The best laugh-out-loud comedies about found families and the absurdities of the workplace

I loved this book for so many reasons.

First, it’s incredibly funny, and humor is my favorite genre to read. The real world is scary enough. 

Second, the heroine is a strong, take-no-prisoners chemist dealing with all the harassment and discrimination women faced in the 1950s and 1960s, issues that women still experience in our current society.

Elizabeth is unapologetically brilliant, and she never gives up, despite repeated attempts to derail her, all traits that I admire. But this book has a bonus.

I’m an animal lover, and the best character may be Six-thirty, Elizabeth’s dog, a dropout from bomb-sniffing school, who narrates his scenes.

That’s priceless.

At the heart of this book is an important message: creativity cannot and should not be suppressed.

I’m a creative person, and if I’m not writing, I’m making things with my hands—paper crafts, water coloring, miniatures, cross stitch—you name it.

In this book, Bernadette gives up her joy of creativity because of relentless criticism, lack of appreciation for her work, and self-imposed responsibilities—until she discovers it’s the work that matters.

There is so much to love about this interesting, thought-provoking book. Bernadette is an awesome character—a brilliant architect whose early success has stopped her cold.

And without her creativity, she’s a mess. A very funny, well-meaning mess. Until she finds it again.

What I love most about Anxious People is two-fold: first, it is a funny and ridiculous story (in the best way), and second, it deals with the support and caring of friends.

This is one of my favorite themes and one that I love to write about myself.

In this case, however, they’re strangers, who only happen to come together because they’re accidentally kidnapped during a house showing by a bank robber who’s been fired (not for their face like my character, but for equally inane reasons.).

The beauty of this book is how people can come together and do what’s right, though not necessarily what’s right by societal standards.

Everyone needs friends to get them through life, and everyone has the potential to be a friend.

Bridget Jones’s Diary is just as fun and relevant today as when it was first published in 1996.

It focuses on her romantic life and her insecurities, which are just as relevant to women today. The workplace, however, has changed remarkably in 26 years.

Bridget goes to work and comes home. No encroaching on personal time by the “Company.”

That’s where I find the “funny” in working today. Bridget has covered the romantic angle as well as any book. Now it’s time to find the absurdity of our current work lives.

When I started working, I seriously thought a job did not extend past the scheduled hours. I was so, so wrong.

It might seem strange that this outrageous and thoroughly enjoyable comedy wound up on my list of workplace comedies.

In the original version of Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet was stuck in a Regency-era comedy of manners. Her only choice of life “careers” was “wife.”

Grahame-Smith has taken Austin’s words and turned this classic upside down by giving her a very important job—Zombie Killer.

It’s a hilarious take on the power of women, and, strangely enough, adding a Zombie apocalypse has made some of the characters’ motivations much more understandable.

Elizabeth’s workplace is her small village in England, and, always on call, she has lots of work to do.

I loved this book, and I think Austin would have, too. It’s my kind of humor.