'Light' reading that's not absolute crap?

[HamblesHandbag]

I have a short attention span at the moment - too much to think about. I could do with some 'easy' reading but I can't do chick lit or even anything with that kind of cover.

Can you recommend me something lighthearted, gripping, interesting or fun?

Things I've read recently that fit the bill were Adrian Mole's diary, a Christopher Brookmyre novel, How to Be a Woman and surprisingly, Nothing To Envy (factual about North Korea, but accessible and fascinating). Currently reading McCarthy's Bar which is on the right lines.

I have ditched a lot of novels recently including, Room (a marmite book that I hated), Eat, Pray, Love (enjoyed the Eat section!) and The Help (which just didn't grab me).

No misery stuff or graphic murders - I'm pregnant and hormonal!

I'd really appreciate recommendations that I would never have thought of.

TIA

Janet Evanovich - the Stephanie Plum series about an inept bounty hunter, not graphic at all, easy to read and very funny.

great thanks strawberry!

Was just about to say Janet Evanovich too! Fab, rollicking reads which make me laugh out loud on the train.

excellent, a double recommendation!

I just had a quick look on amazon, does it matter which one you start with or can I just buy any?

May be tooo light, but I love Carola Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple series - nothing graphic, 1920s Miss-Marple style mysteries with a young flapper Miss Marple who falls in love with a Scotland yard tec.

Less light, but great, Kate Atkinson. Some stuff is quite graphic, but if you try Human Croquet, that's a good start. I don't think your hormones would be up to Started Early, Took My Dog! (adoption and child abduction features, along with some murder and misogyny).

oh gawd, no child abduction for me! but I'll have a look at the others, thanks.

Was just going to suggest the Stephanie Plum books .

I'd add Dervla Murphy's travel-writing - she's been to all sorts of fascinating places and writes interestingly about all of them. I recently read 'Through Siberia by Accident', in which she planned to cycle (!) around parts of Russia but had an accident and was incapacitated - she wrote the book anyway! You can skip bits if necessary (there's a certain amount of background and history in all her travels, naturally), but I do like her style and her encounters with different people are fascinating.

Will add more ideas if I can think of any!

Doesn't really matter which you start with, very easy to pick up, largely stand alone, I think I started with 5 or 6.

ooh, three recommendations for Stephanie Plum!

thanks for that salteena, I'll have a look.

Have just finished Kate Atkinson "One Good Turn" - total page turner, couple of slightly grisly bits but nothing too grim (and I have a v weak stomach.)

I was enjoying "The Road Home" by Rose Tremain but had to stop because of some hideous sexism.

For factual "Outliers" by Macolm Gladwell is fascinating, as is "Irrationality" by Stuart Sutherland.

Susan Howatch - particularly the Starbridge novels.

Anything Rosamund Lehmann - it's sort of Bridget Jones for 50 or 60 years ago (so fur coats and general dreaminess aplenty). My favourite is Weather in the Streets but maybe not if you're pregnant and hormonal - Invitation to the Waltz is probably best (it comes before Weather in the Streets), or Dusty Answer.

I always turn to Bill Bryson when I need something lighthearted.

If you're up for a bit of fantasy, try Terry Pratchett - not one of the early ones (unless you're already a fantasy fan, in which case you don't need telling anyway). Try Monstrous Regiment, or The Truth. You don't need to know the setting to enjoy the way he observes human (and various other peoples) nature.

Tales of the City, Armistead Maupin - really really short chapters, full of incident.

The Crow Road, Ian Banks. I remember this as an easy, funny holiday read without peer (although I can't remember what it's about)

For an Interesting book (fiction), I'd always recommend Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, it gives so much details about an utterly different world.

For an Interesting book (fact), I was fascinated by "Duel" by James Lansdale, which according to Amazon appears to have gone out of print. It tells the story of the last duel fought in Scotland, and looks at the history of duelling and what possessed the men involved to become involved in something that was really an archaic practice even at the time. One of them was an ancestor of the author, which seems to add a little something.

What about The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy? Or, less my own personal taste, Terry Pratchett?

On travel, I tend to suggest Tim Cahill's collections of essays on adventure sports and travel, they have titles like "Pecked to Death by Ducks" and "Jaguars Ripped my Flesh"

i would also suggest Terry pratchett - maybe the wee free men or hatful of sky, or 'good omens' which is not discworls at all.

I also like 'the white spider' which is about climbing the north face of the eiger - not funny but very readable and also nice and quiet so it relaxes you ready for bed.

Jasper Fforde is very silly and light, but might be a bit on the marmitey side. Def nothing graphic or violoent in that, but you do need a fairly surreal sense of humour.

To my great shame, I'm reading Pride and Prejudice for the first time at the minute, and loving it - it's very light in a frothy way?

I have just re-read a few of the Armistead Maupin books (Tales of the City) recently and really enjoyed them (v easy read). Also love Garrison Keillor and Douglas Coupland for feel good reading.

David Sedaris makes me laugh out loud (dress your family in corduroy and demin) and Karl Hiassen writes v funny thrillers set in Florida (have not described them well, they are brilliant).

If you liked Christopher Brookmyre...try Carl Hiassen, he's an American writer and writes in a very similar vein

I also like Paul Theroux's books on travel, Happy Isles of Oceania, Riding the Iron Rooster, Pillars of Hercules

I love Terry Pratchet for light reading and Wee Free Men is definitely a good start or just start at the beginning with The Colour of Magic.

Niel Gaiman is great too - Neverwhere is the one that I really could not put down.

If you're in to crime dramas the Cadfael novels by Ellis Peters are quite easy.

If you haven't already - Cold Comfort Farm.

I was gonna say Brookmyre. Love his stuff. Also read a lot of Agatha Raisin books. They are pure candyfloss...not good for you, over in two bites, but somehow all the sweeter for it. Gaiman is great and I love Fforde too. Am loving the Pratchett too.

I'd recommend Terry Pratchett also. Specifically, anything with Sam Vimes or Granny Weatherwax in.
Surprised nobody has mentioned Georgette Heyer yet. A Civil Contract is a favourite, but just dive in anywhere - The Grand Sophy, These Old Shades - if you haven't come across her before you're in for a treat.
I've just finished Darling Strumpet by Gillian Bagwell. It's about Nell Gwyn and I rather enjoyed it, though you may find the early scenes of child prostitution too much for you in your delicate situation.