Recommend me books that aren't heavy and don't require a lot of concentration

Non-fiction that isn't memoirs

Try anything of Mark Kurlansky's -- classic modern pop nonfiction about things like cod and salt and how they enabled humanity to thrive. Fun, informative, easy to read.

You want a bit of Vonnegut, miss. And maybe some of K Dick's short story collections?

Novels: The Salterton Trilogy by Robertson Davies, As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathon Lethem, Myra Breckinridge by Gore Vidal.
The recent Walter Isaacson bio of Albert Einstein is really good. Simon Winchester is pretty tolerable for pop sci/culture non-fiction. Daniel Boorstin has a good one on synchronicity among inventors/thinkers (can't remember the title) and Cleopatra's Nose: Essays on the Unexpected which is about surprise and discovery in science and history.

For some light but literate reading with a splash of sci-fi you might want to check out David Mitchell, as well. Cloud Atlas is his most acclaimed book, but I favour Ghostwriten, his debut.

I also just put all the Skippyjon Jones books on my library list - bilingual little kid's books about a siamese kitten that has a chihuahua alter ego. If you want something completely silly. I'm also partial to Cynthia Heimel's essay collections (Take Your Tongue out of my Mouth, I'm Kissing you Good-bye, for example). Sparkle Hayter's books are light and funny, but possibly too detective-y. And Mark Harris's Pictures at a Revolution was a great read about the 5 very different movies that were up for Best Picture in 1968.

And, Douglas Wolk's Reading Comics, about graphic novels, is outstanding.

"the size of thoughts"; collection of essays by nicholson baker?

rudy rucker's "postsingular" is good fun. scifi. it's online even.

rushdie's "haroun and the sea of stories"...

the princess bride isn't a bad book. (eh, fantasy?)

i'd recommend harry crews' "classic crews" collection. good southern gothic tales of sex, freaks, and woe.

"leadership and self-deception"...by the arbinger institute. looks like a business book so that gives it points off, but in a really light way, it points out this kind of profound tidbit.

i don't know what the fuck i'm talking about really.
m.

the man who only loved numbers by paul hoffman, a short biography about one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century: paul erdos. short, easy to read, engaging, fascinating, lots of funny anecdotes and brief histories of other notable mathematicians.

If we're talking Rushide, I loved The Moor's Last Sigh.

do you like conspiracy theory books, abbott? i mean, not bullshit conspiracy theory stuff written by loons, but stuff that is actually researched and genuinely interesting; if so, you should read anything written by david a. yallop, i think you'd particularly like the day the laughter died, about fatty arbuckle.

Terry Pratchett, Wodehouse, Dave Barry, Jerome K. Jerome

the da vinci code

My personal literary junkfood is celeb bios and music bios. You can't go wrong with that shit.

I mean, not "celeb", like, tabloid stalwarts, but more like just, famous human beings in general.

if u dig on murakami, borges! any of ti!

*it

also this:

"the name of the rose" by umberto eco

and foucault's pendulum also by eco

(im recommending those based on ur like of murakami, btw--the eco books are "mysteries" but not really "detective stories" and they might be "heavy" but i dont know what that means exactly--long? "literary"?)

patricia highsmith! she rules.

borges is kinda heavy, isn't he? or am i just retarded? i mean, i always felt like you have to spend a lot of time figuring shit out with him.

there's non-detective-y highsmith like lesbian coming of age "thriller" price of salt

I don't like Murakami so much. I think I have some disease.

Any of Jonathon Lethem's books would be worth reading, and like Murakami and Bradbury, if you like one, you can then spent a few weeks monomaniacally reading everything else. Many are basically fantasy and/or detective, but not in the sense of elves or cats who solve crimes or anything. If you like Murakami, you will probably also like Lethem. There's short stories and a novella or two.

