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?

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.

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?!

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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'.

@MissM2912, one of my favourite books.

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

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 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.

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.

@Blackcountryexile

I notice that all the examples of books you have enjoyed are by British authors with the exception of Liane Moriarty. If you are happy to try books by American authors these might be to your taste The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin The Most Fun We Ever Had by Clare Lombardo or Love After Love by Ingrid Persuad set in Trinidad and New York

Marian Keyes and Roddy Doyle were also given as examples by the OP and they are definitely not British...

I’ve recently loved:
Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern)
A Gentleman in Moscow (Amor Towles)

I’ve just enjoyed The Dutch House by Anne Patchett and The Paper Palace by Miranda Heller. Are they on The List?

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

Based on the 50 bookers I'd guess a mix of some or all of the following
A) reading every day
B) fast reader
C) short books
D) audiobooks while commuting or doing housework
E) easy reading genre books/childrens books/graphic novels in among more weighty books

@Blackcountryexile nope. Guess again.

I haven't replied to most of the people - who have taken the time to post novels they have enjoyed - on this thread. It seems rude to me to go through the lists that people have recommended writing: yeah, read that, thanks though. I have read many, many US novelists. Nora Ephron is one of my all time favourite writers and I am constantly on the search for the ultimate great American novel as are many people.

Although I have read plenty of the US authors suggested, I haven't read them all. Besides, other readers of this thread might find a novelist they hadn't considered.

I have read all bar one on your list and they're right up my street so I reckon we have pretty similar tastes. If you don't mind a crime slant then I highly recommend Chris Brookmyre. He's my favourite author, Marian is joint first obvs! (Rachels Holiday is my fave too @TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross )
His earlier stuff really captures the Scottish humour and have good storylines that pick up on current events. Don't start with Pandaemonium though!
I also love the Lee Childs Jack Reacher series and Rebus too.
I think you'd really enjoy Tasmina Perry's books too!

Zadie Smith
But presume you've read those.

Following! We have very similar taste OP. I second Diane Chamberlain, I've just finished Big Lies in a Small Town which was very good.

@redheadma oh god yes Last House On Needless Street. Possibly one of the best books I've ever read. I finished it months ago and still think about it now.

Kate Mascarenhas · The Psychology of Time Travel:
And same author
. · The Thief on the Winged Horse: ·

Deborah levy

Particularly hot milk
www.goodreads.com/book/show/26883528-hot-milk

You have really similar tastes to me so following this and don’t have much to add.
Maybe “where d’you go Bernadette” if you’ve not read it already.
Also although it’s crime - Alex Marwoods books are good and Sabine Durrant.