I’ve been thinking about this topic for a while now because I’ve noticed that as I’m reading I don’t laugh out loud very often. Sure, I can find books to be funny or characters will say something that will make me react in my head or give a little giggle, but I don’t full blown laugh out loud very often when I read.

And I don’t get it because I have a great sense of humor (or so I like to think and I’ve been told).

Only recently have I actually become aware of books that have made me laugh out loud or react in a more exaggerated way than I normally have, such as:

When I read Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, I absolutely loved it for many reasons, and one of the main reasons being the humor. It was the first book that I actually physically laughed out loud to in a very long time, that’s why it sticks to clearly in my memory as being funny.

Night of Cake & Puppets was funny because I already had a preconceived notion as to who the characters of Zuzana and Mik were, and the fact that there is so much SASS in this book made my heart warm and me laughing during my lunch break at work (luckily no one was with me for me to be embarrassed by).

And I’m currently reading When We Collided, but so far I’ve laughed at the most ridiculous lines because I feel like I’ve been there and said those kinds of things, just not in that way. Or maybe I just really relate to Jonah. And Vivi is just too peppy for words, oh man.

So why is it that I don’t laugh out loud when I read funny books? Or rather, why is it that I’ve only noticed recently that it’s happened and not before?

I think that when it comes to reading it’s a very personal thing. Not everyone who reads the same book is going to experience it in the same way, and so some people might be extremely easy laughers no matter the situation. If they’re reading, watching TV, talking to people: they just laugh easily. Then there are some people who don’t laugh at all while reading, except maybe in their heads.

I fall somewhere in the middle. I love to laugh. I love to smile. But when I read I get so wrapped up in the world and the characters that I don’t always notice when or if I do laugh even if I think something’s funny.

I don’t think this is an inherently bad thing at all, by the way. But I’m curious as to why I’m like that when I know how I am outside of reading.

I’ve just been noticing more and more that I’ve been commentating to myself my emotions out loud (yup, I’m weird), and that I’ve been chuckling or giggling or making weird faces, or even full blown laughing out loud lately. Maybe I’m just picking up the right books? Or maybe this topic has just been so on my mind lately that I’ve finally picked up on it?

Either way, I love that books can make me laugh. It’s exhilarating and refreshing and I think it’s so awesome that books have the power to do that because you don’t hear the inflection or tone in the book, but you still get it and understand what emotion it’s trying to convey.

Let’s Chat! ≧◡≦

Do you laugh out loud easily when it comes to books, or do you keep your emotions inside more? Are you a giggler? A chuckler? A starer? I need to know I’m not the only one!