Any of David Markson's notecard books (This Is Not a Novel, Reader's Block, Vanishing Point) may be of some interest. Having virtually no plot and being nothing but fragments of text, you can read them a line at a time and still get through them. They are not usual books though.

idk i always recommend Sam Lipsyte's Homeland for people wanting a lite/funny novel but still incredibly well-written. seriously it is lol & matches what i think of as ilx humor. still some depth too but not "touching" or anything so dont worry

Eco has a little collection of essays too: How to Travel with a Salmon. Florence King has a few collections out - she's a witty southern misanthrope.

burning chrome by william gibson (sci-fi sort of, short stories)

'ada' by vladimir nabokov is funny and sexy so far (i'm about halfway through). i'd second borges but yeah he's more heavy than playful, tons of short stories though (check 'collected fictions').

borges is kinda heavy, isn't he?

Nah, his stuff is pretty abstract and gives the reader a lot to think about, but it's always very readable.

patricia highsmith! she rules.

Yes, she does.

I'll third Borges. Check out Ficciones or The Aleph, and if you like either of those, then just drop $15 for The Collected Fictions, which includes pretty much every short story (well, many of them aren't exactly "stories", but anyways) that he ever wrote.

Borges: I agree with chap in that there's a lot in there, but it's not "heavy" as in in abstruse or tough work getting through or anything.

haha i thought abbott was saying "infinite jest" et al weren't heavy in the og post (and was like uh). borges' subject matter can be a little bleak (murders, deaths, tyrants), but he's not heavy in the "hard work" sense. he has some playful exhilarating stuff too i, like the "orbis tertius" story which like blew my mind. i also love "the immortal" and "the south," but those are on the darker side i guess.

Bill Bryson's written some readable and amusing travel type books, and his "short history of nearly everything" science tome is, while a really long book, completely readable and awesome fun. I love the back-stabbing, credit-stealing scientific community!

yeah borges is "heavy" if you want him to be, but fun if youd rather. highsmith is a motherfucker too, any of the ripley books are good (as are the lesbian ones!)

borges isnt for everyone tho obviously. i just recommend him to everyone cause im in college and im a lit major and i have a ponytail.

i'm a sensitive holden caulfield.

richard russo, straight man = funny as shit

i was going to recommend straight man but i couldn't tell if my perspective on it is skewed because i'm around lol academics so much. it is really funny...i guess it could be considered sentimental, though.

i didnt like straight man as much as i liked empire falls. and nobody's fool. theyre sentimental but pretty funny about it!

the raw shark texts by steven hall: a page-turner about a guy being hunted by a conceptual shark who feeds off his memories/identity. has cool illustrations constructed out of text.

a handful of dust - waugh (funny shit)
portnoy's complaint - roth (novel, but def on the non-heavy side)
civilwarland in bad decline - george saunders (short stories, funny shit)
only yesterday - frederick lewis allen (a cultural/social/political history of the 1920s, written in 1930. not a hard read, very amusing and interesting)

Try anything of Mark Kurlansky's -- classic modern pop nonfiction about things like cod and salt and how they enabled humanity to thrive. Fun, informative, easy to read.

This is excellent advice.

I can't believe that, in a discussion of non-heavy, good books, Rushdie's name has been mentioned. (OK, Haroun might be different, but really: Say No To Rushdie. Let's not lead Abbott up the primrose path to the magic carpet here.)

Borges is a good call: so brief yet suggestive.

Lethem I back I guess: the short stories, eg the collection Men & Cartoons that I really quite liked - go for that, Abbott?

What about Fitzgerald? He wrote a ton of short stories, widely available.

For that matter what about Carver or - yes! - Lorrie Moore?

Lorrie Moore

Lorrie Moore

There is a series of short story collections called "The Best American Non-Required Reading" that is really good. I think there's 4 of them so far--seems to fit perfectly into what you are looking for.

Yes, the Best American series. There's also a Best American Science and Nature writing (from a different publisher?) that I've read and been impressed with. A good analog for your missing pop-sci, and I can vouch for its readability under adverse conditions, since I've only read them on long days at hospitals.

Just thought of a good page turner: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon.

