anything by vonnegut. i’d also reccomend siddhartha by hesse.
jsgoddess, the Herriot books are heartwarming and hysterically funny. In the whole series there are a few sad cases, but the vast majority of it is lighthearted.
I enjoyed the second Bridget Jones book more than the first. Don’t judge it by the movie.
How 'bout the Rex series by Eric Garcia?
Anonymous Rex
Casual Rex
Hot and Sweaty Rex
all about a PI named Vincent Rubio. He’s a dinosaur. A velociraptor to be exact. You see, dinos never went extinct. They evolved secretly and now “blend in” with humanity by using latex human suits.
They’re fun, light and easy to plow through.
Harpo Marx’s memoirs, Harpo Speaks! He had his ups and downs, but on the whole it’s an upbeat book. And a couple of incidents are priceless.
Mil Millington’s Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About. It isn’t a book version of his website of the same name, it is a funny novel about a loving couple joined forever through the power of bickering.
Anything by Peter Mayle.
His books are like a ticket to the South of France (which is where they are generally located)…sunny and light-hearted and cheery and refreshing fiction. Seriously. It’s like a vacation in a book.
Try Anything Considered, Hotel Pastis, French Lessons, A Good Year…
Great stuff.
I’ll second that. Any of the Bertie and Jeeves books are guaranteed to put a smile on your face, if not leave you gasping for breath from laughing so hard.
The Cat Who Went to Paris by Peter Gethers. It has some VERY funny sections (at least if you have/like cats) and is overall fun and heartwarming.
Seconding Terry Pratchett.
Especially ‘Good Omens’ w/ Neil Gaiman.
Vonnegut is usually quite funny, but in a cynical and sometimes dark way. I love him but I don’t think he always qualifies as ‘cheery.’
Also, I’m finding the older I get, the more I love Steinbeck. ‘Cannery Row’ and ‘Tortilla Flat’ are fantastic. I’d also recommend ‘Cup of Gold’ (if you like pirates) and ‘The Short Reign of Pippin IV.’
There are several people writing funny and good crime novels.
Donald E. Westlake has a great series featuring Dortmunder and assorted criminals. They are caper novels and something always goes wrong. The crooks have to scramble after their plans fall apart.
Lawrence Block has a series featuring a professional thief who also owns a second hand bookstore. All the books have the burglar who… in their titles. Bernie Rhodenbaar has to solve murders because he always seems to be robbing houses where someone has just been killed.
Carl Hiassen and Dave Barry write crime novels set in Miami. Hiassen’s are the closest thing to Theater of the Absurd you’ll find in American literature, wonderful but deeply twisted.
English novelist Tom Holt writes fantasy novels that skewer gods, demons and other such icons of fantasy, very British but very funny.
I am emailing this thread to myself! Great suggestions here.
Any of the Ethshar series by Lawrence Watt-Evans. The Misenchanted Sword is the first and a delightful read. It is light fantasy, not gloomy or overly pointed. Although it is funny in places, it is not mainly a funny book, nor is it a parody.