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Post by juliab on Jul 10, 2007 9:43:11 GMT -5
Any recommendations for some fun books that are not too taxing? I'm really into Georgette Heyer and her Regency romances. I just re-read These Old Shades for the upteenth time and thoroughly enjoyed it. Pure escapism but you need that sometimes.
I also loved the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich and read all of them starting with "One for the Money". Once again just silly, fun books but the kind that make you laugh out loud.
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Post by elizabeth_h on Jul 10, 2007 12:09:22 GMT -5
Oh yes! I think you'd enjoy "All Hat" by Brad Smith. It is well written, but still a rather light read and very witty. Horse themed too! He has a few other books as well, equally good. I am reading his latest now.
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Post by ClaireLV on Jul 10, 2007 12:37:37 GMT -5
Rita Mae Brown or Lillian Jackson Braun are fun.
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Post by HokieThea on Jul 10, 2007 12:49:02 GMT -5
Julia, I have "All Hat". Do you want it?
Have you read Jilly Cooper? "Riders" is an absolute must!! I reread it every couple of years, and no offense, but my copy is going nowhere!
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Post by Bara on Jul 10, 2007 14:07:53 GMT -5
Georgette Heyer!!!  'These Old Shades' is that the one with 'Devil' in it? And is the heroine Sophie? If my memory hasn't failed me, the next one you need to read is 'Devil's Cub'.  My mum was a Heyer addict and it gave me a life-long love of the Regency period. Ooh - now I have to go and find them all again. I had collected them up again over the years, but they went in the fire (or was it the flood! ;D ) |
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Post by juliab on Jul 10, 2007 15:20:42 GMT -5
Thanks Thea, but I can just get it from the library. I hardly buy any books these days. Tiny little Nokesville has a small branch of the county library in it and they can get just about any book for me. Bara: These Old Shades is the one with the "Devil", but the heroine is Leon the page who later becomes Leonie  Devil's Cub is also excellent You know, those books are wonderful for building vocabulary. My son recently studied for his GRE and he kept asking me the meaning of various words. I knew all of them because Georgette Heyer books are full of the type of wonderful words that aren't used in everyday use anymore. Words such as "vexed" and "enconium" - LOL. |
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Post by brooks on Jul 10, 2007 15:42:03 GMT -5
I bet you'd really enjoy the series by Lillian Jackson Braun, The Cat who......... Story about a man and two cats in a small town and how he got there. Makes me LOL Very light reading.
I also recommend Nora Roberts trilogy Born of Fire, Born of Ice, Born of Shame. I couldn't put them down.
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Post by adcooper on Jul 10, 2007 18:11:44 GMT -5
How about Jody Jaffe?
Horse of a Different Killer
Chestnut Mare, Beware
In Colt Blood
Here's a review of the first book: "A SMART, WITTY MYSTERY. . . The suspense mounts, and the solution surprises.--The Cleveland Plain Dealer
When a quarter-million-dollar show horse and a top trainer are found brutally murdered side by side, Natalie Gold, a reporter for the Charlotte Commercial Appeal, seizes the chance to get off the fashion beat she so detests: she knows the rich, competitive, and devious world of the show horse circuit. Teamed with handsome investigative reporter, Henry Goode, Nattie makes the rounds of the Carolina show horse circuit, pumping society matrons for scandals and tracking down trainers. But as she closes in on the truth, Nattie becomes the target for a series of increasingly savage death threats, not only to herself, but to her beloved horse, Brenda Starr. . . .
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Post by ClaireLV on Jul 10, 2007 22:28:23 GMT -5
Oh good suggestions Ad! Also the Death by Dressage series by someone  Banks. |
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Post by filly on Jul 11, 2007 0:09:20 GMT -5
Ok another book that is light and I really enjoyed for a quick read was The Secret Life of Bees. What an awesome book!
Here are some other great reads:
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons
Oryx and Crake
The Birth of Venus
Namesake
The Dante Club
The curious incident of the Dog in the Nightime
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Post by Bara on Jul 11, 2007 8:05:13 GMT -5
Stop it! Stop it - all of you! ;D
Of course, Julia. Sophy was 'The Grand Sophy' Now which was the one with 'Kitten' (Hero) and 'Sherry'. I so wanted to be Kitten! But then I was about 12.... I always felt GH had two 'recipes' : Older, dark mysterious hero with an evil reputation and fiesty heroine who tames him; and sweet, young bumbling couple ... ;D
Brooks sent me some of 'The Cat Who..' They're great!
Jodi Jaffe sounds fun and horsie/mystery, Ann.
Good heavens, Filly - I've read a few of those, so will defintely look out the others. I've just started 'Traveller'. What a great book! I fear it will make me cry at some point ...
And Jilly Cooper - bless her! I ust succumbed and ordered Wicked, having just re-read 'Polo'. They date, though!
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Post by HokieThea on Jul 11, 2007 8:05:45 GMT -5
Filly, I really liked "The Birth of Venus", even if it didn't end the way I wanted it to!
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Post by HokieThea on Jul 11, 2007 8:08:51 GMT -5
Yea, Bara, Jilly does date a bit, but so what? Horses, money, sex, what more could you ask for in a book! I think Polo was my favorite.
Tell me how Wicked is after you read it, andif it is worth it to order.
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Post by Bara on Jul 11, 2007 8:10:44 GMT -5
And yes - for light, laugh-out-loud reading, I would HEARTILY recommend 'Mapp and Lucia' - a series of books set (and written)in the 20's in a little English village. E.F Benson ... I think. A sort of female Jeeves and Wooster.
If you take to them - there are about half a dozen of them. It is the sort of wit which embarrasses you when you read them on the commuter train - because you just burst out laughing.
Following the fortunes of village politics, with Lucia as undisputed queen. Undisputed, that is, except for Elizabeth Mapp plotting to topple her by exposing her grandiose pretensions. Great fun. It was a TV series here in the (errr 80's, I think).
I would send them on - but - you guessed it. Lost the whole series in the fire ....
MTS - Don't buy 'Wicked' Thea - I'll send it to you - or keep it for you to read when you get here!
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Post by elizabeth_h on Jul 11, 2007 8:18:28 GMT -5
I loved Oryx and Crake! I gave it to my dad to read when he was in the hospital with an infection in his foot. If you have read the book, you will know why this was very fitting.
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Devil's Cub is also excellent 
Banks.