And in general bookstores and libraries seem to be full now of these general annual collections, and more targeted things like The Paris Review Book for Planes, Trains, Elevators, and Waiting Rooms and so on. I'm sure they're all calculated attempts by publishers to retain some semblence of profitability without risking everything on single authors, but I have yet to pick a truly bad one up.

Paris Review is usually a sign of quality, non?

how is the master & margarita for this (i just started it)

the master and the margarita is great for this!

M&M is kinda overrated methinks but its enjoyable. Kinda one note.

you're kinda one note

*rimshot*

OK this may already have been mentioned but big ups for Wodehouse. He's become my go-to vacation read!

Master and Margarita is AWESOMES for this except for the four or so Pilate chapters, which are hard to get through.

off topic, sorry, but could i just ask on this thread: 1) did alfred hitchcock write any books 2) is there a novel version of the birds? 3) if so, did hitch write it?

my boss is telling me all sorts of things today...about her favorite books and such...and it all sounds so crazy.

she also told me that i should watch "black christmas," which hitchcock directed, based on the novel by...alfred hitchcock. imdb put the nix on that one.

it's just sort of amazing to me that people would make things like that up? not out of insecurity or anything, but just because accuracy isn't a priority...strange.

re: M&M and Pilate - yeah Pilate is brought back around in the end, and I'm sure my non-lit-major mind is probably missing something but I really didn't get what he was trying to do with his little "re-telling" of the crucifixion myth/story. Fairly lame. Preferred Saramago's "The Gospel According to Jesus Christ" or hell even Moorcock's "Behold the Man" for that kind of thing.

Pilate:Master & Margarita::Black Freighter:Watchmen

The Birds is by Daphne du Maurier. I don't think Hitch wrote any novels. You could always google this stuff.

xxpost

and I'm sure my non-lit-major mind is probably missing something but I really didn't get what he was trying to do with his little "re-telling" of the crucifixion myth/story.

i think i read about what he was trying to do with Pilate in the intro or something after i read this (and i just read it in june for the first time) and ha, yeah, i forgot already what he was trying to do

Pilate:Master & Margarita::Black Freighter:Watchmen

lolz this may very well be and I usually am a big fan of the story-within-a-story style narrative but I just couldn't mentally draw the connections between what happens in the Pilate re-telling and the main action of the novel. There don't seem to be any analogous characters, the stories don't bear much resemblance to one another (whereas w/the Black Freighter its kinda blindingly obvious who the main character's dilemma applies to)

Yes but they were both BORING. Is more what I meant.

hahahaha

Abbott, have you read The Road? I think you'd like it.
Control F isn't seeing any mention thereof.

Cormac McCarthy's the Road?!? that's a joke, right?

Dislikes:
• Shit about murders, deaths, incest, genocides, tyrants, etc.

Regardless of that caveat, I think she'd like it. It's a tense book that never betrays the reader's trust and never goes for the cheap kick in the nuts.

It is a post-apocalyptic thing, right? :S

I think I am going to read Sting's biography. It better be hilarious, tho, or I'll be super pissed!

Kingsley Amis On Drink!!!

I think you would love this book, Abbott.

I like m&m so far, mostly because of the cat that rides the bus and tries to pay bus fare . But I'm only 50 pages in. Its pretty pageturny at least!

Oh please dear Abbott don't give that pretentious twat (Sting) one ounce of your reading brain.
Plus, how much tantric sex can you really stomach reading about?

Read a biography of Aerosmith instead. "Dream On...the Story of Aerosmith" is a great start.

Read the zep bio "hammer of the gods"!

ANYTHING BUT STING!!!

motley crue - "the dirt"

But aimurchie that is why I want to read it! he is so fucking full of himself & sleazy, like some snotty, upscale Klaus Kinski.

I h8 teh Aerosmith, sorry. Read "Hammer of the Gods" in HS, which was basically required extracurricular reading along w/1984 & A Clockwork Orange. I think I'm sticking to Sting! I'm mad at rock & roll these days. We had a falling out.

Speaking of things that aren't heavy, I read about 20 "spiderman loves maryjane" comics last night

I am so sorry that we can't be friends anymore. Hate Aerosmith?
Goodbye!

