Audio File Episode 9: Laughter is the Best Medicine

Hello everyone and welcome to Audio File, a Camrose Public Library podcast series. On this podcast, we recommend audiobooks that are truly music to the ears and available right here at CPL. Today’s episode will be focusing on humorous picks, both fiction and non-fiction. Humor is definitely subjective, so I can’t guarantee a laugh, but I’ve done extensive research and I believe that something in these picks should at least make you crack a smile. Let’s get to it!

Transcript

Narrator 0:03
Hello everyone and welcome to Audio File, a Camrose Public Library podcast series. On this podcast, we recommend audiobooks that are truly music to the ears and available right here at CPL. Today’s episode will be focusing on humorous picks, both fiction and non-fiction. Humor is definitely subjective, so I can’t guarantee a laugh, but I’ve done extensive research and I believe that something in these picks should at least make you crack a smile. Let’s get to it!

Our first pick is the Adult Non-Fiction Furiously Happy: A Funny Book about Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson. In Furiously Happy, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jenny Lawson explores her lifelong battle with mental illness. A hysterical, ridiculous book about crippling depression and anxiety? That sounds like a terrible idea. But terrible ideas are what Jenny does best.

Furiously Happy is about "taking those moments when things are fine and making them amazing, because those moments are what make us who we are, and they're the same moments we take into battle with us when our brains declare war on our very existence. It's the difference between "surviving life" and "living life". It's the difference between "taking a shower" and "teaching your monkey butler how to shampoo your hair." It's the difference between being "sane" and being "furiously happy." 

Furiously Happy is an autobiographic collection of essays about a woman who was decided to be happy out of spite. It is both hilarious and honest, sincere in all the best ways. Furiously Happy was the winner of the 2016 Audie Award in the Humor category and was a finalist in the Narration By The Author(s) category. It also won an Earphones Award in 2015.  

The 2015 Macmillan Audio production of Furiously Happy is read by the author. Humor is one of those things best brought to life by the mind behind the humor. Jenny does an excellent job of hitting all the beats, amplifying the humor then sobering up when needed. This is, after all, her life and there’s really no one who knows it better than she does. 

To quote the AudioFile review of Furiously Happy,” Lawson's energy, passion, and furiously happy demeanor invite the listener into her atypical world of mental disorder, taxidermy, and family. Her ability to laugh at herself puts listeners at ease with her weighty issues, which she delivers with grace, insight, sometimes profanity, and the authenticity of a person who faces personal challenges daily. At turns funny and deeply moving, Lawson's accounts and genuine emotion will connect with listeners, whether they struggle with similar problems or not. A definite must-listen.”

If you’re looking for an audiobook about life, laughter, and the realities of mental illness, try Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson.  

Our next pick is the Adult Romance The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams. Nashville Legends second baseman Gavin Scott's marriage is in major league trouble. He’s recently discovered a humiliating secret: his wife Thea has always faked the Big O. When he loses his cool at the revelation, it’s the final straw on their already strained relationship. Thea asks for a divorce, and Gavin realizes he’s let his pride and fear get the better of him. 

Distraught and desperate, Gavin finds help from an unlikely source: a secret romance book club made up of Nashville's top alpha men. With the help of their current read, a steamy Regency titled Courting the Countess, the guys coach Gavin on saving his marriage. But it'll take a lot more than flowery words and grand gestures for this hapless Romeo to find his inner hero and win back the trust of his wife.

The Bromance Book Club is the first in the Bromance Book Club series. It is followed by Undercover Bromance, Crazy Stupid Bromance, Isn’t it Bromantic, and A Very Merry Bromance (this last is slated to hit shelves in November of 2022). The humor in this book comes from the goofy premise as well as the writing, though it is primarily a romance. It’s lighthearted, cute, and (according to many Goodreads reviews) decently funny.  

Lyssa Kay Adams is the pen name of an award-winning journalist who gave up the world of telling true stories to pen emotional romances. She’s also a diehard Detroit Tigers fan who will occasionally cheer for the Red Sox because her husband is from Boston.

