Funniest book ever.

Well, maybe not ever. I still have a soft spot for David Sedaris. But I have to say, Augusten Burroughs' Possible Side Effects is the first book to make me laugh out loud in a long time. I mean, serious belly laughs, loud enough to make Nima tear his attention away from his laptop to yell, "What's so funny?" from his spot on the couch downstairs.You can read the first chapter on his Web site. He has a blog, too.

But what, may you ask, does this have to do with motherhood, sex, infertility or movies? Well, I'll tell you.

I work for a company that provides employees with chair massages. (They're not free or anything, but still, I can't figure out why more people don't take advantage of them.) The massage therapist, Jean-Claude, is this very lovely man from Benin. (Yeah, I had to look for it on the map, too. That's what a public education will do for you.) Jean-Claude's voice alone, with its lilting French-African accent, could lull one into a trance. But I digress.

One Thursday, we were talking about my stress level, which is nearing Code Orange levels. And Jean-Claude told me in no uncertain terms--yet in that very soothing massage-therapist sort of way--that I was not to read any more books about infertility or to see sad movies (I made an exception for The Last King of Scotland). Instead, Jean-Claude ordered me to watch comedies and read as much humor as I could get my hands on.

I emailed some writer friends for suggestions. One of the recommendations was Possible Side Effects. And since I recently watched Running With Scissors, I knew about Burroughs.

So there it is. My efforts to avoid thinking about infertility led me to hilarity. By an author whose work has been made into a movie that touched on themes of (bad) mothering, and sex.

Wasn't it graceful how I did that?