Happy Monday! We decided to shake away the Monday blues with a fail-safe way of cheering everyone up - our choice of the ten funniest literary characters. Or, well, at least funny enough to get an audible guffaw out of most everybody who has picked the books up. It's a win-win situations, really. If you have yet to pick up any of the books/series listed below, consider these our recommendations for a good laugh. If you've already read some (or all) of the books mentioned, this is an excellent opportunity to refresh your memory and have a hearty chuckle with us as you make your way through the list.

Don't even get us started on the amount of times we laughed just compiling it.

As usual, the list is in no particular order.






1. NANNY OGG (Discworld series)




There will be no literary top 10 list centered around humor where Terry Pratchett's characters won't be in a place of honor. And in the interest of full disclosure, just about any of Terry Pratchett's characters is hilarious, each in their own way, and each spectacularly so. In this case, it is Nanny Ogg that has been singled out, in part due to her propensity for keeping her belongings in her knickers (and lifting her skirt to fish them out when need be), and in part due to her hilarious brand of dictatorship over her vast, vast extended family. Nanny Ogg has been married three times, has fifteen children and a villageful of grandchildren. She is a witch, an occasional midwife and an extremely interesting person to be around at parties.


2. PERCY JACKSON (Percy Jackson/Heroes Of Olympus)



Ah, Percy. How can you hate this guy? He's brilliant. Not only is he brave, loyal and powerful, he's a also very lovable and entertaining protagonist to read about. Percy's sense of humour is just one of the many great things about him. He has his sarcastic moments and his great lines, you can't read the books straight faced at all. He says it how it is, and that's what we love about him. I've seen what Rick Riordan writes on Twitter and his "humour" at the start of his books (yes, we all saw what he wrote before House Of Hades... thanks for that, Mr Riordan) and that shows where Percy gets it from. If you've not have the pleasure of meeting Percy yet, you really should. 



3. KENJI KISHIMOTO (Shatter Me)



You'll have to get to Unravel Me, the second book in the series, before Kenji's infinite power of sass is truly revealed and he is crowned the ultimate king of hilarity in otherwise serious (not to mention dramatic) situations. When not being the voice of reason, Kenji goes to great lengths to keep the spirits high with a never-ending stream of amusing remarks. In various interviews, Tahereh Mafi has said that Kenji has been modeled almost exclusively after her brothers, thus inspiring envy in thousands who could only wish they had siblings that hilarious, when times are that tough.

4. GRIFFIN HANCOCK (Thoughtless)



Oh for goodness sake, not Thoughtless again! Yeah we know. Can you tell that we love this series? Well we do, and we certainly love Griffin. Yeah he's loud, annoying, rude and inappropriate but he's very entertaining. These books wouldn't be the same without the horndog and we're thankful for him. He's the comic relief with his one liners and his outrageous personality, you certainly know when he's in the scene! I was in stitches reading him and we can't wait to read more about him in Kellan's POV in Thoughtful, out February 2015.


5. CLAIRE (Seduction & Snacks)



Bit of a random choice, I know. I bought this book last year, unsure if it was my cuppa tea, and I closed that book wiping tears from my eyes. It was hilarious! Claire is our main girl and she is just the image of a clumsy and foot-in-her-mouth type of girl, she always jumps to conclusions and makes an idiot of herself. And it's not just her that's funny, her son Gavin is a character that completely makes this book. Humour must be genetic.
You should give this book a try, it's really funny.


6. ELIZABETH BENNET (Pride and Prejudice)




Taking into account the whole turn-of-the-19th century thing, Lizzie's brand of humor is not quite like most of our other picks. For one, it is more inward than outward. Due to the kind of propriety expected of a woman in her day, Elizabeth kept her tongue in check some of the time, but it is her humorous disposition and the tendency to ridicule anyone and anything ridiculous in her head that has earned her a spot on this list. Elizabeth's brand of humor turns a drama into a satire, turns a required-reading-classic into a humorous-and-enjoyable-read.



7. HARRIET/MR MANNERS (Geek Girl)  

                                              

I decided to add them two in the same category. I don't recall her calling her father anything other than 'dad' so I shall call him Mr Manners. He was hilarious! She's definitely her father's daughter. These two had me laughing all the way through the books, with her being clumsy and saying the wrong things all the time. Mr Manners was charmingly cute and child-like but in a funny way. If you love a good read and a chuckle, this series is for you.

8. ZUZANA NOVÁKOVÁ (Daughter of Smoke & Bone)



Zuzana's immediate reaction upon meeting an avenging angel in a (seemingly) normal world? Volunteering to mate with him to use him as breeding stock to seed [his widow's peak] into the general populace. 
Zuzana's immediate reaction to witnessing her friend's ex boyfriend lying about her in front of the cameras? Begging her boyfriend to pee on him from the balcony, then proceeding to drop a bucket of water on his head from that same balcony. On camera.
Crude? Arguments could be made for that assessment. Effective? Likewise. Hilarious? Permanently.
And this is not a hilarious series, either. Zuzana is just that awesome.



9. RON WEASLEY (Harry Potter)


Yep. Harry Potter again. We can't stay away! This series has everything and that includes a cute and funny sidekick. Ron's sense of humour is something that really adds something to these books, they lighten the already dark and emotional mood. In comes Ron, with his funny remarks and his one liners, you can't not love him. Yes, Ron's one of our favourite funny men in books. 


10. SAM/HANNAH (Lobsters)


This book had me in stitches. Sam and Hannah are pretty much us when we were growing up, going through the growing pains of a typical 16-17 year old. First love, first times, friendships and self confidence. It's not only enjoyable because it's relatable, it was absolutely hilarious. It had it's fill of awkwardness, clumsiness and brilliant one liners, you'll definitely love this book if you like a good laugh. This book was one of my favourites that I found this year so I hope more people read it. Fantastic.
Thankfully, there's no dearth of truly humorous characters in literature of any kind. From classics to modern lit, from YA to NA, a presence of hilarious characters is without fail. These ten are only some of the choices in a fathomless pool of funny. :) And we're forever grateful to them for brightening our days.

Who are some of the characters you found hilarious, and why? Do you have any recommendations for humorous reads you feel everyone should check out? Feel free to jot them down in the comments below, or find us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram and let us know.