The 2019 Penguin Random House Audio production of The Bromance Book Club is read by Andrew Eiden and Maxwell Caulfield. Andrew Eiden made his stage debut at four years old, and his television debut at eleven. By twenty, he had starred as a series regular on three different TV shows (Most notably Complete Savages on ABC), and worked with many great talents such as Betty White. He has received several awards and other recognition of excellence for his audiobook narration. He has voiced several Disney titles including Toy Story 1,2 and 3, Frozen Storybook collection, Pixar Storybook Collection and Wreck-It-Ralph. Maxwell Caulfield has played leading roles on Broadway in An Inspector Calls and on the West End in Chicago. He has worked extensively in film and television, most notably appearing in Grease 2 and Dynasty.

To quote the AudioFile review of The Bromance Book Club, “A silly premise and a very personal issue comprise what turns out to be a meaningful story, delivered by two narrators. The story starts with Thea, Gavin's wife, talking about divorce. Gavin, portrayed by Andrew Eiden, doesn't want to divorce, so his baseball buddies bring him into their secret "club"--a group of men who read romance novels to help them with their marriages or ability to woo women. Eiden gives Gavin a big heart and a tone of integrity. Additionally, Eiden realistically projects Gavin's initial reluctance to accept the idea that a romance novel might actually be able to help him with his marriage. Maxwell Caulfield masterfully voices the Count who is featured in the Regency romance the group offers Gavin. The two narrators add depth and resonance to a surprisingly deep love story.” 

If you’re looking for a second-chance romance with a healthy dose of humor, try The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams.  

Our third pick is the Adult Non-Fiction Canada by Mike Myers. Comedy superstar Mike Myers writes from the (true patriot) heart about his 53-year relationship with his beloved Canada. Mike Myers is a world-renowned actor, director and writer, and the man behind some of the most memorable comic characters of our time. But as he says: "no description of me is truly complete without saying I'm a Canadian." He has often winked and nodded to Canada in his outrageously accomplished body of work, but now he turns the spotlight full-beam on his homeland. His hilarious and heartfelt new book is part memoir, part history and pure entertainment. It is Mike Myers' funny and thoughtful analysis of what makes Canada Canada, Canadians Canadians and what being Canadian has always meant to him. 

His relationship with his home and native land continues to deepen and grow, he says. In fact, American friends have actually accused him of enjoying being Canadian-and he's happy to plead guilty as charged. A true patriot who happens to be an expatriate, Myers is in a unique position to explore Canada from within and without. With this, his first book, Mike brings his love for Canada to the fore at a time when the country was once again looking ahead with hope and national pride. Canada is a wholly subjective account of Mike's Canadian experience. Mike writes, "Some might say, 'Why didn't you include this or that?' I say there are 35 million stories waiting to be told in this country, and my book is only one of them."

Published in the lead-up to the 2017 sesquicentennial (which is to say the 150th anniversary of what is now Canada), this is Mike Myers' birthday gift to his fellow Canadians. Or as he puts it: "In 1967, Canada turned one hundred. Canadians all across the country made Centennial projects. This book is my Centennial Project. I'm handing it in a little late.... Sorry.” 

The 2016 Recorded Books Inc. production of Canada is read by the author. In case you didn’t know, Mike Myers is Canadian actor, comedian, director, producer and screenwriter. His accolades include seven MTV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2002, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Myers gives an excellent performance here, his voice hitting all the right notes to make the content, and the comedy, shine. 

To quote the AudioFile review of Canada, “Actor/comedian Mike Myers presides over his own audiobook--and who else could give us such a treat? There are no embellishments, just Myers affably reading his work, which is a deft spin on the celebrity memoir. Myers frames his life and career thus far within his Canadian identity. Celebrating Canadian history and events in his current home, the U.S., Myers notes that his separation from Canada in 1983 has considerably altered his identity. Of course, as a professional entertainer, Myers has stories to tell. He delivers anecdotes of his years at Chicago's Second City and the realization of his dream of performing on "Saturday Night Live." As Myers himself clarifies in this thoroughly entertaining work, despite his many professional hats, he is first and foremost a Canadian.” 

If you’re looking for something that is equal parts funny and Canadian, try Canada by Mike Meyers. 

