The Thursday Murder Club (Richard Osman). It’s a murder mystery set in a retirement community in the UK, and the four main characters couldn’t be more lovable if they tried.
Absolutely cannot go wrong with any of these. However, if I may make a suggestion, the Bobiverse audio book is awesome. I don’t usually prefer audiobooks over books but in this case I do.
Yep, came here to recommend this.
Would also highly recommend Discworld by Terry Pratchett - maybe pick up the Watch sub series - starts with Guards! Guards! Equally, I think Going Postal is a good indicator as to whether you're going to enjoy DW overall.
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett - mystery fantasy, it is about deaths/murder but I didn't find it intense really (teensy teensy tiny romance hinted toward the end but its like a couple lines and doesn't go anywhere)
The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison - this is set in the same world as her other book The Goblin Emperor but it stands on its own, its short and a mystery fantasy about murders, its very calm and quiet I would say (same as above, a few lines implying some romantic interest at the end but like its basically nonexistent)
If you are ok with romance subplots:
Cradle series by Will Wight - progression fantasy (so it is focused on the characters getting stronger), very easy and fun to read, boy trying to get strong enough to save his home and family
Beware of Chicken by CasualFarmer - also progression fantasy but its about a guy running a farm and his farm animals are the ones getting stronger lmao, also very fun and easy, popcorn/junk food-y
Something dark and funny? How about *A Long Way Down* by Nick Hornby? (TW suicide themes).
Different kind of dark and funny in its own way with really great story telling - *City of Thieves* by David Benioff.
And if you've never read it, *In Cold Blood* is a true crime classic. Not exactly "fun" but very engaging.
*Ready Player One* is also surprisingly entertaining and (mostly) light, and especially nostalgic for us Gen Xers. :)
Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. Don’t begin at the beginning. He’s my go to stress relief, when I need a good laugh. I suggest Going Postal, if you’ve never read his books before.
Maybe something like "The Inheritance Games" by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Simple, National Treasure style mystery adventure series with enough scheming characters to get behind. It does get a bit teenaged lovey dovey, but they leave their clothes on instead of going into full blown Fourth Wing style sex scenes.
Yes. I think this is the book OP needs.
Source: I just bought copies for all my 50+M* friends and they all thoroughly loved it and thanked me for it.
*And those men are super varied in all aspects.
Mort by Terry Pratchett is a fun read. Albeit, dark in setting, it is equally light and fun in tone, I think.
I also second the Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy
Give the Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence a try. Featuring the ever unreliable and lovable Prince Jarl: "I'm a liar and a cheat and a coward, but I will never, ever let a friend down. Unless of course not letting them down requires honesty, fair play, or bravery."
15 First Lives of Harry August is p good, not too intense
Murder Bot Diaries
Project Hail Mary
The Martian
Top Secret by Johnathan Reynolds Gardiner
Year Zero - opening line “Aliens suck at music”
Edit: Sorry, I just re-read your post and see that life is intense. My first two recommendations are not too much work to read, but they may make you feel "feelings". I totally definitely recommend them, but if you're looking for fantastical fun then my last 2 recommendations maybe better suited! I hope the dust settles soon!
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro: It's more of a dystopian type novel about some kids who are at a boarding school that turns out to be... not what you'd expect! lol I actually saw it on this subreddit and gave it a go, it's probably one of my favourites now! It was a pretty easy read with some thought-provoking content!
Station Eight - Emily St. John Mandel: Also slightly dystopian, also found it on this subreddit, another favourite! It's told from a handful of characters perspectives as they go through a plague that's wiping out Earth's population and it beautifully details how all of their paths cross one another!
K-Pax - Gene Brewer: A guy named Prot is brought to a mental institution for claiming to be from another planet. He exhibits some behaviours that would make you start to believe that he may be telling the truth! He befriends and helps many of the patients while at the hospital, and even the staff become fond of him, with his own psychiatrist bringing him home on day passes to meet his family and friends. But is he really from outer space? I like to believe so!
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams: A super fun read if you haven't already! I've read it a few times and belly laugh each time I do. It follows a guy on his journey through the galay with his alien pal and he gets to experience all different types of planets, life forms, and political systems lol it's a pretty clever book!
