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Lorna Landvik
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Best to Laugh: A Novel Kindle Edition

by Lorna Landvik (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 304 ratings
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No one steps up to life’s banquet, holds out her tray, and orders, “Grief, please!” But as a child, Candy Pekkala was served a heaping helping of it. Every buffet line has a dessert section, however, and when a cousin calls with a Hollywood apartment to sublet, it seems as though Candy is finally offered something sweet. It’s good-bye to Minnesota and hello to California, where a girl who has always lived by her wits has a real chance of making a living with them. With that, the irrepressible Lorna Landvik launches her latest irresistible character onto the world stage—or at least onto the dimly lit small stage where stand-up comedy gets its start.

Herself a comic performer, Landvik taps her own adventurous past and Minnesota roots to conjure Candy’s life in this strange new Technicolor home. Her fellow tenants at Peyton Hall include a female bodybuilder, a ruined nightclub impresario, and a well-connected Romanian fortune-teller. There are game show appearances and temp jobs at a record company and an establishment suspiciously like the Playboy Mansion, and of course the alluring but not always welcoming stage of stand-up comedy. As she hones her act, Candy is tested by humiliation, hecklers, and the inherent sexism that insists “chicks aren’t funny.”

Written with the light touch and quiet wisdom that have made her works so popular, this is classic Lorna Landvik—sometimes so funny, you’ll cry; sometimes so sad, you might as well laugh; and always impossible to put down.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    312 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Univ Of Minnesota Press
  5. Publication date
    September 15, 2014
  6. File size
    1290 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Best to Laugh is cheerfully outlandish, filled with ambition, love, adventure, kindness, swimming pools, nightclubs, and baked goods. Best of all, it’s laugh-out-loud hilarious.
—Julie Schumacher, author of The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls and Dear Committee Members



Best to Laugh had me laughing out loud. It’s both funny and tender, and filled with memorable characters. You can’t help but love Candy Pekkala and her quirky, mixologist grandmother. Lorna Landvik has written a charming novel with real heart.
—Shannon Olson, author of Welcome to My Planet



"Landvik’s novel is happily filled with a double dose of nostalgia—the protagonist’s for the golden age of Hollywood and the author’s for a lovably gritty 1970s Los Angeles." —Kirkus Reviews

"Filled with historical lore about Hollywood’s glory days, inside observations about the chauvinism that pervades the comedy boys’ club, and a bevy of secondary characters straight out of central casting, Landvik’s homage to funny ladies everywhere is a joyful, breezy trip down memory lane." —Booklist

"Best to Laugh recounts real—poignant and laugh-out-loud funny—experience." —Star Tribune

"Best to Laugh has Landvik’s signature humor—a little corny, a lot sweet—and the sort of friends-become-family characters that defined her best-selling debut Patty Jane’s House of Curl. There is a Steel Magnolias-style of laugh-aw-cry-laugh likability to the tale and the 1970s-ness is so palpable, you can practically hear the whisper-walk of a woman’s silk pantsuit." —Duluth News-Tribune

One of the things that accounts for Lorna Landvik’s immense popularity is the essential good-heartedness she brings to her work. But as much as this is a celebration of a very special time and place, it is even more a celebration of character, desire, friendship, perseverance, and love—oh, and hamburger hot dish.
—Elizabeth Berg, author of Tapestry of Fortunes and The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted



GREAT NOVEL!!! It reads like an autobiography! Best to Laugh, although fiction, is one of the truest accounts of a Hollywood life one can read. It takes a master of comedy to be able to write about the business of laughter. To interpret its roots and inner working. Lorna Landvik is precisely that. I, for one of many, can attribute countless gut busting laughs to the genius of Lorna. A great nostalgic tale.
—Mo Collins, actress/comedian

About the Author

Lorna Landvik is the best-selling author of many novels, including Patty Jane’s House of Curl, Angry Housewives Eating Bon-Bons, Oh My Stars, and Mayor of the Universe (Minnesota, 2014). She has performed stand-up and improvisational comedy around the country and is also a public speaker, playwright, and actor, most recently seen in an all-improvised, one-woman show Party in the Rec Room.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00M2C57MK
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Univ Of Minnesota Press (September 15, 2014)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 15, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1290 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 312 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 304 ratings

About the author

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Lorna Landvik

Lorna Landvik

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Lorna Landvik is the author of ten novels, including the best-selling PATTY JANE'S HOUSE OF CURL, ANGRY HOUSEWIVES EATING BON BONS, OH MY STARS and the recently published BEST TO LAUGH.