(How can you HATE Aerosmith? That's like punching a pillow. HATING Sting - now that's a worthy place for the emotion of intense dislike.)

It's kind of like somebody saying they HATE the Red Sox - except it's Aerosmith.

hey i hate the red sox and love sting so f u aimurchie

abbott--read some sherman alexie books

also you might try elmore leonard who writes 'crime' novels but theyre always light and usually pretty funny

I'm currently reading Monkey, Arthur Waley's pretty well-regarded abridged translation of The Journey to the West. lots of zany antics, and some pretty funny satire of Chinese bureaucracy. like anything with a bunch of Chinese names in it, it takes a mild amount of effort for me to avoid getting people mixed up, but the main characters all have pretty distinctive names, so that's not too much of a problem. and besides, it's so ridiculous that sometimes it's fun to just sit back and let it all wash over you without needing to know exactly what's happening to who.

wait I guess maybe that would fall under fantasy? but it's more like mythology. also, it doesn't suck the way fantasy does.

motley crue the dirt is awesomely junky popcorn delight. woohoo.

"how is the master & margarita for this (i just started it)"

awesome book but uh you do need a lot of concentration. that said, it's a CLASSIQUE.

max – I completely should! I saw Alexie speak a couple times (he was always up in Boise for some reason), and he's great! I mean, he's great at talking, and the excerpts he read from his books were rad too. But I had completely forgotten about him so thank you for reminding me.

Hrabal - I served the king of England
Tai Chi Yamada - Strangers

yeah i think hes sort of perfect for what youre looking for, like a native american lorrie moore or something

i mean, uh, like a lorrie moore concerned with native american communities

He is a bro.

Read the zep bio "hammer of the gods"!

-- bell_labs, Saturday, August 16, 2008 2:07 AM (17 hours ago) Bookmark Link

FISH INCIDENT

i just want to remind you again, abbott, of those david yallop conspiracy books i recommended, particularly 'in god's name' (about the pope before that last one, who was only in office 30 days before he MYSTERIOUSLY DIED - it's all about the MOB and intrigue and shit and it's awesome), and also 'beyond reasonable doubt?' (about the murder of a family in rural nz many years ago, and the dude that was wrongly accused and dodgy cops and the fucked judicial system).

from what i've read of alexie, reservation blues is the most enjoyable one. indian killer is him being really pissed off for 400 pages and it's not much fun.

Also, don't read the incredibly douchey, self-fellating article he wrote for the Stranger recently.

Not sure Alexie is aiming for enjoyable.
Could you link the Stranger article?

"The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" is great -I guess it's his first collection? His short stories give context to his novels. As does his poetry. To both.

It's great that you saw him read/tell/speak. or HEAR him, as you more aptly put it.

I saw Galway Kinnell read this weekend - outside! - which was amazing. I like poetry, especially good poetry, especially good poetry read well in a beautiful setting.
I am lucky.

I just finished Joyce Carol Oates "Middle Age: A Romance". Which is heavy and required, for me, a lot of concentration. (But it's so fucking well written.)
But it also reminded me of Anne Tyler, who is sort of a user friendly Joyce Carol Oates. I read "The Amateur Marriage" and "Digging to America" this summer. She's great - I hadn't read her for awhile, so it was fun to rediscover her. Like J.C. Oates, she seems to publish something every season. Prolific to the point of exhaustion.

Louise Erdrich? Heavy? I don't think so, but others do.

I'm trying to think of guy novels!
have you ever read "Carter Beats The Devil?" That would fit your credentials!

I have come upon a perfect book for you, Abbott.
"The Zookeepers Wife" by Diane Ackerman.

It's a biography that takes some literary advantage of the writers incredibly informed knowledge of the people, animals and the setting...she did a ton of research.
She wrote " A Natural History of the Senses", which is also an amazing book. it's hard to describe her writing.

I just know you will love this! Although it is heart wrenching.

Thz aimurchies!

So right now I'm reading Bleak House. ...