Recommend me some light and breezy, hard to put down books

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Finished Mason & Dixon a while ago, and now I need something engaging to read, except I'm def not in the mood for something I'd have to slog through. Strangely, I thought that Brothers Karamazov would be the thing, obviously it isn't, and now am hankering for Moby Dick. I am lit b*itch to the core.

― Leee (Leee), Friday, 18 April 2003 22:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Madame Bovary has been fun so far...

― Frühlingsmute (Wintermute), Friday, 18 April 2003 23:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Phillip K. Dick or Kurt Vonnegut are your friends here.

― Andrew (enneff), Friday, 18 April 2003 23:26 (twenty-two years ago)

i found "getting even", a 103 pg collection of woody allen's "humourous essays" circa early 70s, and it's pretty much the funniest thing i've ever read. depending on yr reading speed, it should keep you busy for a mid-afternoon or so.

― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Friday, 18 April 2003 23:34 (twenty-two years ago)

The Manuscript Found at Saragossa - Jan Potocki

― Girolamo Savonarola, Friday, 18 April 2003 23:34 (twenty-two years ago)

i found it lying in a pile in the garage.

― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Friday, 18 April 2003 23:35 (twenty-two years ago)

But what about Moby Dick?

― Leee (Leee), Friday, 18 April 2003 23:44 (twenty-two years ago)

If I want to completely disconnect myself from thought while reading, I read one of the Sweet Potato Queens or Bridget Jones books.

If you're looking for something a little more intellectual, though... well, I found Anthem by Ayn Rand to be a light read. It's just not something I'd personally read at the end of a taxing week. For that, I'd read one of the aforementioned books.

― Dee the Lurker (Dee the Lurker), Saturday, 19 April 2003 00:13 (twenty-two years ago)

The Manuscript Found at Saragossa - Jan Potocki

You crazy man. ;-) Though this IS a good book.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 19 April 2003 00:31 (twenty-two years ago)

you want light? try "Blue Heaven" by Joe Keenan (writer/producer of Frazier) - um, think 80's NYC set, gay P.G. Wodehouse.

― H (Heruy), Saturday, 19 April 2003 01:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Blue Heaven is one of my all time favorites!

I didn't like Puttin' on the Ritz as much, though

― luna (luna.c), Saturday, 19 April 2003 01:05 (twenty-two years ago)

the real pg wodehouse is always good

― duane, Saturday, 19 April 2003 01:09 (twenty-two years ago)

and you can get PG free on line!! (which is great)

and Luna I agree that 'Puttin' on the Ritz' aint as good as 'Blue Heaven' but is still Philip, Gilbert & Claire. You gotta love it.

― H (Heruy), Saturday, 19 April 2003 01:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I have to find that and read it again

― luna (luna.c), Saturday, 19 April 2003 01:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Anything by Todd Moore... especially DILLINGER.
http://members.cowtown.net/psychotex/headgame.gif-a

― Black Angus, Saturday, 19 April 2003 01:20 (twenty-two years ago)

If you're looking for something a little more intellectual, though... well, I found Anthem by Ayn Rand to be a light read.

Easy to put down, tho ;-)

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Saturday, 19 April 2003 01:26 (twenty-two years ago)

War and Peace, obviously. A mere pamphlet, full of light-hearted banter and wit.

― ChristineSH (chrissie1068), Saturday, 19 April 2003 01:31 (twenty-two years ago)

anything by Tom Wolfe

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 19 April 2003 01:32 (twenty-two years ago)

did anyone read Glamorama? Read a couple chapters of that in the bookstore today and it was as utter fookin shite as expected.

― Aaron A., Saturday, 19 April 2003 01:36 (twenty-two years ago)

i was going to say pg wodehouse as well
what's this about free online though?
where?

― robin (robin), Saturday, 19 April 2003 01:38 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.unityspot.com/arthurs/free.html

you get PG, Saki (who is amazing if you are unfamilar with)
all Alexandre Dumas, Jane Austen and others

basically if it is over 50 years old its there or you can e-mail and they'll put it on or direct to links that have it

― H (Heruy), Saturday, 19 April 2003 01:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Arthur Nersesian's The Fuck-Up was passable, for a book put out by MTV.

Chuck Palahniuk's Survivor

Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried is incredible.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Saturday, 19 April 2003 01:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Anything by Steinbeck reads easy.

