# I Want Something Light and Amusing to Read **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [January 24, 2022, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312 "2022-01-24T15:09:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312/81 "2022-01-26T00:22:48Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > Very yes to young adult books. Try Robin McKinley I love her so much. ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312/82 "2022-01-26T00:27:33Z")
_A Year In Provence_ by Peter Mayle is lighthearted and sunny. A British office worker and his wife decide to pull up stakes and move to Provence and renovate an old farmhouse. Lots of gentle fun poked at the locals and at French customs in general, plus descriptions of lovely French food and wine. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312/83 "2022-01-26T00:47:27Z")
> [@eschrodinger](#): > > One of my favorite light and witty and engaging reads is To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis. > > It’s part historical fiction, part sci fi, part tribute to Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome, and part tribute to the first detective novel, The Moonstone, by Wilke Collins, and more. Three Men in a Boat would be a good recommendation too. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312/84 "2022-01-26T00:48:23Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Non-fiction: If you are a fan of “Jeopardy!” see if you can find a copy of Bob Harris’ “Prisoner of Trebekistan”, in which he recounts his experience as a five-time champ, Tournament of Champions participant, and Jeopardy! All-Star. Yeah, that was good. I thought he’d make a good host, but apparently he’s moved to Australia now. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312/85 "2022-01-26T00:52:02Z")
Funnily weird or weirdly funny. _Doorways In the Sand_ - Roger Zelazny ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312/86 "2022-01-26T01:03:12Z")
Three by Max Braithwaite, about growing up and young adulthood/marriage in Saskatchewan during the Depression: _Never Sleep Three in A Bed_ _Why Shoot the Teacher?_ _The Night We Stole the Mountie’s Car_ They’re based on his own life experience, and as @thorny_locust says, although not written as period novels, they essentially are, written by someonewho as a kid who saw the Kaiser being burnt in effigy in small town Saskatchewan on November 11, 1918, ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312/87 "2022-01-26T02:34:05Z")
Just remembered Stephen Leacock’s _Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town_. Definitely fits the criteria of “light and amusing,” especially since Leacock was a humorist. And while Farley Mowat got very heavy in some of his works, he has two that would fit the criteria. First, _The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be_, about his childhood, and the adventures (and misadventures) that he and his dog shared. Next would be _The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float_. Again, autobiographical, but this time he tries to sail a sailboat from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to Montreal, Quebec. And everything that can possibly go wrong, does. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312/88 "2022-01-26T02:38:20Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Farley Mowat got very heavy in some of his works, he has two that would fit the criteria. First, _The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be_ , about his childhood, and the adventures (and misadventures) that he and his dog shared. Next would be _The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float_ I enthusiastically endorse this suggestion, as well as the James Herriott one. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312/89 "2022-01-26T03:19:33Z")
> **[The True Meaning of Smekday (Single Title (One-Off) Book 1) - Kindle edition by...](https://www.amazon.com/Meaning-Smekday-Single-Title-One-Off-ebook/dp/B008RMYVBW)** > > The True Meaning of Smekday (Single Title (One-Off) Book 1) - Kindle edition by Rex, Adam, Rex, Adam. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading... > When twelve-year-old Gratuity (“Tip”) Tucci is assigned to write five pages on “The True Meaning of Smekday” for the National Time Capsule contest, she’s not sure where to begin; when her mom started telling everyone about the messages aliens were sending through a mole on the back of her neck? Maybe on Christmas Eve, when huge bizarre spaceships descended on Earth and the aliens – called Boov – abducted her mother? Or when the Boov declared Earth a colony, renamed it “Smekland” (in honor of glorious Captain Smek), and forced all Americans to relocate to Florida via rocketpod? ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312/90 "2022-01-26T03:23:19Z")
erm didn’t that get adapted into the DreamWorks “home” movie and Netflix series? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312/91 "2022-01-26T03:39:32Z")
> [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > > [@Spoons](#): > > > > Farley Mowat got very heavy in some of his works, he has two that would fit the criteria. First, _The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be_ , about his childhood, and the adventures (and misadventures) that he and his dog shared. Next would be _The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float_ > > I enthusiastically endorse this suggestion, as well as the James Herriott one. Plus 2. (@Spoons, it is becoming apparent that we had the same reading list as teenagers.) (And _The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be_ is another Saskatchewan growing-up-in-the Depression story. It was mind-blowing to me as a kid to start reading a book about places I had actually been to, in my home province. The story of Farley trying to get a skunk out of the cellar with a garden hose stands out in my memory. Mutt, the dog, has other plans.) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312/92 "2022-01-26T03:42:59Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I could never get into Patrick O’Brien’s densely written sea epics. I"m afraid that’s been my reaction as well. I don’t mean to suggest they aren’t good books; but they just never did anything for me, even though I’ve read all of Hornblower (several times), all of Ramage (several times) and many Bolithos. I"ve never got through a Maturin-Aubrey book. It’s odd, considering how popular they are, but I guess @CalMeacham and I are in the minority. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312/93 "2022-01-26T05:01:35Z")
