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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:
largecomb · 09/08/2021 06:02

Have you read any Emily Henry, Curtis Sittenfeld or a.m. homes? Very enjoyable reads which might fit your “light but heavy” brief.

Someaddedsugar · 09/08/2021 05:42

Have you read Underbelly by Anna Whitehouse?

SheShines · 09/08/2021 03:46

Wow. Lots of intriguing suggestions, some of which I already own but haven't read yet, thank you all.

Too many to answer everyone directly.

Among others; I have read everything by Marian Keyes, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Catherine Steadman and Liane Moriarty, I have her next novel on pre order with my local bookshop. I have read everything Roddy Doyle, aside from his children's books.

Read Crawdads and I didn't love it sorry, I know how beloved it is.
By contrast, I thought The Silent Patient was excellent and I have enjoyed both Harriet Tyce books.
I read both Sally Rooney's, they left me thinking is that it...?
Didn't like Shuggie Bain.
Loved Restoration.
Loved Degrees Of Guilt by H S Chandler.
And really enjoyed all three Donna Tartt novels again, not always popular on these threads.

When have time I read the reviews and buy anything current that catches my eye. I'm so retentive I have lists of to buy, bought must read as well as diaries of everything I have read.
Yeah. I'm a proper nerd Hmm.

Someone suggested Kate Atkinson. I read the one with the bird on the front - Big Sky? It didn't make me want to read any more by her, though I'm happy to be wrong if I'm missing something.

Having said that I'm not fussed on historical fiction, I enjoyed The Crimson Petal And The White. Also, all of the Wolf Hall books, even though they polarise opinion. Others too, though it's late and I'll reengage my brain tomorrow and remember some more Confused.

When I started this thread I didn't want lots of posters suggesting Jane Austen or Dickens etc.

If it's really good historical fiction I like it.

Ideally, I would like to read a very good novel(s) set during The Troubles. Being British I saw so much anti-Ireland rhetoric when I was young, I would like to read novels that redress the balance. I read Milkman, thought it was ok but would like to know more from a human perspective. IYSWIM?

I spent some of my childhood in Jamaica. A Brief History Of Seven Killings was, for me, chilling, evocative and gripping.

Maeve Binchy takes me back! As a child I was packed off to my Grandparent's for weeks during the holidays. My Grandma bought every Maeve Binchy as they came out. As I had read all of my own books I ploughed through the Maeve Binchys, there may be more that I haven't read. I would be up for reading them.

My Grandma was keen to encourage my reading, she got me into James Joyce! Amongst many other things. Also what I can best describe as 1970s/80s mass appeal feminism Grin - and Jackie Collins.

I've read all of the John Marrs. IMO you can track his development as a writer if they are read in order. My main John Marrs frustration is that he has innovative ideas, his novels are very gripping to begin with but somehow their endings lose the momentum, though this is better in later novels.

I'm old enough to remember Jeffrey Archer as a politician, his books might be classics but I can't bring myself to read any. Grin

OP posts:
merrymelody · 09/08/2021 03:21

Anything by Sue Gee...

Essexgirlupnorth · 09/08/2021 03:18

Rosamunde Pilcher particular homecoming I felt bereft after I finished it

Penny Vincenzi the Spoils of time trilogy is my favourite but have also read others of hers

SeaRabbit · 09/08/2021 03:02

Pretty much anything published by Persephone Books. They republish good books from the past, and all the ones I've read have been excellent.

SenecaFallsRedux · 09/08/2021 01:43

Restoration by Rose Tremain

ilovepixie · 08/08/2021 22:55

What about Amanda Prowse she's very good. Or the woman who walked into doors by Roddy Doyle is good too.

Cherry321 · 08/08/2021 22:52

Where the crawdads sing?

Also the Harriet Tyce books - blood orange and the lies you told

Ulysses · 08/08/2021 22:24

I enjoyed Standard Deviation too. It reminded me of Flieshman is in Trouble.

