Any suggestions for light (but not mindless) fiction to download for a vacation?

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe by Fannie Flagg.

@Mariah You’re in the right ballpark but I’ve read them both.

Definitely light, but not mindless: The two older books by Sara Gruen – “Riding Lessons” is the first one. You don’t need to like horses to enjoy that book – it’s about a mother/daughter relationship, mostly. I liked it.

Anything by Christopher Moore. The Stupidest Angel is really wild.

I just read “Three Junes” by Julia Glass and I loved it. It’s a re-read.
As always, if you’ve not read “I Know This Much Is True” by Wally Lamb, it’s my favorite book.
Queen of the South is nearly chick lit, but very compelling. I’m on my third, forth read.

Janet Evanovich is good to have on hand as brain cleanser. I love her, but it’s just fluff.

Dream When You’re Feeling Blue Elizabeth Berg
The Gate To Women’s Country Sheri Tepper

I thought I would hate The Last Dickens, but it was a very good read. Easy to read and convoluted at the same time.

How about some of the Wooster and Jeeves books?

@ibstubro Read it and liked it very much!

@Pachy A good thought.

I don’t recommend The Poe Shadow.

Might have read that too.

Laurie Lee
Cider with Rosie

Fanny Flagg
Welcome to the World Baby Girl

Roddy Doyle
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

Catherine Fox
Angels and Men

Barbara Kingsolver
Animal Dreams

Haven’t read Angels and Men or Cider with Rosie; read and liked the rest.

Great list!

@janbb I loved both of these books, if you read them I’d love to know what you think.

Will look for them – if not for this trip, soon.

Ok – I’ve so far bought Angels and Men and Riding Lessons and pre-ordered Kate Atkinson’s next book. I’m reading a JoJo Moyo and have something else called The Husband’s Secret that a friend recommended. I should be in good shape for a week!

I will often take a John Buchan novel when travelling. He wrote The Thirty-Nine Steps (which the Hitchcock film was based on), among other mysteries. Often they’re set in Scotland, among the moors.

@dappled_leaves Nice. I loved The 39 Steps. I went through a period in my 20s and 30s where I brought a Dickens novel with me on long vacations; read my way through most of them.

The book of Negros. My mom loves the book.

Almost anything by Maeve Binchy.

@gailcalled I think I’ve read all one of her novels.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.

Coyote Blue, by Christopher Moore

I found out about him last summer when we read Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Best Friend, and I’ve been buying and reading his stuff since then. Coyote Blue was funny, tragic, surprising, spiritual and witty as hell. I’ve read it three times in the past five months (along with several other books), and enjoyed it more each time.

Anything by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Happy reading!

John Le Carre A Delicate Truth (his latest)

Nick Hornby Funny Girl (Just came out in the US!)

I could send you my first novel, and/or what I have of my second. But, in truth, I don’t read much outside of reference materials and philosophy. Funny that, I write and create purely sci-fantasy stories though.

I read ‘the eaters of the dead’, which I thought was good. It’s the book basis for the movie ‘The 13th Warrior’ with Antonio Banderas in it. I recommend it; it’s a speed read though, I finished it in one evening/sitting.

@Sinqer Thanks but not into sci-fi at all although I do enjoy good time travel novels (and am teaching a course on it soon.)

Probably not vacation fare (although I would), but The Path Between the Seas reads smoother than most of the fiction I’ve read lately. I highly recommend it – best of the best if you like history with suspense instead of all the dry statistics. I’m about ⅓ through it and I can hardly pull myself away.

I’m on the lookout for other stories histories by Mcullough.

Anything by Sandra Dallas, but especially The Diary of Mattie Spenser and Alice’s Tulips and The Persian Pickle Club

Anything by Nancy Thayer, but especially The Summer House and Beachcombers and the Hot Flash Club Series (make sure to read them in order).

A Girl Named Zippy and the sequel, She Got Up Off the Couch by Haven Kimmel.

Anything by Liane Moriarty, but especially The Last Anniversary and Three Wishes

Anything by Rosamunde Pilcher, but especially Winter Solstice and Coming Home and The Shell Seekers and Wild Mountain Thyme

Anything by Fannie Flagg, but especially Standing in the Rainbow and Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven

The Lumby Series by Gail Fraser (best read in order).

The Miss Julia Series by Ann B. Ross (best read in order).

All the Philippa Gregory Tudor novels. Beheadings, sex (including hideous sex), great wardrobes, danger, great characters, stunning politics, plenty of historical amazingness.

That is, all the novels about the Tudor reign by Philippa Gregory.

@susanc have read and liked a number of them.

You might like Drawing in the Dust by Zoe Klein.

A friend out there recommended Americanah by Adichie. Picked it up, started it and am loving it.

I buy hardback books, second hand. As a middle-aged white male, my guilty little secret is that I can hardly resist fiction from Oprah’s book club. I just bought “The Invention of Wings”. I’ve not started it due to having another book open, but it’s next up.

@ibstubro That’s a great book. I’m leading two discussion sessions of it for my congregation in April.

I think you’d like Drawing In The Dust as well.

@canidmajor Sounds good!

Started “The Invention of Wings”. I can tell that it might be the next book I read, too.
As I get older I prefer a great re-read to ‘The Bestsellers List’.

Have your read Wally Lamb?