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Need light reading for book club

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Hi. Our book club needs some relatively light reading for the next few months - one of our members was recently the victim of a violent crime, and we don't want to read anything too intense or upsetting or depressing for awhile. Any recommendations? We want something interesting and challenging, but without violence or too much sadness...no animals/children/cute old people dying, etc.

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So sorry to hear about your book club member's ordeal. Sincere wishes for a strong recovery on all levels! :wub:

 

Don't know if I'd call it challenging, but I've been enjoying "Girls Like Us" by Sheila Weller. It's about Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon, but is not a cut & dried bio of the three women. Where it would have been very easy to make this a 3-part bio, the author divides each section into a 4 or 5 year time span, and the narrative describes the lives of these women during that time, from their girlhood insecurities, family lives, and how their music shaped their lives (and obviously the lives of others). It's a glimpse back to the days when women weren't always so accepted in the music industry, to the wild and free times of the LA scene in the 1960's, to.... I'm not sure yet, because I'm still reading it. The author describes it in her acknowledgments as "three women, three moments, one journey." I'm enjoying it very much and my boyfriend is anxious to read it when I'm done. In the back of the book, the author poses questions and topics for discussion, too.

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I'm not good with Book Clubs, but here are some lighter, I-don't-think-anyone-dies books I've enjoyed:

 

Adriana Trigiani Valentine series - first two are out, 3rd due early next year I think. Very Valentine, Brava Valentine. Something by Peter Mayle or Frances Mayes (A Year in the World - such lovely travel essays)

Summer We Read Gatsby?

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One of my favorite authors is Jennifer Crusie (old stuff, her new collaborative efforts are well....not good) Funny, romance novels with a cast of crazy characters. In my opinion her best is Welcome to Temptation.

 

 

ETA: Ithink there is a dead body in that one - very weird side story. Try Bet Me or Manhunting. Bet Me has better supporting characters.

Edited by branchop

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Two wonderful authors come to mind. If you have not read "I Capture the Castle" by Dodie Smith, I recommend it. this novel, written in diary form, of an intriguing, eccentric English family who live in a 14th century castle in the English countryside. It has humor, joy and a charm of its own.

 

Perhaps it is time to read or read Barbara Pym, sort of a 20th century Jane Austen. Her books, although also written about a small slice of English life, have wit and depth and wonderful writing.

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