Speaking as someone whose favorite writer is Ernest Hemingway, this was a challenging topic. That said, I do enjoy funny books—though in compiling this list I realized that most of my favorite humorists are British, and many of those are old, white, and male (Monty Python were very much formational to my sense of humor); also that many of the books I find funny are not primarily meant to be funny—in fact, are often tragic. Case in point:
- The Queen’s Thief series, by Megan Whalen Turner, and . . .
- Pagan’s Crusade, by Catherine Jinks. In Pagan’s case, I’m only including the first book of the series, because while Pagan’s snark remains intact throughout, the books get progressively darker and more mature, and end on a truly, gut-wrenchingly tragic note.
- P. G. Wodehouse, on the other hand, is unreservedly hilarious.
- I should mention that George Orwell’s rather backhanded defense of Wodehouse (when Wodehouse was accused of being a Nazi sympathizer, during WWII) also strikes me as funny, for different reasons: Orwell essentially said that Wodehouse was too stupid to be a real concern. You can read In Defence of P. G. Wodehouse here.
- Along with Monty Python, Douglas Adams was also very much formational, though I have to admit I couldn’t make it all the way through the Hitchhiker’s series (I think I stopped with So Long and Thanks for all the Fish?—the later books just weren’t as funny).
- Ruth Downie’s Ruso series is another one that is both humorous and (especially as the series goes on) poignant.
- As is Lindsey Davis’s Falco.
Not quite ten, but since I’m including several entire bodies of work, rather than particular books, I feel excused.