Our next pick is the Adult Sci-Fi The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. It’s an ordinary Thursday morning for Arthur Dent . . . until his house gets demolished. The Earth follows shortly after to make way for a new hyperspace express route, and Arthur’s best friend has just announced that he’s an alien. After that, things get much, much worse.
With just a towel, a small yellow fish, and a book, Arthur has to navigate through a very hostile universe in the company of a gang of unreliable aliens. Luckily the fish is quite good at languages. And the book is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy . . . which helpfully has the words DON’T PANIC inscribed in large, friendly letters on its cover.

Douglas Adams’s mega-selling pop-culture classic sends logic into orbit, plays havoc with both time and physics, offers up pithy commentary on such things as ballpoint pens, potted plants, and digital watches . . . and, most important, reveals the ultimate answer to life, the universe, and everything.

Now, if you could only figure out the question . . .

The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is the first in a comedy science fiction franchise. Originally a 1978 radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, it was later adapted to other formats, including stage shows, novels, comic books, a 1981 TV series, a 1984 text-based computer game, and 2005 feature film. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has become an international multi-media phenomenon; the novels are the most widely distributed, having been translated into more than 30 languages by 2005. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has been ranked fourth on the BBC’s The Big Read poll. 

The 2005 Penguin Random House Audio production of The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is read by Stephen Fry. Stephen Fry is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one-half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie. Since 2011, he has served as president of the mental health charity Mind. Between 2001 and 2017 he hosted the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs) 12 times. Fry also has an excellent speaking voice and his roots in comedy help him nail the comedic timing of the writing. 

To quote the AudioFile review of The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, “Moments before Earth is destroyed, Ford Prefect, an alien who's been incognito for 15 years while researching a newer edition of THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, rescues his friend, Arthur Dent. The two stow away on a passing spaceship, and their adventures begin. . . Stephen Fry's performance is priceless as the interstellar travelers tumble from one near disaster to another. His voice shifts are inspired bits, half schtick, half nonsense. Without editorial comment, Fry injects just the right touches of irony into Adams's cheeky, always hilarious social satire. This is sure to please fans of Spider Robinson's THE CALLAHAN CHRONICLES and Terry Pratchett's DISCWORLD series.

If you’re looking for a comedy of cosmic proportions, try The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. 

Our last pick is the YA Dark Comedy Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer. Mara Carlyle’s senior year is going as normally as could be expected, until fellow senior Katelyn Ogden explodes during third period pre-calc. Literally. Katelyn is the first, but she won’t be the last teenager to blow up without warning or explanation. As the national eye turns to Mara’s suburban New Jersey hometown, the FBI rolls in and the search for a reason is on. Mara narrates the end of their world as she knows it while trying to make it to graduation in one piece. It’s an explosive year punctuated by romance, quarantine, lifelong friendship, hallucinogenic mushrooms, bloggers, ice cream trucks, and Bon Jovi.

Aaron Starmer rewrites the rulebook with Spontaneous. But beneath the outrageous is a ridiculously funny, super honest, and truly moving exemplar of the absurd and raw truths of being a teenager in the 21st century . . . and the heartache of saying goodbye.
Spontaneous is a TIME magazine Top 10 YA & Children's Book of 2016 and an ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults selection. To quote the Kirkus review of Spontaneous, it’s “A blood-soaked, laugh-filled, tear-drenched, endlessly compelling read.” It was even good enough to get a film of the same name released in 2020 directed by Brian Duffield. 

The 2016 Penguin Random House Audio production of Spontaneous is read by Alex McKenna. Alex McKenna has credits in theater, television, video games, and film. She is currently working as a professional actor and voice-over artist in Los Angeles.

To quote the AudioFile review of Spontaneous, “Best described as quirky, Alex McKenna's narration makes the unbelievable, believable. Listeners may feel like they're sitting at the Food Court conversing with other teens. While the story twists in horrific ways, it's also humorous and realistic. Through tone and inflection, distinct personalities emerge--from the quiet, misunderstood male to the overachieving, ever-good-natured best friend. One can hear each eye roll, dismissive shake of the head, and flick of the wrist, and the wriggling bounces of excitement prevalent in high school storytelling.”

If you’re looking for a coming-of-age story with a bizarre and comedic twist, try Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer. 

That’s it for this episode of Audio File. All the audiobooks discussed are available at Camrose Public Library in audio CD or downloadable audio format at the time of this recording. Thanks very much for listening and remember to stay curious.