Contemporary 'literary' fiction-does it have to be bleak to be good?

[ArcticRoll]

The last few books I have read have been brilliant but ultimately a bit depressing/distressing and/ or bleak;
The Disappearing Act of Esme Lennox
The Kite Runner
The Tenderness of Wolves
The Inheritance of Loss
The Gathering
Half a Yellow Sun
On Chesil Beach
and just about to start A Thousand Spendid
Suns for book group.
I feel the need for some light relief when it's my turn to select for book group.
Any ideas for 'quality' contemporary fiction that isn't distressing or bleak?
Ta.

[CoteDAzur]

What is it with book clubs and "A Thousand Splendid Suns"? I read it for mine. Arguably one of the five worst books I ever read.

[FlossieTCake]

I thought the current MN book of the month was pretty bleak... incest and infanticide hardly what you'd call "light reading".

[UnquietDad]

The Clare Chambers book is "The Editor's Wife".

William Sutcliffe is quite funny, but don't try "The Love Hexagon" - it's ThisLife-lite with annoyingly thin characters.

[poodlepusher]

How do you define "literary" fiction though? Surely it has a great deal to do with examining / exploring the nature of the human condition, which if looked at in a balanced way is going to have its share of darkness.