’s social circle it just won’t do for an unmarried woman to spend all her time stacking shelves and re-ordering green tea. As pressure mounts, Keiko is forced to take desperate action.

For something jolly and heartwarming….

Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce

London, 1940. Emmeline Lake dreams of becoming a Lady War Correspondent but, after a misunderstanding, she instead finds herself typing letters for the renowned agony aunt of Woman’s Friend magazine. Mrs Bird is very clear: no ‘unpleasantness’. Problems from lovelorn, grief-stricken and morally conflicted readers are binned in favour of those who fear their ankles are unsightly or have trouble untangling lengths of wool. But soon the thought of desperate women going unanswered becomes too much to bear and Emmy decides to secretly write back.

For something sour and unsettling…

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

Young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate, our narrator lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like everything else, by her inheritance. But there is a vacuum at the heart of things that she can’t explain. Aided and abetted by one of the worst psychiatrists in the annals of literature, she beings an experiment in narcotic hibernation. Blackly funny, both merciless and compassionate, this novel is a showcase for the gifts of one of America’s major young writers working at the height of her powers.

For something political and sexy…

Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko

Kerry Salter has spent a lifetime avoiding two things – her hometown and prison. But now her Pop is dying and she’s an inch away from the lockup, so she heads south on a stolen Harley. She’s not planning to stay long but she soon discovers that Bundjalung country has a funny way of grabbing on to people. Old family wounds open as the Salters fight to stop the development of their beloved river. And the unexpected arrival on the scene of a good-looking dugai fella intent on loving her up only adds more trouble – but then, trouble is Kerry’s middle name.

For something joyful and affirming…

Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers

Centuries after the last humans left Earth, the Exodus Fleet is a living relic, a place many are from but few outsiders have seen. Humanity has finally been accepted into the galactic community, but while this has opened doors for many, those who have not yet left for alien cities fear that their carefully cultivated way of life is under threat. And when a disaster rocks this already fragile community, those Exodans who still call the Fleet their home can no longer avoid the inescapable question: What is the purpose of a ship that has reached its destination?

For something anarchic and galvanising…

Orchid & the Wasp by Caoilinn Hughes

The daughter of a cold, self-interested investment banker and a once formidable conductor, Gael is both bloody minded and contemptuous of those that exploit the weak – a sentiment engendered by her adolescence spent looking out for her vulnerable younger brother Guthrie in depressed post-crash Dublin. When her parents separate, Gael sets out into the world where she becomes involved in the Occupy movement. A modern-day bildungsroman, Orchid & the Wasp crackles with joyful fury and anarchic gall.