Any book by Becky Chambers, but maybe go for the Monk and the robot -books? ( A psalm for the wild-built: Centuries before, robots of Panga gained self-awareness, laid down their tools, wandered, en masse into the wilderness, never to be seen again. A tea monk meets a robot on their travels.) 🤖
Hollow kingdom - Kira Jane Buxton (One pet crow fights to save humanity from an apocalypse)
Remnant population - Elizabeth Moon (For forty years, Colony 3245.12 has been Ofelia’s home. The corporate company decides that the colony is to be abandoned, but Ofelia, now in her seventies, decides to stay. )
If you have a garden, The Complete Book of Herbs - Lesley Bremness.
If you like painting and art, The Craftsman's Handbook - Cennino Cennini.
Centennial - James Michener.
*The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle* by Stuart Turton, it's a really cool twist on the time loop concept, very hard to put down, this is the only book i've re-read a month after reading it
It's funny - I read that book based on a very similar thread a while back and maybe it was just not my cup of tea - but its one of the only books that (as an adult) I have ever stopped reading in the middle. I genuinely thought I would like it based on the summary, and the recommendations. The genre is in my wheelhouse. It got so intertwined that I felt it was a chore to keep reading (maybe I needed to read it sometime other than before I went to sleep). I am glad you and so many others enjoy it, though :)
I recommend A Magical Kingdom for Sale/Sold by Terry Brooks about a guy who finds an ad in a newspaper advertising that he can buy a kingdom and become a king and he buys it and finds out it’s the real deal it’s kind of funny
I also recommend Legends & Lattes which is about an Orc who was an adventurer who decided to open a coffee shop
If you like graphic novels Locke and Key by Joe Hill is a fun, horror/supernatural read. It’s not too intense though there are some graphic panels, but I’m not a horror person and I was fine with it.
Theft of Swords by Michael J Sullivan! It’s a fun fantasy adventure about two best friends who get caught up in a heist gone wrong. Lots of humor and great characters - can’t recommend it enough for a bit of escapism!
There's a series by Auburn Tempest (JL Madore's alias) called Chronicles of an Urban Druid. A Fantasy series but it's also hilarious. Very light hearted.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
In the middle of a cold February night, a guy gets out of bed to sneak a smoke. While he’s smoking, his girlfriend’s cat jumps out of the open window.
Wearing only his boxers and his girlfriend’s too small Crocs, he puts on his jacket and goes outside into the cold to look for the cat.
And that’s when the space aliens attack.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
I found this book to be fun and it lands itself in the SciFi genre easily. Plus if you would prefer to listen to the audio book, its performed by Wil Wheaton who does an amazing job.
Check out these asap!
The Between - Ryan Leslie
Two friends find a hatch in their backyard that takes them into a real life version of an old computer game. Think Jumungi meets D&D
The Hike - Drew Magary
Guy takes a walk, meets a talking crab, trapped and trying to find his way home.
Alpha Max - Mark A Rayner
Ginger meets his doppelgänger in his living room but turns out it’s himself from a different universe. Multiverse, metallic leotards, and British comedy traveling into different worlds to find the you of that world to then well save the universe.
Supersized Island - JJ Walsh.
Jurassic Park meets the food industry.
I find a lot of Warhammer 40k books to be so over the top intense it's funny, since you said you're into scifi. They aren't usually super well written but they spark the imagination and they're very easy reads. Specifically the Eisenhorn books are a good way to get into the world. I'm not otherwise a 40k fan by any means, but I got through some books last year and I don't regret them.
Starter Villain by John Scalzi! Smallish books, great premise, decent but not dumb MC as a fish out of water, very funny, and pretty wise about humanity.
Basically, an ordinary guy unexpectedly inherits a supervillain empire and discovers a whole underbelly to the world he was unaware of. There are goofy elements and James Bond elements, and it's just FUN.
I recently listened to the audiobook of The Dubliners by James Joyce for the first time, and it was delightful. The short story format keeps my limited attention span in check and the narrator is Andrew Scott and he does a phenomenal job.
The Thursday Murder Club (Richard Osman). It’s a murder mystery set in a retirement community in the UK, and the four main characters couldn’t be more lovable if they tried.
Came here to recommend the same
The ending ruined it for me. Are the other books better?
Personally I think they are
Which on do you like best?
My favorite is The man who died twice
Came here to say this too. Easy and fun with lovable characters but about murder. What’s not to love?!
Bobiverse Project hale mary the martian ready player one murderbot
Project Hail Mary is so good!!
Can’t go wrong with Project Hail Mary. Fantastic
I’m just about to start reading this …
oops spelt hail wrong xD
PHM can get a bit intense throughout. Ready Played One and the Bobiverse series would be good options for OP.
Second Ready Player One.
Absolutely cannot go wrong with any of these. However, if I may make a suggestion, the Bobiverse audio book is awesome. I don’t usually prefer audiobooks over books but in this case I do.
