Chicken Soup for the Soul: Laughter is the Best Medicine: 101 Feel Good Stories

by Amy Newmark

Chicken Soup for the Soul’s first-ever humor collection, and the timing is perfect. This is storytelling at its funniest.

If laughter is the best medicine, then this book is your prescription. Turn off the news and spend a few days not following current events. Instead, return to the basics—humanity’s ability to laugh at itself.

Maybe you should even do a news cleanse for a few days! Hide under the covers and read these stories instead. Or read a chapter a day, or a story a day for 101 days. These pages contain the antidote to whatever is troubling you. They will definitely put you in a good mood.

No one is safe from our writers— from spouses to parents to children to colleagues and friends. And of course the funniest of all are the stories they tell about their own mishaps and those “most embarrassing moments.” There’s no holding anything back in these pages, so prepare for lots of good, clean (and not so clean) fun.

 

Genres: Humor, Nonfiction, Short Stories

336 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 14, 2020

About the author

Amy Newmark is the bestselling author, editor-in-chief, and publisher of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. Since 2008, she has published 191 new Chicken Soup for the Soul titles, most of them national bestsellers in the U.S. and Canada, more than doubling the number of Chicken Soup for the Soul titles in print today.

Amy is credited with revitalizing the Chicken Soup for the Soul brand, which has been a publishing industry phenomenon since the first book came out in 1993. By compiling inspirational and aspirational true stories curated from ordinary people who have had extraordinary experiences, Amy has kept the thirty-year-old Chicken Soup for the Soul brand fresh and relevant.

Follow Amy on Twitter @amynewmark. Listen to her free podcast, The Chicken Soup for the Soul Podcast, on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, the Podcasts app on iPhone, or by using your favorite podcast app on other devices.

Reviews

[Cindy aka "The Book Fairy" · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was more like amusing I guess ...some quite laughable that really struck me funny but mostly more like smile worthy anyway :)

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m a firm believer in the power of laughter, and the importance of it. I also really enjoy short stories. These being very short, and true stories, some of which were amusing. Sadly, not many of them made me laugh heartily, as a lot of them are simple everyday things that could happen to anyone. The ones I enjoyed most were slightly out of the ordinary. Nevertheless, an entertaining read, and I was inspired enough to write a story for a future addition.

[Lynn Parke-Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

These little short stories are great for some light reading during this challenging pandemic time. This book definitely lifted my spirit and brought many smiles.

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of laugh out loud stories, this book is what the world needs right now. I hope they publish more humor books.

[KAARTHIKEYAN SUBRAMANIAN · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breezy light hearted read - few good laughs along the way

[Danielle Cullen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Less of a laugh-out loud type than you-had to be there stories.

[Debra Hahn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grat stories And laughs

This book of stories were awesome. They pick you up when you're down.
It was one laugh after another. However its murder on bruised ribs and sore
muscles from tripping and landing on cement. But the stories were so good,
I couldn't stop reading them. I just held on to my ribs a d muscles and ,aughed.
My husband comes in with tears running down my cheeks. Concerned for me
He asks, are you in pain? When I could answer him, I replied only when I'm laughing.
Pick up a copy and start reading and giggling, and laughing your way through to
good times. Bought three more different Hickenlooper Soup books. I'm all healed
Up now. Cleated by my DR. to read till y hearts content.
Debra H.

[Tiffany Dubas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only got 3 hours into this audio book. I couldn't do the last 4 some hours. I picked up this book because I needed some mental pick-me-ups, and I was hoping this one would do it for me. Some of the stories actually bothered me. I only thought a few were funny. I found a few of them a little unsettling. I was taken back by that, and I was a little fearful of the future stories to come. I mean this wasn't like severe unsettling or fear. It was just kind of uncomfortable knowing someone went through the things they did, and they thought it was funny. Who knows. Maybe it was just an after thought that they found it funny. I know some things can be like that. For me as a listener this isn't my type of humor. Possibly my sense of humor is just too sophisticated for this book. 😂

[Cindy Guilliams]

Good for a laugh

This book is excellent! I absolutely loved every story in this book. I found myself laughing out loud and my husband asked me what’s so funny? What’s so funny? Over and over. The names of the chapters alone made me laugh and smile. Normally I get very emotional with the chicken soup books, so this was a great break. Definitely something to read during all of this Covid mess. It made me feel much better spiritually and mentally and physically. I plan to buy it for some of my family members. It is definitely an essential on every Raiders bookshelf in my opinion.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was hoping for funny. Although cute, none of the stories made me laugh out loud. They are nice for light reading, but I wanted to have belly laughs, and I do not think these are any funnier than the other Chicken Soup for the Soul stories. If you enjoy Chicken Soup books, you may enjoy this, but if you want laughs, you may not find them here.

[Danielle Palmer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book up randomly and read one story and that one did make me laugh out loud. So I borrowed the book from the library and I have read over 100 pages and haven’t found another story that good (most were mediocre to my taste). I’ve found the Chicken Soup collections complied by Amy Newmark are often a miss for me, as this one is. I liked the previous compiler’s choices better.

[Kaarin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can’t believe I read this, either, but a lovely friend gave it to me. It’s people writing about incidents where they were badly embarrassed because of a misunderstanding or similar, and … that’s funny? I didn’t crack even one smile but I was oddly compelled to reach the end. I’m fascinated that this kind of thing would be proposed as a collection of "feel-good stories."

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

i thought this book was hailrous . I like how the book had a stories of real pople that were fuuny and true and all of them are a writter it was fun and funny to read i hope you enjoy this book i remmond it.

[America Singer · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Llamas are cute, especially on the front of chicken soup books" says my sister.
These stories are great for tough times during COVID-19.
But I like this book because of the stories and not because of the cover!

[Gerald R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not laugh out loud type of humor

I usually love Chicken Soup books and really looked forward to reading the first humor book. I didn't find the stories as funny as I imagined. They were cute, or more embarrassing for the authors, but nothing to laugh out loud about.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Riveting!!

This book was incredible from start to finish! So relatable, so normal human life. Such delicious humor! Love it, hope there’s more in the humor section!

[Julie Eastlick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of these stories really made me laugh. Some I might even relate to in one way or another. A nice break from the seriousness. Great short stories.

[Hugh Laybourn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great uplifting anecdotes and stories

[Ann Peachman Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

I needed something light to read and this fit the bill. A collection of stories, the writers describe their funny, often embarrassing moments which led to laughter. A fun read.

[Megan Mickey · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars— I’m not a short story type of gal, some of these really made me giggle however!

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much fun. I enjoyed the short stories. One I enjoyed so much I shared it with others…many others!

[Alexia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of these stories were hilarious! I found myself laughing out loud,

[Shelley Shirley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some stories were good, but no laughing... just not my favorite.

[Joy-Ann Comiskey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as funny as I hoped it would be.

[Fit4Life218 · Rating 1 out of 5]

More ‘cringey & awkward’ vs. ‘laugh out loud’ funny. Meh.

[Zarathustra Goertzel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a cute compilation of funny stories :-)

[Kayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a short story reader. But there were definitely some that made my laugh out loud.

[Ashley Rettig-Jarvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, light reading

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sisterhood bookclub
I liked the little stories, and thought it worked well for our weekly meetings.

[Lauren M · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 generic good old chicken soup.