When she started writing “The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness” (Algonquin Books), comedian Paula Poundstone told The Post, “I figured it might be the scaffolding for another memoir, which I get to keep writing because I’m not dead yet.”
And so this single mother of three kids (and dozens of cats) embarked on experiments in finding joy, a journey that took her camping, dancing, meditating and getting behind the wheel of a Lamborghini.
“Everything she does, thinks or says is hilarious,” blurbed Peter Sagal, the host of NPR’s “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!,” where the funny lady’s a panelist. Here are four books that never fail to make Poundstone laugh.
In the late ’70s I worked in a bookstore in Boston. You were given a section to stack and tidy up, and I had the end of the alphabet. There were so many damn books by Wodehouse! I finally picked up one of them, and it was so funny. This is a collection of his stories, about rich people with insignificant problems they blow up into giant problems. They catastrophize everything, whether a tie’s askew or they’re given the wrong drink. So much fun!
I used to be managed by the same company [as Allen] but was never lucky enough to sneak in a meeting. I’m one of his fans who liked his old funny movies. This is a series of comedic essays: My favorite is about two guys playing chess by mail, who write back and forth, arguing about their moves. I’d read this book on the subway and literally laugh out loud.
I was a depressed teenager and used to be up late, watching TV with my father, when I saw these guys on some show promoting this book. Once you’ve heard their voices, how dry they are, you can hear them in [these pages]. I was in a residential program at 17, living in a room with six girls. I’d read this book aloud and they hollered! They thought I was a comic genius.
I read this first in the fourth grade, and it was the first chapter book I read aloud to my daughters when they were little. It’s amazing how well it’s held up. It’s about a kid who’s beginning kindergarten. Her teacher tells her, “Sit here for the present,” so Ramon sits, firmly believing she’s going to receive a present. We named our dog Ramona, because she’s such a pest.