― jm (jtm), Saturday, 19 April 2003 01:54 (twenty-two years ago)

i've been meaning to read saki...
there is a book of his around though,i'd sooner not read off a screen
good to know wodehouse is available online...

― robin (robin), Saturday, 19 April 2003 02:18 (twenty-two years ago)

"Positively Fifth Street" by James McManus is ostensibly about the 2000 World Series Of Poker and a sleazy Vegas lover's triangle murder, but it also gets deep into game theory, the history of poker, the history of Vegas, artificial intelligence, Sylvia Plath, brain chemistry, stripper culture, and lots of other stuff. He works in hipster-ish music references (Velvets, Lucinda Williams) in an uncringeworthy manner, which I almost never see. It's really good even if you don't care much about poker.

The new Nicholson Baker ("A Box Of Matches") is great.

― dan (dan), Saturday, 19 April 2003 02:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Carl Hiaasen is great.
Arthur Bradford's got a real charming book of short stoires called Dogwalker or Dogwalkers, I could go into the next roomand check, but I can't be bothered cause I'm listening to Mojave 3 for the first time in two years, and don't feel like moving my legs. But Bradford's got a real gentle and sympathetic voice. It's not Lite Reading, but he's not in love with style.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Saturday, 19 April 2003 03:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Any Neal Stephenson would do

― Chris Barrus (Chris Barrus), Saturday, 19 April 2003 03:21 (twenty-two years ago)

alternatlely, if youlike mysteries the old Dorothy Sayer 'Peter Wimsey' stories are fun

more modern - Dona Leon's Guido Brunetti stories set in venice are fun train/plane type books. Well-written, atmospheric books (venice is the star)

Actually, have odd story re series; in '99 or so, buying a bunch of books and while standing in line the woman in front of me was asking for mystery series recommendations from the clerk. He couldn't help and so I recommended this series and the woman was happy till I said 'they're all set in Venice' at that point she said
"I don't read anything set outside the US"
My jaw dropped and I honestly did not know what to say to her. However, fun, well-written mystery series if you're into that.

― H (Heruy), Saturday, 19 April 2003 03:35 (twenty-two years ago)

milan kundera, maybe.

if i wasn't so lazy i'd probably still read books.

― brian badword (badwords), Saturday, 19 April 2003 05:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Glamorama SUXORED.

― nathalie (nathalie), Saturday, 19 April 2003 06:29 (twenty-two years ago)

what andrew said

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Saturday, 19 April 2003 09:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I liked Glamorama. Besides Wodehouse, Richard Brautigan fits the bill.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 19 April 2003 09:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Martin: Arthur Bradford will please you if you like Brautigan. A much better follower in the tradition or style or whatever of RB than Tom Robbins (as he used to be known).

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Saturday, 19 April 2003 18:35 (twenty-two years ago)

potocki is pretty great.

read 'the man without qualities'.

― mike robot, Saturday, 19 April 2003 18:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Recent light reading I've enjoyed.

White Teeth - Zadie Smith
The Dark Materials trilogy - Philip Pullman (you can't beat junior lit for entertainment value)

― David Beckhouse (David Beckhouse), Saturday, 19 April 2003 22:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Julian Barnes: Talking it Over and Love, Etc., or A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters. (I'm not sure I've ever read Barnes when not on vacation.)

― nabisco (nabisco), Saturday, 19 April 2003 23:10 (twenty-two years ago)

The phone book = lightest and breeziest read imaginable. I mean, all those names that start with X!

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Sunday, 20 April 2003 08:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Andrey Kurkov - Death and the Penguin
John Fante - Ask The Dust
Bukowski - Post Office
Raul Nunez - The Lonely Hearts Club
Knut Hamsun - Victoria
Banana Yoshimoto - NP
Nathaneal West - Miss Lonelyhearts

― jel -- (jel), Sunday, 20 April 2003 08:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Also, get some Milan Kundera up ya. Spiffing stuff. (esp Immortality)

― Andrew (enneff), Sunday, 20 April 2003 11:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Halldor Laxness - The Atom Station Weirdos in iceland. Vaguely reminiscent of Pynchon, from Iceland's biggest modern author. He mostly writes "thicker" stuff, with a strong traditional epic feel, but The Atom Station is fun & light.

― Dave Fischer, Sunday, 20 April 2003 15:46 (twenty-two years ago)

So with PKDick, what should I start off with having read none of him before?

