A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole. Sometimes it veers into the just plain silly, but there are a few passages in which I SOL (Screamed Out Loud).

However, the book was published posthumously by his mother as Toole blew his brains out...so I guess it didn't help him much.

If you are Southern, Southern Ladies and Gentlemen, by Florence King. I especially love the part about the "Self-Rejuvenating Virgin", or the Southern belle who rationalizes that they didn't actually have sex, because...hilarious reasons follow.

In fact, now that I think about it, it is the Southern stories that amuse me the most: "Good Country People", by Flannery O'Connor, if you're sick like me. "The Petrified Man", by Eudora Welty. "Falling Out of Love", by poor Larry Brown, who died last year of (gasp!) natural causes.

Again...I don't know if these translate as well to non-Southerners, as each of these stories are funny to me in that "OMG, I sooo know this person," so if you live above the Manson-Nixon Line, take these recommendations with a grain of salt.

World War Z. The destruction of mankind by it's own stupidity appeals to me, but so does mankinds final redemption by pulling together and working TOGETHER for the greater good.

If I need a mood lifter, I'll re-read some of my favorites"

"Anansi Boys" - Neil Gaiman
"Good Omens" - Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
"Skinny Legs and All" and "Jitterbug Perfume" - Tom Robbins
Any of the Jhereg series or the Khaavren series by Stephen Brust

also, "Brain Droppings" by George Carlin is always good for a quick lift, just open to any page.

Okay... this is going to seem strange. When I'm in need of a mood lifter, I either turn to my D&D books (escapism at it's purest), or I whip out "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak. It's a children's book about a child who is kidnapped by monsters and becomes their king. I know, it's not the pure intellectualism that you have all come to expect from me, but nothing gets me feeling better than escaping into that realm of childlike wonder for 15 minutes.

Honestly, I usually take a nap, because everything is worse when you're tired. Or I have some tea. But if I read when my mood has gone south, I usually read whatever I'm currently working on, so that even if it seems like my whole life is falling to pieces, I at least accomplished something (a chapter, a section, a page!). That or I'll read some of the good chapters of _Don Quixote_ or some poetry that I particularly like. I like reading Aesop's fables on bad days, because like _The Little Prince_ you can read it on several levels. The bad guys always get what's coming to them, and it can help you think through a situation.