I LOVED Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.

Will add Killers of a Certain Age and The Bodyguard (if you like romance).

I find Marian Keyes books perfect for the times when I want a light and enjoyable read. Plus they are all set in Ireland and London, I think, so I get that pseudo travel experience too.

Anonymous wrote:Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin


I was so surprised by this book, it's so good!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58784475-tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow

I liked this book a lot too and it wasn’t stressful but also not quite what I think of as a romp fwiw

Not a book but I enjoy reading daily science fiction, a website with very short sci fi stories. Some are romps, some are sad, all are quite thoughtful in bite sized pieces, a different story every day
https://dailysciencefiction.com/

OP here

Yes, sci-fi is okay. It’s one of my favorite genres. I just want to avoid downers of whatever genre. So, for example I could enjoy literary versions of Star Trek (I loved the whale movie) or Men in Black, but wouldn’t be interested in Alien.

Thanks, everyone, for all the great suggestions so far. I can’t wait to dive into these. Please keep the ideas coming, I read a lot.

Another vote for the early Stephanie Plum (Janet Evanovich) books. One for the Money and Two for the Dough were such a great start to the series.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin


I was so surprised by this book, it's so good!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58784475-tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow

A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn - a funny, outrageous woman is running from kidnappers. She teams up with a friend of a friend and they have to figure out who is after her and why. It's the start of a series and it's so funny. I'd be stunned if someone didn't make this into a show or movie. Just writing about the book makes me want to read it again.


The Bodyguard by Katherine Carter - A female bodyguard has to protect a celebrity from an obsessed fan.

Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood - NIH scientist and NASA scientist team up on a project and fall in love. So fun.

A romp you say?

A Dirty Job, Christopher Moore

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33456.A_Dirty_Job

Look, all his books are great. This is probably where I’d start. (But, if you want an irreverent read, you could also try Lamb, the gospel according to biff, christ’s childhood pal.)

“Charlie Asher is a pretty normal guy with a normal life, married to a bright and pretty woman who actually loves him for his normalcy. They're even about to have their first child. Yes, Charlie's doing okay—until people start dropping dead around him, and everywhere he goes a dark presence whispers to him from under the streets. Charlie Asher, it seems, has been recruited for a new position: as Death.

It's a dirty job. But, hey! Somebody's got to do it.”
——

Boyfriend Material, Alexis Hall
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50225678-boyfriend-material

Mmm, great plot? Well, it’s fake dating. Definitely good characters. Funny rom com. Some angst. All ends well for our characters. The audiobook is also rather awesome; narrator is great.
——

If you like British comedy and sci fi, you could try To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis. It’s super British.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77773.To_Say_Nothing_of_the_Dog

Her books can make you feel a lot of things. This one I think was a bit less angst. It’s a delight. Uh, but I can’t promise you won’t feel.

“When too many jumps back to 1940 leave 21st century Oxford history student Ned Henry exhausted, a relaxing trip to Victorian England seems the perfect solution. But complexities like recalcitrant rowboats, missing cats, and love at first sight make Ned's holiday anything but restful - to say nothing of the way hideous pieces of Victorian art can jeopardize the entire course of history.“
——

You said no emotional journey. Well… think about the Martian, by Andy Weir.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18007564-the-martian

Yeah, yeah. So maybe it’s a bit emo. But it’s definitely a kind of romp. Super POV. It’s also very funny. And alls well that ends well. And the movie was good, too.

“Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.

Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.”
—-

Also, someone above said Evanovich already, but I also thought the Stephoe Plum books were hilarious. Like twenty years ago, but I remember feeling like I was going to die laughing through the third or fifth one. So, you know, try the ones PP suggested and if you like, give One for the Money a go. Do not watch the movie.

Where did you go Bernadette? By Maria Semple is fun and weird.

Bring on the Blessings by Beverly Jenkins is the first book in the Blessings series that is pretty much a soap opera. It’s low angst, there is a sense of justice (people eventually get what they deserve-good and bad), and it’s definitely fun enough to be entertaining.

Act Like It by Lucy Parker is a romance set in a London theater. Both main characters are genuinely nice people, even if they don’t see it in each other at first.

Any book by Jackie Lau is a comfort read. She writes great descriptions of food though, so they always make me hungry. She usually has at least one free ebook at any given time if you want to try her out.

is sci fi ok? John Scalzi wrote Kaiju Preservation Society during the pandemic as basically "life is hard enough this book is meant to be easy"

The Murderbot series (mostly short novellas) is also very funny, fast plot, and a bit to think about.

I found Janet Evanovich's Fox and O'Hare series a lot of fun. I wasn't a fan of her other books but really like these. There's always a mystery/crime to investigate and a con set up to get the bad guy. Fun!


https://www.goodreads.com/series/99019-fox-and-o-hare

Have you read Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine? It's got some sad elements, but also moments of real joy.

Carl Hiaasen's books might be what you're looking for.

I’m looking for some fun books to read. I don’t care if they have literary merit and am not interested in an emotional journey. I want an interesting plot, some sympathetic characters, and humor is a definite plus, but not necessary. While I’m fine with some conflict, I want a generally positive tone with an overall good outcome for the main characters. So, while I’m open to most genres I wouldn’t be interested in a war, horror, apocalyptic sci-fi, etc. story where they suffer miserably and all die in the end, but a detective who eventually nabs the bad guys would be fine. Character development and world-building is great, as long as it doesn’t bog the story down.

What are some books you’ve gleefully read that I might enjoy too?