It's "happy" if I'm not responsible for the characters!

I am struggling with my definition of a happy book, because my book club is reading Wicked by Gregory Maguire. Now this is definitely not a happy book, but somehow I don't feel it so deeply because it is set in another world, a world that I don't feel any responsibility toward! So perhaps my definition of a happy book merely means one which I can truly escape into without a sense of guilt at my own good fortune.



I promised the book title that everyone in the club enjoyed, and that is the most surefire recommendation you can ever make.... It's Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. It's the story of a vet travelling with a circus during the Great Depression. If you listed the plot outline, a great many unhappy things happen, but it all turns out alright in the end.



On a related vein, I have been trying to think of adult fiction books that are truly funny. Aside from reliable Nick Hornby I am coming up dry. Why am I only finding humour in my son's bedtime stories? Captain Underpants, Greg Heffley, Fred and George Weasley: all the humourists are to be found in the kids' section. I thought the Twilight series was a hilarious spin on teenage angst, but I'm looking for something intentionally amusing that's aimed at adults. I challenge my readers to think of some novels that are laugh out loud funny.