Find laughs at the library

Mark Twain once observed that, “the first of April is the day we

remember what we are the other 364 days of the year.” Even with that

realization, you can still get the last laugh with some of today’s

funniest humorists.

Due soon on the shelves is Deborah Ford’s “The Grits (Girls Raised

in the South) Guide to Life.” In her tribute to Southern women, this

Ya-Ya sister offers anecdotes and advice on such topics as eating

watermelon in a sundress, tending a magnolia tree and drinking like a

lady. Even if your roots are entrenched in California, the code

behind Steel Magnolia style includes wisdom for any female in pursuit

of Southern charm.

A Southern pedigree is just as superfluous for “The Sweet Potato

Queens’ Book of Love.” With irreverent counsel for dealing with men,

diets, families and work, Jill Conner Browne serves up a hilarious

manifesto about love, life and the importance of being prepared.

She returns with collective wisdom from her group of belles gone

bad in “The Sweet Potato Queens’ Big-Ass Cookbook and Financial

Planner.” In their latest outing, the belles dish up another ample

serving of anecdotes about life after 40, including hilarious takes

on mothering, plastic surgery and falling in love with a younger man

“who totally missed Motown because he wasn’t born yet.” As promised,

there’s financial advice--most in the spirit of tip number one: hope

Daddy lives forever.

If you hail from the Lone Star State, you may have been exposed to

the lore of “Kinky Friedman’s Guide to Texas Etiquette.” If not,

learn the real scoop about the Alamo, rich Texas oilmen and Willie

Nelson from “the oldest living Jew in Texas who doesn’t own any real

estate.”

To find comedy in office life, enter the giant gray area between

good moral behavior and outright criminality with Scott Adams’

“Dilbert and the Way of the Weasel.” In his latest romp, the comic

strip author reveals the best methods for avoiding work, besting

coworkers and hiding incompetence.

Move into a broader arena with Andy Rooney’s “Common Nonsense.”

With 154 essays about the annoyances of being human, the grumpy 60

Minutes commentator pulls apart everything from chairs too small for

comfort to the decline of family farms and hard-to-remove jar tops.

Even if you’re the brunt of some trickster’s prank on April Fools

Day, keep your cool with help from Art Buchwald’s “We’ll Laugh

Again.” In his nostalgic look at the ‘90s, one of America’s most

lauded humorists pokes fun at Bill and Hil, downsizing, dot-coms,

HMOs and Viagra. Using a title from an exchange between columnist

Mary McGrory and future senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who died

Wednesday, after John Kennedy was assassinated, Buchwald provides a

gentle reminder that a sense of humor is essential for enjoying life

even in a world at war.

* CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach

Public Library. This week’s column is by Melissa Adams in

collaboration with June Pilsitz. All titles may be reserved from home

or office computers by accessing the catalog at

www.newportbeachlibrary.org.