Humorist John Kenney pens a seriously funny novel about death.

On this episode of Fully Booked, John Kenney joins us to discuss his latest novel,   (Zibby Books, April 1). It’s the story of Bud Stanley, a middle-aged journalist who’s down on his luck and publishes his own obituary one fateful night. Then things get interesting—and existential—in a novel Kirkus calls “a touching ode to the people who make life worth living.”

Kenney is the New York Times–bestselling author of three humorous poetry collections: Love Poems for Married People, Love Poems for Anxious People, and Love Poems for People With Children. He is the author of the novels Talk to Me and Truth in Advertising, which won the Thurber Prize for American Humor. A regular contributor to the New Yorker since 1999, he got his start in advertising.

Here’s a bit more from our review of I See You’ve Called in Dead:

Professional obituary writer Bud Stanley is a divorcé coasting through life in Brooklyn.…After a particularly bad blind date, he drinks to excess and comes up with a bold, ill-advised idea. He writes and semi-accidentally publishes his own obituary and is summarily suspended from work, but not before his mentor suggests that he’s unfit for his career: ‘“You are an obituary writer who does not understand the first thing about life. Wake up,”’ his boss pleads. It’s from here that Kenney’s touching, provocative novel takes off. During this time of suspension-induced depression and malaise, Bud relies heavily on his landlord, downstairs neighbor, and best friend, Tim Warren, who is paraplegic. While at a funeral for Bud’s former mother-in-law, the duo meets Clara, a free spirit who quit her high-paying corporate job after missing her own father’s death because of a meeting. Together, the three start going to funerals for people they don’t know and have late-night discussions about life and death over wine… [while] Bud begins to reckon with his purpose on this planet. Kenney doesn’t propose any sort of clean answer, but alludes to the idea that life’srichnesscomes from spending time with people you love, and that those relationships are built on mutual respect, truth, and love.”

Kenney describes the novel as the story of an obituary writer who “doesn’t really know how to live.” We touch on the humor of bureaucracy and the challenge of pitching a funny book about death to publishers. Kenney shares the poignant, personal, and darkly funny story that inspired the book. We talk about how emergency services personnel seem to have a different relationship to death than the rest of us, the concept of ineffability, what it’s like to be a New York Times–bestselling poet (technically), and whether he considers I See You’ve Called in Dead to be his most serious book to date. We discuss awe, humor in fiction, some of his favorite humor writers, and much more.

Then editors Mahnaz Dar, John McMurtrie, and Laurie Muchnick share their top picks in books for the week.

EDITORS’ PICKS:

Outsider Kids by Betty C. Tang (Graphix/Scholastic)

On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters by Bonnie Tsui (Algonquin)

My Documents by Kevin Nguyen (One World/Random House)

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS:

King James Virgin by Elizabeth Hatton

Path to Power, Road to Ruin by John Kavanagh

Fully Booked is produced by Cabel Adkins Audio and Megan Labrise.