Light but heavy reads?

[SheShines]

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?

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

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.

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

Where the crawdads sing?

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

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

Restoration by Rose Tremain

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

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

Anything by Sue Gee...

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 .

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 .

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 - 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.

Have you read Underbelly by Anna Whitehouse?

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

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

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki.

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

The Piano Tuner - Daniel Mason

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.

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

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.

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

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 .

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.)

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.