If you like chess, and plot puzzles, then The Eight by Katherine Neville might suit. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312/94 "2022-01-26T05:15:27Z")
I’ll add another voice for Christopher Moore, at least for a few of his books. I see three others in this thread have already suggested his books. His style is vaguely kinda-sorta similar to Vonnegut, to whom he is sometimes compared. My response to that is, well, sort-of but not quite. After reading three of his books, I began to get the sense that once you’ve read three, you’ve read them all. The three I read were Practical Demonkeeping, Coyote Blue, and The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove. I’ll recommend at least those three. ETA: I’ll note that Practical Demonkeeping and Lust Lizard were set in the same city, and although he changed the name, it is a real place and perfectly recognizable to anyone who lives in that region (as I did at the time). ---
**Author:** ![MonkeysBrother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@MonkeysBrother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeysBrother)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312/95 "2022-01-26T05:28:04Z")
Some great stuff suggested here. I can see I’ve got some new authors to explore. But I popped in to suggest William Goldman’s _The Princess Bride_ if you haven’t already read it. One of my all time favorites, and although it’s the same story as the movie, the book is completely different. And much more fun. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312/96 "2022-01-26T10:01:55Z")
The books I always go back to are the _ **Swallows and Amazons** _ series by Arthur Ransome, written and set in the early 1930s. They are nominally children’s books, but they could equally well be called books _about_ children rather than _for_ children, and they’re even more enjoyable for adults. They are difficult to categorise in many ways. The quality of writing is exceptional, and certainly not simplified for children. When Arthur Ransome was asked whether he wrote for adults or children, he said that he didn’t write for any particular audience – he wrote what he enjoyed himself. But like all great children’s writers, he never lost the ability to see the world through the eyes of a child. All the books are about very realistic children from happy, caring families enjoying their school holidays. They are mostly set in the Lake District, but there are several other locations too. That may sound boring, but it’s not. Every book is unique, and the series gets better and better as it goes on. _Swallow_ and _Amazon_ are the names of two small sailing boats, sailed by two sets of children on an 8 mile long lake with islands, in the Lake District in northern England. Sailing is an ongoing theme, and birds too. Across the whole series there are about 14 or 15 children that we get to know well, and many small boats. There are more girls than boys, and the girls tend to be stronger characters. There’s a constant stream of warm humour throughout the books, never slapstick, and never laughing _at_ anyone, but sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. There are sometimes serious and dangerous incidents – even life-threatening incidents – but nothing improbable in the real world. [![](https://i.ibb.co/cDB2XJs/Image00022.jpg) ](https://i.ibb.co/cDB2XJs/Image00022.jpg) _Scene from the 1974 movie of the first book._ > I have often been asked how I came to write _Swallows and Amazons_. The answer is that it had its beginning long, long ago when, as children, my brother, my sisters and I spent most of our holidays on a farm at the south end of Coniston. We played in or on the lake or on the hills above it, finding friends in the farmers and shepherds and charcoal-burners whose smoke rose from the coppice woods along the shore. > > We adored the place. Coming to it, we used to run down to the lake, dip our hands in and wish, as if we had just seen the new moon. Going away from it, we were half drowned in tears. While away from it, as children and as grown-ups, we dreamt about it. No matter where I was, wandering about the world, I used at night to look for the North Star and, in my mind’s eye, could see the beloved skyline of great hills beneath it. > > S_wallows and Amazons_ grew out of those old memories. I could not help writing it. It almost wrote itself. > >     – Arthur Ransome ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312/97 "2022-01-26T10:22:59Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > A fantastic read: The Cheese Monkeys (Chip Kidd) Hey! Mr Kidd was a high school/college friend of my sister. He’s a stupidly talented graphic designer by trade. I suppose I should read this at some point. > [@nightshadea](#): > > erm didn’t that get adapted into the DreamWorks “home” movie and Netflix series? It did, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312/98 "2022-01-26T10:48:09Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I suppose I should read this at some point. You won’t be sorry! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312/99 "2022-01-26T13:04:36Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I’ll add another voice for Christopher Moore, at least for a few of his books. I see three others in this thread have already suggested his books. > > His style is vaguely kinda-sorta similar to Vonnegut, to whom he is sometimes compared. Really? I don’t find his style at all like Vonnegut’s. I’ve never felt the need to quote a Vonnegut witticism every other page the way I do with Moore. In fact, Vonnegut doesn’t seem at all given to witticism. He writes stories that are weird and frequently outrageous, but not laugh-out-loud funny. I don’t find their styles similar at all. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312/100 "2022-01-26T13:17:35Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > > [@Shoeless](#): > > > > Non-fiction: If you are a fan of “Jeopardy!” see if you can find a copy of Bob Harris’ “Prisoner of Trebekistan”, in which he recounts his experience as a five-time champ, Tournament of Champions participant, and Jeopardy! All-Star. > > Yeah, that was good. I thought he’d make a good host, but apparently he’s moved to Australia now. I used to follow his blog fairly regularly, and then about 10 or so years ago he quit updating it and he just seemed to drop off the face of the earth. So _that’s_ where he wound up… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-something-light-and-amusing-to-read/958312.md?page=6)