Zibby Mag

By Cecilia Rabess

My favorite books are the ones that explore the full range of human emotion. The ones that make you feel like the characters who show up on the page are real. And the ones that make you laugh and make you cry. Ranging from essay to memoir to novel, the following list breaks down nine books that are at turns sad, poignant, and affecting—but also really funny. Where some are quietly humorous, some are laugh-out-loud funny. And where some will have you bawling your eyes out and reaching for the tissue box, others will leave you with a twinge of sadness: just enough to remind you of the joy—and ache—of being alive.

Everything’s Fine by Cecilia Rabess

My own novel, about the complicated relationship between a young liberal Black woman and a young conservative white man, is—if I do say so myself—equal parts heartbreaking and funny. Set between 2008 and 2016, bookended by Obama and Trump’s presidencies, the arc of their relationship traces the arc of America’s increasingly fractured political climate. In other words, it’s fraught. But just like in real life, amidst the heartbreak is also much love and laughter.

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

This is a book I feel confident recommending to everyone. Which, given the premise—twin elementary schoolers spontaneously combust when agitated—might be somewhat surprising. But, at once hilarious and heartbreaking, this book will have you alternately rolling on the floor laughing and overcome with emotion for its profound insights on love, forgiveness, found family—and pyrotechnics.

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

Noah, former host of The Daily Show, is a comedian by trade, so it’s no surprise that his memoir of growing up in apartheid South Africa is uproariously funny. What is surprising is how he made a memoir of growing up in apartheid South Africa uproariously funny. In the memoir, Noah recounts with humor and pathos his improbable journey from the townships of Johannesburg to Hollywood. It’s blunt and beautiful.

Edie Richter Is Not Alone by Rebecca Handler

One review described this book as a “tragicomic exploration of the collateral damage of Alzheimer’s” and I couldn’t have said it better. This book is about grief and love and loss, but it’s also about one woman’s expatriation to Australia where she meets a lot of funny people, does a lot of funny things, and makes a lot of funny observations, all while struggling to come to terms with the irreconcilable: the loss of a beloved parent.

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

This book is so funny! No one does funny, personal essays quite as well as David Sedaris. His life is difficult, ridiculous, weird, farcical, and affecting. Sedaris’s writing—about his father, his family, his adopted home of France, his brother’s foul language, and an ill-advised methamphetamine-fueled stint as a performance artist (among others)—is all deeply moving and deeply hilarious.

Homebodies by Tembe Denton-Hurst

I have a theory about humor in literary fiction and it’s this: a well-observed, well-told novel will be exactly as funny as the author thinks the world is. If my theory is correct, then Denton-Hurst thinks the world is pretty funny! The story follows a young queer Black woman struggling to find her way after being ground down by years of making herself small in predominantly white workspaces, and even when the chips are down, keen-eyed protagonist Mickey is always sharply observant and casually witty. You may not laugh out loud, but as you follow Mickey on her rocky road to self-discovery you will take note of Denton-Hurst’s sparkling wit.

Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong

It’s not an accident that there are two books about Alzheimer’s on this list. As an affliction it is unbearably sad, but also, somehow, sometimes, just really silly. And trying to reconcile this cruel contradiction is the stuff of pure tragicomedy. Goodbye, Vitamin is another novel that renders this tension beautifully. Following thirty-year-old Ruth Young as she returns home for a year to care for her Alzheimer’s-stricken father, it’s a smart, affecting meditation on memory, loss, and forgiveness, but with a whole lot of hijinks!

All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews

This beautifully rendered coming-of-age novel follows S, an immigrant to the United States, as she and her friends navigate first jobs, first loves, and the ineluctable joy and pain of finding their way in the world against the backdrop of the Great Recession. Mathews’ power of observation and command of language make her prose sparkle—and make an incredible story incredibly smart and funny.

Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby

Sometimes you want the weight of the world and all of its tragedies to bear down on you like a heavy blanket and to cry until your eyes are dry at the heartbreak of it all, but sometimes. . . you just want to laugh until you cry. For that, there’s Samantha Irby. Her latest collection offers a behind-the-scenes chronicle of life after success. Spoiler: it’s not so different from life before success—gross and hilarious and really real.

Cecilia Rabess previously worked as a data scientist at Google and as an associate at Goldman Sachs. Her nonfiction has been featured in McSweeneys, FiveThirtyEight, Fast Company, and FlowingData, among other places. Everything’s Fine is her debut novel.