Papergirl1968 · 08/08/2021 22:23

Watching with interest as I have similar taste.
Jojo Moyes.
Sheila O’flanghan and Patricia Scanlan are similar to Marian Keyes, and Maeve Binchey was the original Irish chick lit author.
Jeffrey Archer is very readable.
Jenny Colgan maybe, although they might be a bit on the light side for you.
Nicholas Evans, author of the Horse Whisperer and others.

Ulysses · 08/08/2021 22:21

Nina Stibbe, Claire Chambers and Lissa Evans all make a great job of combining humour and pathos with a lightness of touch.

NoYOUbekind · 08/08/2021 22:21

Don't think anyone's mentioned Jane Fallon yet? I think she's very much in the Keyes/McFarlane/Jewell mode.

I've just done a Scottish trilogy: Scabby Queen by Kristin Innes, Shuggie Bain (me and the rest of the world) and The Young Team by Graeme Armstrong. All very different but all excellent.

Other recent successes were The Queen of Bloody Everything and I'll second The Girl with the Louding Voice which is a beautiful book.

Borington · 08/08/2021 22:18

(JC’s autobiography is called a young mans passage - not last but not least!)

Borington · 08/08/2021 22:17

I really enjoyed Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny (recommended on here) - amazing characterisation, very funny but also thought provoking re: autism.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

We are all completely beside ourselves (really brilliant twist)

I also recently read an Irish detective series by Tana French - might not quite meet the brief but I enjoyed them.

Last but not least - Julian Clary’s autobiography.

TigerBreath · 08/08/2021 22:12

Queenie by Candice Carty Williams.
Such an easy read but really thought provoking with respect to issues around race.

reprehensibleme · 08/08/2021 22:08

Alice Munro
Joyce Carol Oates
Good to see people recommending Barbara Trapido
Catherine Fox
Alice Hoffman
Elinor Lipman
Rose Tremain
Penelope Lively
Barbara Pym
Mary Wesley
Norah Lofts
CJ Sansom
Anita Brooker - I know she's a bit marmite but Hotel du Lac is a book I go back to time after time.
Lillian Beckwith
Muriel Spark
Ruth Park - NZ writer of the 1920s and 30s
Armistad Maupin

JaninaDuszejko · 08/08/2021 22:07

The Memory Police - Yoko Ogawa

This is one of the best books I read last year. Dystopic and dream like it still haunts me.

Mooserp · 08/08/2021 22:02

The End of Men - Christina Sweeny Baird

We Begin at the End - Chris Whitaker

CountTessa · 08/08/2021 21:54

I echo the pp who suggested Barbara Kingsolver, but also Kristen Hannah and Harriet Evans. I know that Harriet Evans has a new book coming out in about a week but her last one the Butterfly summer was excellent..

Buggerthebotox · 08/08/2021 21:53

I've been pleasantly surprised by Amanda Prowse and working my way through her books, after finishing the Six Wives series by Alison Weir (you may like those to as they seem to be well-researched and bring the Tudor period to life really well.)

Nearlyadoctor · 08/08/2021 21:52

@Luckingfovely - good to hear to you enjoyed all her other novels as I’ve just ordered 2 after finishing the 7 sisters series.
I just didn’t want them to end and have started another thread looking for similar recommendations.

TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross · 08/08/2021 21:50

Not all of mine are light but they are very readable!

TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross · 08/08/2021 21:49

The Essex Serpent.

Rachel's Holiday is absolutely my favourite Marian Keyes - I've re-read it so often.

Beyond the Ruins by Victoria Gosling

The Secret River - Kate Grenville

The Dictionary of Lost Words - Pip Williams

The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid

Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo

The Memory Police - Yoko Ogawa

The Shadow King - Maaza Mengiste

How Much of These Hills is Gold - C Pam Zhang

Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro

CyberPixie · 08/08/2021 21:49

Have you read any of Milly Johnson? Fab reads.