1. If you like memoirs: Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang

by Chelsea Handler

Look, hear me out: I know that a) you probably haven’t thought about Chelsea Handler in a long time and b) she’s can be a polarizing figure. She can be mean, she used to have a talk show on a pretty vapid television network, and personally, I don’t like her stand-up all that much. That being said, she’s a really funny writer. It helps that she gets into ridiculous situations and handles them with her unapologetic personality, of course. If you’ve already read Tiny Fey/Amy Poehler/Mindy Kaling’s memoirs, pick up one of Handler’s books.

2. If you like reading plays: Blithe Spirit

by Noel Coward

This play is a comedy about a successful novelist who asks a medium to perform a seance in order to get new ideas for his next book. Unfortunately, she ends up conjuring the ghost of his annoying first wife, which, as you can imagine, gets in the way of his life and current marriage. Even though the play first opened in 1941, the dry, very British humor is still funny to the contemporary reader.

3. If you want to read more literary humor pieces: The Best of McSweeney’s

This anthology was published in honor of Internet humor website McSweeney’s 15th anniversary in 2013. It includes short humor pieces by writers like George Saunders, John Hodgman and David Foster Wallace, to name a few. The variety of material, which ranges from short stories to comics, is broken up into sections such as “Thrilling Tales” and “The Unwritten Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald.” It also includes writing from international authors, which you don’t always see in American humor anthologies.

4. If you like interviews that are combined with advice from comedians: Poking a Dead Frog

by Mike Sacks

The title of this book comes from a paraphrased E.B. White quote, which goes along the lines of, “Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it.” Sacks does exactly that by interviewing comedians about the technical aspects of writing comedy. It’s broken up into three categories: interviews, pure hard core advice, and ultra-specific comedic knowledge. It gives a well-rounded view of the industry, whether you’re interested in pursuing comedy as a career or if you’re just interested in ripping apart the (metaphoric) frog.

5. If you want to learn about the writing process in detail: How to Write Funny

by Scott Dikkers

This guide is written by Scott Dikkers, who was the original creator of The Onion (back when it operated out of a college dorm in Madison, Wisc.). This is useful if you’re trying to practice your own writing, or even if you’re just curious about the process of writing clever and concise satirical articles (seriously, how do people at The Onion do it so well every time?).