Landvik's checkered (but legal) past includes working as a chambermaid in Bavaria, winning a trip to Tahiti as a contestant on '$25,000 Pyramid' (MacGyver was her partner), temping at the Playboy Mansion (it was strictly a clerical position) and walking across the country as a member of The Great Peace March.

She has acted in many theatrical productions, including a half dozen shows she conveniently wrote for herself. Her all-improvised show, PARTY IN THE REC ROOM is a local legend, due in no small part to the margaritas she mixes up onstage.

She is currently working on two novels, one of which is a sequel to her first book. She has one husband and two daughters and lives in the beautiful blue and green state of Minnesota.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
304 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Judy B
5.0 out of 5 stars Fun read
Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2023
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This book was light hearted and funny. The characters were believable and it was interesting to learn about old Hollywood.
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Patricia G Kadlec
4.0 out of 5 stars Nice story! Love the interesting characters
Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2015
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Nice story! Love the interesting characters. We should all be so kind to one and other. I was rooting for their success all the way though the book. Enjoyable read.
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Laurie Brandt
5.0 out of 5 stars Light, fun & entertaining
Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2021
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Candy’s adventures in Hollywood after it’s golden age are delightful. Her own ambitions to be a stand up comedian evolve as she commits to making her dream a reality. Through it all, friendship and laughter sustain everyone, including the reader! A light, breezy but not cheesey read.
One person found this helpful
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MSTLB
5.0 out of 5 stars best to laugh!
Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2023
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I loved this story and the authors humor throughout, finding myself reading it more than once over the years and still bursting out in laughter. A love story, a dream story and a ‘stand in what matters’ story all wrapped up in humor and the magic it creates… to quote, ‘what could go wrong?’
One person found this helpful
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Linda Collins
3.0 out of 5 stars I love Ms Landvik but read Angry Housewives and Oh My Stars if you want the very best she has to offer.
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2015
Verified Purchase
I love Lorna Landvik. Ms Landvik is one of my favorite all time authors. I was disappointed in this book. Compared to Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons and Oh My Stars, which are amongst my literary lifetime favorites.....Best to Laugh doesn't come close to the place those two hold in my heart. Maybe it is true that we have only one, and at best two, great books inside of each of us. If this is the case I will satisfy myself by knowing that I have already experienced her best and pass on Ms Landvik's next offering.
5 people found this helpful
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Marie Ellen
5.0 out of 5 stars A pleasantly good read.
Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2014
Verified Purchase
Once again, I have become attached to Lorna's likable characters. Another excellent, uplifting story that keeps me rooting for the characters. I could feel what they were feeling and I love the fact that I had no idea how the story would end.
Congrats to Lorna Landvik... you nailed it once again!!
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Amy Hahn
4.0 out of 5 stars Sweet and lovely
Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2019
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Another winner by Lorna Landvik. Her fans won’t be disappointed by this somewhat autobiographical story. Her rich characters are east to follow and fall in Love with.
One person found this helpful
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Rebecca Degner
5.0 out of 5 stars Read it and laugh!
Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2016
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Delightful novel about a young woman brave enough to make changes in her life. The characters are well constructed. I ended up caring about the characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel We all need a mantra to sustain us!
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Top reviews from other countries

Sandy
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 4, 2017
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Very enjoyable the book has lived up to expectations. Will look for other titles to read by Lorna Landvik
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irene raybone
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 6, 2015
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Excellent book. One of my favourite authors
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Amazon Customer
1.0 out of 5 stars It really boring.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 25, 2017
Verified Purchase
have read few of the page, I find it hard to keep on reading.
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