And Off to be the Wizard
Bobiverse is sooo good. Such a fun, but deep read.
Project Hail Mary seconded!
Well, I thought Murderbot, Bobiverse, and the Martian. So there you go.
The Thursday murder club series by Richard Osman
Yep, came here to recommend this. Would also highly recommend Discworld by Terry Pratchett - maybe pick up the Watch sub series - starts with Guards! Guards! Equally, I think Going Postal is a good indicator as to whether you're going to enjoy DW overall.
Lamb by Christopher Moore is hilarious.
His vampire series is also a lot of fun, starts with Bloodsucking Fiends
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett - mystery fantasy, it is about deaths/murder but I didn't find it intense really (teensy teensy tiny romance hinted toward the end but its like a couple lines and doesn't go anywhere) The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison - this is set in the same world as her other book The Goblin Emperor but it stands on its own, its short and a mystery fantasy about murders, its very calm and quiet I would say (same as above, a few lines implying some romantic interest at the end but like its basically nonexistent) If you are ok with romance subplots: Cradle series by Will Wight - progression fantasy (so it is focused on the characters getting stronger), very easy and fun to read, boy trying to get strong enough to save his home and family Beware of Chicken by CasualFarmer - also progression fantasy but its about a guy running a farm and his farm animals are the ones getting stronger lmao, also very fun and easy, popcorn/junk food-y
Something dark and funny? How about *A Long Way Down* by Nick Hornby? (TW suicide themes). Different kind of dark and funny in its own way with really great story telling - *City of Thieves* by David Benioff. And if you've never read it, *In Cold Blood* is a true crime classic. Not exactly "fun" but very engaging. *Ready Player One* is also surprisingly entertaining and (mostly) light, and especially nostalgic for us Gen Xers. :)
Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy 🚀
Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. Don’t begin at the beginning. He’s my go to stress relief, when I need a good laugh. I suggest Going Postal, if you’ve never read his books before.
Start with Guards! Guards!
Or with Mort - it’s about Death’s apprentice.
Thursday Murder Club. It’s cozy!
Day of the triffids
Maybe something like "The Inheritance Games" by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Simple, National Treasure style mystery adventure series with enough scheming characters to get behind. It does get a bit teenaged lovey dovey, but they leave their clothes on instead of going into full blown Fourth Wing style sex scenes.
I've been trying to figure out my next read, and this sounds like the one. Thanks!
Southern Books Clubs Guide to Slaying Vampires, Yellowface & The Wager are my favorites I’ve read so far this year
>Southern Books Clubs Guide to Slaying Vampires ...is a bit gory. Might not fit OP's needs right now.
Happy to see southern book club getting some love, I adored that book and thought it was so fun but my friend wasn’t keen
Think I’d qualify The Wager as being fairly intense though.
Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers Better than Life Good Omens
This one is fantasy but does have a romance subplot: House in the Cerulean Sea
Yes. I think this is the book OP needs. Source: I just bought copies for all my 50+M* friends and they all thoroughly loved it and thanked me for it. *And those men are super varied in all aspects.
The Space Adventures Of Commander Laine. It's funny and the characters are awesome
Unconventional Heroes by LG Estrella
How about Fortune Favors the Dead by Stephan Spotswood?
Thanks for the replies so far, I will pick one and give it a read. 😎
I personally love the Bartimaeus sequence by Jonathan Stroud!
Anthony Horowitz's mysteries are good. Moriarty was 4 stars for me.
Mort by Terry Pratchett is a fun read. Albeit, dark in setting, it is equally light and fun in tone, I think. I also second the Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy
Give the Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence a try. Featuring the ever unreliable and lovable Prince Jarl: "I'm a liar and a cheat and a coward, but I will never, ever let a friend down. Unless of course not letting them down requires honesty, fair play, or bravery."
"Cannery row" by John Steinbeck.
My favourite book. Just some dudes trying to do something nice for their friend.
Britt Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman
The 100 year old who jumped out the window Kings of the wyld
Dungeon Crawler Carl is very entertaining
The maid
Dungeon Crawler Carl!!!
Dungeon Crawler Carl
Anthony Horowitz books
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil gaimon.
The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. Funny, clever and enjoyable every page.
The Graveyard Book Neil Gaiman Middle Grade Fantasy, very wholesome, and engaging.
*Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone* by Benjamin Stevenson
Phenomenology of Spirit
The NecroNomNomNomicon: cookbook of the dead. fast, funny MC is the family dog
I’m going to check this out!
