Five top books by comedians

Whitney Collins is the author of The Hamster Won't Die: A Treasury of Feral Humor and the creator and editor of two humor sites -- errant parent and The Yellow Ham.

At The Barnes & Noble Book Blog she tagged five books to read when you need a good laugh, including:

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, by David Sedaris

I’ve read most of David Sedaris’s books, and this one just stunned me, in that it completely stands alone in its subject matter and approach. This is Sedaris on his head. In Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, all of the essays are written from the point of view of an animal that’s in a very human situation: a cat at the salon getting its hair done by a baboon. An Irish setter dealing with his cheating wife. A grieving owl who’s hounded by his family members. This book is outrageously odd and funny. It’s like Aesop’s Fables on acid. And that is saying something. (Bonus: It’s illustrated by Ian Falconer of the Olivia series.)

Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue