How to Tell When a Book is Going to be Funny as…

This post might not be the greatest post ever written, or the cleverest, or even the funniest, but  I have thought about this one inside of an hour and have come up with ten sure predictors to figure out if a book might be humorous.

10. When you do a double take to look at the cover. I don't care how serious, how academic, how well-written or poorly-written, every time I've done this double take to catch all of the cover, it has never failed, I find humor in the book.

9. When you come to the first line in the first chapter and hear yourself say, 'oh boy.'

8. Or how about, when the book is by 'Oh Boy.' (Come on now, all you writers and authors looking for sales, you better not snub that one.)

7. But this one by far has to be the funniest, which I'm sure I'm not the first to have come by it, but when the title of the book is 'How to Win a Million Dollars,' and right there on the cover touts the book has sold a million copies, there's no way to put off the laughing on this one.

6. And of course (an obvious teaser); when you've read the book before, and it was funny!

5. Or another obvious teaser would be when you're paid (as in it's your job) to say the book is funny.

4. And I'm guessing things would get doubly funnier if it's your job, and you're given that extra incentive as in, "or else."

3. But sometimes you can tell if you open the book with a booster in hand. My favorite is the blue daiquiri, because it lets me at least see the words before I start laughing. (Gosh, I know. I have to do something about my imagination).

2. But come on now, even I should know there's no way, in all honest conscientiousness, to call any of this a prediction if I have to ask someone to tickle me first.

1. …Seriously though, and why I came up with this list to begin with, the best way to tell when a book is going to be funny as walking off the round part of earth, hands going straight up in the air and yelling, "whoooooooaaa," all the way down, is when you open a book titled Hong Konged, written by Paul Hanstedt, and the first sentence in Chapter 1 starts with, "If you're anything like me—"

Kidding aside, I really am enjoying this book.

EXTRA: I'm also working on my Top Ten Lists to post in December. And trust me when I say, these Top Tens are made up of some solid good SERIOUS content!