Giving a funny book as a gift is trickier than it looks. First, because a lot of "funny" books simply aren't. Second, because humour is slippery ground: what makes your best mate laugh might leave your sister completely cold, or worse, prompt her to say "that's nice" in the tone usually reserved for failed gifts and ugly babies. So you need to aim carefully. Not necessarily "the smartest book in the world," nor "the most literary," but the one that triggers that slightly embarrassed laugh you get when you realise you're reading something deeply stupid, and loving every second of it. If you're looking for a funny book to give an adult, for a birthday, Christmas, a Secret Santa, or simply to let someone know you've correctly diagnosed their issues, here's a selection that deserves a spot on a bedside table.

1. A Fake Survival Guide for Deranged Cat Owners

Some people have a cat. Others live in a complex psychological relationship with a tiny passive-aggressive predator they call "my son." What To Do If My Cat Is Gay? was written precisely for those people. The concept is simple and wonderfully unhinged: imagine your cat developing increasingly absurd behaviours, going woke, racist, a hipster, promiscuous, a conspiracy theorist or a K-pop fan, then offer up worrying signs, solutions and ever more ridiculous conclusions to help you survive the situation. The book works especially well as a gift if the person:

• owns a cat;
• already talks about them like a toxic flatmate;
• or has a sense of humour damaged enough to enjoy a fake guide dedicated to "the 100 worst things your cat could become."

In other words: it's a great idea for anyone who loves cats, absurd jokes and social diagnoses applied to animals that eat plastic.

2. A Collection of Absurdist Humour, Because the Brain Deserves a Bit of Abuse Sometimes

The ideal funny book isn't necessarily one that tells a story. Sometimes what you want to give is an object you can open at any page and that immediately triggers a reaction like: "who wrote this, and why did nobody stop them?" Absurdist humour collections, fake guides, ridiculous lists, very short satirical pieces: all of this works brilliantly as a gift, especially for people who read in fragments, on the train, on the toilet or at their desk while pretending to "make progress on a project." The big advantage is that it removes the pressure of finishing a novel. You're not handing someone homework. You're handing them a string of carefully calibrated nonsense to make a commute more bearable.

3. A Book That Mocks Everyday Life with Enough Bite

The best funny books usually share one thing in common: they take something very ordinary, work, relationships, family, life with a pet, social media, and push it just far enough to reveal how ridiculous it already was. A good humour book doesn't need to be "nice." It can be a bit mean, a bit dry, even a bit unpleasant, as long as it stays precise. What you're after is that very specific feeling of laughing because a piece of text just put words to something embarrassingly true.

4. A Gift Book You Can Open at Random Without Losing the Thread

If you're giving someone a funny book, think about how they'll actually use it. Most people won't settle into an armchair with a blanket, a cup of tea and three hours of free mental space. They'll read:

• ten pages before bed;
• a chapter on the train;
• three paragraphs while waiting for an appointment;
• or a page on the toilet, because we live in the real world.

This is exactly why "fragmented" funny books work so well: you can dip in and out effortlessly, while still getting the instant payoff of a good joke.

5. A Book You Can Give Without Knowing the Person's Taste Perfectly

The huge advantage of a funny book is that it makes an excellent backup gift. Not sure exactly what the person reads? No idea if they're into Icelandic thrillers, shame-fuelled autofiction or biographies of people who died in 1847? No problem. Give them something funny. Well chosen humour has a massive edge over other genres: it demands less commitment and creates less disappointment. Nobody will hold it against you if a book made them laugh, even if it wasn't "deep." Handing someone a big novel they couldn't care less about, on the other hand, is a very elegant way of giving them a chore.

6. A Book for Someone Going Through a Rough Patch

Worth saying too: sometimes you're after a funny book not because you want to give an original gift, but because the person in front of you needs to think about anything other than their emails, their exams, their ex or their boss. In that case, the goal isn't "give a beautiful cultural object." The goal is much more noble: short-circuit the brain for 20 minutes. A good funny book is a pocket antidepressant, no prescription required, no side effects worse than a family dinner.

7. A Book Not Afraid to Be Outright Silly

There's a very particular temptation to believe that, to be respectable, humour has to stay a bit elegant, a bit subtle, a bit "witty." That's wrong. A good funny book can absolutely be clever. But it can also be flat out dumb, as long as it's done with skill. What matters isn't the nobility of the subject. It's the precision of the shot. A joke about a conspiracy theorist cat, a brother-in-law convinced he can fix the Spanish economy, or a cat owner humiliated by their own litter tray can easily be more delightful than a whole chapter of grand bourgeois irony.

8. A Book You Want to Read Passages of Out Loud

A great test for a gift: will the person want to read bits of it to someone else? If yes, you've probably found the right one. The funny books that really land are usually the ones that make you say: "wait, listen to this, it's so dumb." They instantly create a little social scene: someone reads, someone laughs, someone sighs and leaves the room. That's exactly what you want.

9. A Book That Clearly Says: "I Was Thinking of You, and a Bit of Your Issues"

A successful funny book, as a gift, is never neutral. It always carries a bit of subtext. It says:

• "this made me think of you";
• "I know exactly what kind of person you are";
• and sometimes even "I'm judging you a little, but with affection."

That's exactly what makes a book like What To Do If My Cat Is Gay? so practical to give: it lets you tell someone "I know you're in a psychological war with your cat, and I've decided to encourage the problem instead of helping you."

Conclusion

The best funny book to give isn't necessarily the one that won three awards, or the one the press calls "irresistible" with the enthusiasm of an unpaid intern under threat. It's the one that lands just right: the right level of absurdity, meanness, precision and stupidity for the right person. If you're looking for a gift for someone who loves cats, fake guides, absurdist humour or books that fully embrace their own silliness, What To Do If My Cat Is Gay? ticks a fairly alarming number of boxes. And honestly, at this point, it's practically a public service.