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Original poster

Light but heavy reads?

112 replies

SheShines · 07/08/2021 23:03

My reading tastes are very mixed. However, I'm after something light, with a plot, possibly thought provoking, without being vacuous.
This is a tougher ask than it sounds!

Side bar -^^ why is it that Marian Keyes writes a novel and it is chick-lit, whereas David Nicholls novels are simply fiction?

The sort of thing I have enjoyed:
This Charming Man - Marian Keyes
Sweet Sorrow - David Nicholls
Can You Keep A Secret - Sophie Kinsella
The Cows - Dawn O Porter
A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby
The Commitments - Roddy Doyle
Big Little Lies - Liane Moriarty
Just My Luck - Adele Parks

There are lots more, but I'm after lighter reads with an edge.

Not what I'm after:
Bridget Jones
Anything Shopaholic

Warning - I have a Masters in Lit, so I have read a lot of the classics. My average is 200 books a year, though I don't usually read light books so maybe not as difficult as it sounds?

OP posts:
SenecaFallsRedux · 10/08/2021 00:30

I thought of another really good one: Gail Godwin, an American writer from North Carolina. Her entire canon is excellent. Her work is definitely literary fiction, on a par with Anne Tyler.

MissM2912 · 09/08/2021 23:30

User657849 It stayed with me a long time! The Pursuit of Loneliness is very good too.

My favourite author is Susan Howatch! I have loved all her books. The trilogy with ‘The High Flier’ and ‘The Heartbreaker’- have forgotten the other ones name are really really good.

WhatsTheTimeMrCat · 09/08/2021 22:51

Try Curtis Sittenfeld - I think her best ones are Sisterland and American Wife, but Prep is also very readable.

I also love The Innocents by Francesca Segal, which is very readable but raises very interesting questions around life in a close knit community (specifically Jewish), among other things.

Maggie O’Farrell is very good too - I’ve read The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox and Notes from a Heatwave, both are excellent.

User657849 · 09/08/2021 21:53

@MissM2912, one of my favourite books.

Read it two months ago and I keep thinking of it.

gwilt · 09/08/2021 21:49
  1. CJ Sansom - any of the Shardlake series
  2. Agatha Christie - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

This is coming from someone who 'doesn't like detective novels'.

Itstheweekendyasssss · 09/08/2021 21:40

Oh god yes anything Anne Tyler too, she is just the best writer.

Itstheweekendyasssss · 09/08/2021 21:38

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers, quite the most perfect story, beautifully written but a page turner. And a front cover to die for!!

Original poster
SheShines · 09/08/2021 21:35

I've read People Like Her and liked it. The Whisper Network is one of my favourite recent new books, so I have been waiting for The Husbands but it's had some stinking reviews, so I have been holding off.

All of those books are now on The List.

OP posts:
redheadma · 09/08/2021 19:58

People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd
The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
The Husbands by Chandler Baker

Original poster
SheShines · 09/08/2021 16:34

CrazyNeighbour FWIW I think he's a modernist too - and that was the received wisdom when I was at Uni. Since then though others have said that he is a post modernist, and the debate rages on Smile

The same with the debate about Beckett's Irishness - I think that his writing is typically Irish. The arguments against are based around his life away from Ireland and that many of his works were first published in French.

No, I haven't read Graveyard Clay, but I absolutely will now.

Back to the light reading, with apologies to anyone who fell asleep during my treatise on Beckett...

I would love to support an MN author, I will look for Fiona Collins.

Beth Gutcheon is a new name for me, I'll take a look.

Obviously, I have to put my previous experience behind me and read more Kate Atkinson.

Norugratsatall yes, 200 a year, often more. How do I do it? I don't know really, I just always have. Even as a teen I read 100 a year and was incredibly frustrated by the quality of literature for young people back then. Back then my Saturday job was in a bookshop, reading was encouraged during the quiet times. I do read quickly, which probably helps, and I am never without a book.

I haven't read The White Woman on the Green Bicycle and I will look it out.

Thank you everyone, please do keep suggesting anything that you can think of. I am grateful for all of them and I will investigate any that I haven't read.

OP posts:
Norugratsatall · 09/08/2021 15:44

I have a few suggestions.

The White Woman on the Green Bicycle (can't remember the author so you'll have to google)
Ladder of Years - Anne Tyler
White Teeth - Zadie Smith

Also....200 books a year?! How do you find the time?! Shock

bilbodog · 09/08/2021 15:25

Try kate atkinson LIFE after LIFE followed by A GOD IN RUINS - very different from the one you tried.

Ive only recently discovered jack reacher books by lee child if you havent read any of these - good plots, fast paced and well written.

CrazyNeighbour · 09/08/2021 15:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SenecaFallsRedux · 09/08/2021 14:06

I thought of another American writer: Beth Gutcheon. Her latest are mystery novels, but her earlier works are often classed as literary fiction and/or women's fiction.

HollowTalk · 09/08/2021 13:56

What about reading a Mumsnetter's book?!

Fiona Collins wrote chick lit at first for Harper Collins and then went to Transworld and was more women's fiction. I particularly love You, Me and the Movies and her latest book, Summer in the City. She's very funny but those later books are very thought-provoking, too.

(I'm not her, btw! She's a great friend of mine though that I met on here.)

Original poster
SheShines · 09/08/2021 13:34

Thank you for the suggestions, everyone. I am reading through, taking notes and reading reviews.

Beckett? I studied Beckett at Uni! I agree that on the surface they are light reads, but even on mild reflection, incredibly deep. I'm not sure whether you suggested Beckett because I agreed that I enjoy reading Irish writers, or Historical writing?

Is Beckett Historical? I suppose it depends, in part, when you were born! There isn't a consensus on whether Beckett is a Modernist or Postmodernist.

Yes, Beckett was definitely born Irish, but he spent many years in Europe, particularly Paris, and, as a member of the French Resistance, I would argue that he was more politically active in France than in his native Ireland. It was France where he was recognised as a notable writer and his writing was first popularly published.

So maybe not Beckett Grin.

OP posts:
CrazyNeighbour · 09/08/2021 10:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Throughabushbackwards · 09/08/2021 10:20

Try Tim Winton. My favourites are The Turning, Cloudstreet and Dirt Music.

shumway · 09/08/2021 10:11

Elizabeth Strout, Jessie Greengrass, Rachel Cusk, Deborah Levy, Mary Lawson, Anne Tyler, Jenny Offill, Miriam Toews, Emma Donoghue, Ann Patchett, Mary Beth Keane, Nina Stibbe, Carol Shields, Ali Smith, Sue Miller, Emma Straub, Carys Bray.

ThirstyMeeples · 09/08/2021 08:44

Have you read any Maggie O'Farrell? Her books fit the bill I think. Beautiful stories, exceptionally well written.

Cornishblues · 09/08/2021 08:25

Definitely go back to Kate Atkinson OP. My first was Behind the Scenes at the Museum and then I read everything else then available and bought subsequent books as they came out. As far as women and awards goes, my uneducated opinion is that if Atkinson hasn’t won them, there’s something wrong with the awards.

Zazazaz · 09/08/2021 08:18

The Piano Tuner - Daniel Mason

verynearlygotme · 09/08/2021 08:04

A factual book that stayed with me for a long time was Carmen Bugan's Burying the Typewriter.

AmandaHugenkiss · 09/08/2021 07:52

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki.

Papergirl1968 · 09/08/2021 06:28

Dorothy Koomson was another I meant to mention, especially her more recent ones.