APATHY AND OTHER SMALL VICTORIES is the funniest book I have read in a very long time. Every time I picked it up, I ended up wiping away tears just so I could see the words clearly. The book is immensely quotable; you could open it up to just about any page and come across a line that you absolutely need to share with anyone else in the room. No exaggeration. (As always though, a modern book this consistently humorous is bound to come with some potentially offensive material, and the target in these circumstances is often the deaf.)

At the core of the story is, believe it or not, a murder mystery, and our main character Shane is a suspect. Been done before, right? The difference between this book and the usual mystery is that our protagonist cares very little about anything (hence the title). He knows he didn’t commit the crime, so he has little reason to go about trying to prove it. He continues to go about his life, which entails, but is not limited to making paper clip sculptures and sleeping in the bathroom at his office job, having painful relations with his landlord’s wife because he can’t pay the rent, alternately consoling and mocking his injury-prone dentist, and stealing salt shakers from every place that makes them available.

This all goes on for nine-tenths of the story, and afterward the murder is wrapped up nicely and explained away. Barely a mention of it is made through the story, except in the parts where Shane is questioned by the police, held at the station and so forth. It feels a little sloppy that way, but aside from that, it’s a great, quick read that is guaranteed to give you a good laugh.