― Leee (Leee), Sunday, 20 April 2003 21:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I find that genre fiction is the best way to unwind after hacking through something denser. Crime in particular, people like Elmore Leonard, Christopher Brookmyre etc = fun.

― Matt (Matt), Sunday, 20 April 2003 22:02 (twenty-two years ago)

If you haven't read any David Sedaris books then that is a must. Light, breezy, hard to put down. You will only hate him if you hate fun.

― Carey (Carey), Sunday, 20 April 2003 22:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I just read all of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House today, but I hesitate to call it 'light and breezy.'

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 20 April 2003 22:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Read Moby Dick! It's as American as baseball. Need I say more?

(Vanity Fair is also a laugh.)

― felicity (felicity), Sunday, 20 April 2003 22:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Moby Dick = slog to end all slogs, obviously. But I'm not getting into this argument again ;)

Raymond Chandler is your friend here. And anything by Wilkie Collins has that real impossible-to-put-down-whilst-retaining-C19th-litcred factor to it.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Sunday, 20 April 2003 23:31 (twenty-two years ago)

slog to end all slogs

Matt, you probably wouldn't like baseball, either. ;)

― felicity (felicity), Sunday, 20 April 2003 23:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Moby Dick = slog to end all slogs, obviously. But I'm not getting into this argument again

I picked up Moby Dick out of curiosity a couple of years ago, and had no trouble at all finishing it. I've bailed on many so-called "classics" that were just too tedious, but this one was no problem for me. It would probably help to have more than a passing interest in the finer points of 19th century whaling though.

― o. nate (onate), Sunday, 20 April 2003 23:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually, I should say, if you can muster at least a passing interest, Melville's colorful descriptions will quickly pull you in.

― o. nate (onate), Sunday, 20 April 2003 23:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Come on, the "clam or cod?" chowder conversation was very interesting. And they drink Starbucks.

― felicity (felicity), Sunday, 20 April 2003 23:43 (twenty-two years ago)

If you like Japan this book is real good (hard to put down), yet light and breezy:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0525937072/qid=1050895723/sr=1-9/ref=sr_1_9/103-7575244-5609439?v=glance&s=books#product-details

― A Nairn (moretap), Monday, 21 April 2003 02:30 (twenty-two years ago)

W. G. Wells is great. My personal fave is "When the Sleeper Wakes". Also, Pippi Longstocking stories are fantastic.

― Dave Fischer, Monday, 21 April 2003 04:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Also many classic childrens novels are really good light reads. Like The Westing Game, Wrinkle in Time, Phantom Tollbooth, Redwall, Rats of NIMH, etc.

― A Nairn (moretap), Monday, 21 April 2003 04:18 (twenty-two years ago)

"The Manuscript Found at Saragossa - Jan Potocki "
See the movie of this book too!!

― A Nairn (moretap), Monday, 21 April 2003 04:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Early pulp stuff. Doc Savage.

― Dave Fischer, Monday, 21 April 2003 04:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, you can't have it, but my little brother wrote some tall tales for his English class last year that I made copies of and read whenever I need a lift. (At thirteen he's a better writer than I'll probably ever be, the fucker). They're little one-side-of-one-page stories about Slow Sam, the Slowest Gun in the West, and they crack me up. The first sentence of the first story is:

Slow Sam walked into Ye Olde Towne Tavern, slowly.

I giggle every time I read it.

― jewelly (jewelly), Monday, 21 April 2003 06:12 (twenty-two years ago)

With Philip K Dick start with his "Beyond Lies the Wub" short story collection.

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 21 April 2003 09:02 (twenty-two years ago)

For Dick, I'd recommend starting with Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep or Ubik, or if you want short stories I'd recommend whatever collection has Second Variety in it. If it has Minority Report as well, even better. I don't know what collections there are nowadays.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 21 April 2003 16:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Kitchen Confidential

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 21 April 2003 17:04 (twenty-two years ago)

James M. Cain. He's great. Read him already. I'd tell you to read Double Indemnity. It's so goth. Surprisingly. But they're all good. So you could pick. Whichever. You like.

― chester (synkro), Monday, 21 April 2003 21:52 (twenty-two years ago)

And they drink Starbucks.

Felicity, I'm not sure if this makes sense, but you are a very bad mang.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 07:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Ted Chiang's "Stories of Your Life and Others"
Short stories and not one dud

― weatheringdaleson (weatheringdaleson), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 07:41 (twenty-two years ago)

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