Guilty Pleasures and More

Delight at being expressive

Indulging in a lighter weight book

My favorite authors are Tolstoy, Flaubert, Joyce and Proust but right now I am reading The Little Engine That Could.   Emo Phillips

Someone great said, "these are the times that try men's [and women's!] soul. Sometimes you just must be silly, or at least less serious about your reading. I'm afraid, in the past that I'm giving the impression that I read nothing but fairly serious tomes. Not true! And to highlight this I thought I'd compose a list of the less than serious books that I have taken great pleasure in.

From the moment I picked the book up until I laid it down I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it.                                                           Groucho Marx

1. Dave Berry's collections, many funny comments on his life.
2. Carl Hiasen many books of fiction based on actual people and things he picked up as a reporter in Florida. 
3. Lisa Lutz's Spellman series. Funny and quick reads with terrific eccentric characters.
4. Several of the Janet Evanovitch books which can be read out of order starting with One for the Money. If you like them you have 18 or more books to read. The last in the series are not as crisp or witty as the first part of the series.
5. The early GM Ford books, to be read in order, the first is Who the Hell is Juanda Fuca.  Loved his detective but also the cast of characters.
6. Now for the more embarrassing ones on the list: I read all of Jan Karon's books which are sweet as syrup and sappy but oddly soothing. They are all about Father Tim who is the cleric in a small town. One of my sisters who shall remain nameless says "I went to bed with these books and they got me through a terrible time in my life," nothing wrong with that.
7. Calvin and Hobbes, the entire set of his cartoon/comics from
   
   years 1988-1996, all marvelous, charming and true. Used whenever anyone is feeling out of sorts. Excellent therapy!
8. I have read all of Patrick Taylor's books and while they are a tad light weight I do love the characters. The Irish Country Doctor is the first and there are seven or so of them.
9. I happen to love all of Marion Keyes books. Granted they are classified as "chick lit" however they are well written and funny, so much more so than Bridgette Jones Diary for example. Start with Watermelon.
10. I love most of Susan Issac's books and even read Even After All These Years twice because I was recommending it to someone and thought, "did I really love it that much?" The answer was yes.
11. I am an avid fan of Robert Parker and absolutely loved all the nearly fifty [!] books that have Hawk and Spenser in them. Great characters and snappy dialogue, what more do you want? When he died [a bit before my Mom who loved him too] Mr. G and I mourned his passing as though he was our personal friend.
12.  Another book I have read at least three times is Straight Man by Richard Russo, one of the funniest books ever and plus he is an excellent author. One of his first books Mohawk  is very good as well.
13. Speaking of funny my favorite book to give people who are going through rough or sad times is Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. It is laugh out loud funny and Mr. G and I ended up quoting passages to each other as we read this one.
14. Almost all of Elizabeth Berg's books are a good read and my favorite Never Change I have read twice and bought as a hard back. 
15. He'd probably kill me for putting his book on my light weight list but even though it's classified as a young adult book Mr. G and I loved The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by the always great Sherman Alexie.

Obviously there are more enjoyable lighter weight books that I'm not recalling at the moment but hey, for a list of plague worthy reads, get crackin'.

Have a wonderful summer

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