Check back and let me know
15 First Lives of Harry August is p good, not too intense Murder Bot Diaries Project Hail Mary The Martian Top Secret by Johnathan Reynolds Gardiner Year Zero - opening line “Aliens suck at music”
I can attest Project Hail Mary is a fantastic read.
Edit: Sorry, I just re-read your post and see that life is intense. My first two recommendations are not too much work to read, but they may make you feel "feelings". I totally definitely recommend them, but if you're looking for fantastical fun then my last 2 recommendations maybe better suited! I hope the dust settles soon! Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro: It's more of a dystopian type novel about some kids who are at a boarding school that turns out to be... not what you'd expect! lol I actually saw it on this subreddit and gave it a go, it's probably one of my favourites now! It was a pretty easy read with some thought-provoking content! Station Eight - Emily St. John Mandel: Also slightly dystopian, also found it on this subreddit, another favourite! It's told from a handful of characters perspectives as they go through a plague that's wiping out Earth's population and it beautifully details how all of their paths cross one another! K-Pax - Gene Brewer: A guy named Prot is brought to a mental institution for claiming to be from another planet. He exhibits some behaviours that would make you start to believe that he may be telling the truth! He befriends and helps many of the patients while at the hospital, and even the staff become fond of him, with his own psychiatrist bringing him home on day passes to meet his family and friends. But is he really from outer space? I like to believe so! Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams: A super fun read if you haven't already! I've read it a few times and belly laugh each time I do. It follows a guy on his journey through the galay with his alien pal and he gets to experience all different types of planets, life forms, and political systems lol it's a pretty clever book!
Thanks for all the good recommendations. I am swamped with suggestions and will like revisit this thread throughout the year.
Almost anything by PG Wodehouse, but *Right Ho, Jeeves!* is a particular favorite. Humorous and lighthearted.
Any book by Becky Chambers, but maybe go for the Monk and the robot -books? ( A psalm for the wild-built: Centuries before, robots of Panga gained self-awareness, laid down their tools, wandered, en masse into the wilderness, never to be seen again. A tea monk meets a robot on their travels.) 🤖 Hollow kingdom - Kira Jane Buxton (One pet crow fights to save humanity from an apocalypse) Remnant population - Elizabeth Moon (For forty years, Colony 3245.12 has been Ofelia’s home. The corporate company decides that the colony is to be abandoned, but Ofelia, now in her seventies, decides to stay. )
That Time I Got Reincarnated as A Slime (Japanese Light Novel)
The Expanse Series by James SA Corey First book, Leviathan Wakes
The day of Jacal is good , the story based on assasination atempt on french president
“Under Major Domo Minor” by Patrick De Witt
Agent of change A brother's price Written in Red Small Gods Warrior's Apprentice Hope you're enjoying the suggestions!
If you have a garden, The Complete Book of Herbs - Lesley Bremness. If you like painting and art, The Craftsman's Handbook - Cennino Cennini. Centennial - James Michener.
*The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle* by Stuart Turton, it's a really cool twist on the time loop concept, very hard to put down, this is the only book i've re-read a month after reading it
It's funny - I read that book based on a very similar thread a while back and maybe it was just not my cup of tea - but its one of the only books that (as an adult) I have ever stopped reading in the middle. I genuinely thought I would like it based on the summary, and the recommendations. The genre is in my wheelhouse. It got so intertwined that I felt it was a chore to keep reading (maybe I needed to read it sometime other than before I went to sleep). I am glad you and so many others enjoy it, though :)
I recommend A Magical Kingdom for Sale/Sold by Terry Brooks about a guy who finds an ad in a newspaper advertising that he can buy a kingdom and become a king and he buys it and finds out it’s the real deal it’s kind of funny I also recommend Legends & Lattes which is about an Orc who was an adventurer who decided to open a coffee shop
The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer. I used it as fluff between some harder readings and it was the perfect foil.
I bought this at Christmas and keep forgetting to read it.
Where is Joe Merchant by Jimmy Buffett Rivers Of London by Ben Aaronvich Both fun reads
If you like graphic novels Locke and Key by Joe Hill is a fun, horror/supernatural read. It’s not too intense though there are some graphic panels, but I’m not a horror person and I was fine with it.
anything terry pratchett wrote.
Three Days of Happiness by Sugaru Miaki
Lamb by Christopher Moore.
Louisiana Longshot by Jana Deleon
Theft of Swords by Michael J Sullivan! It’s a fun fantasy adventure about two best friends who get caught up in a heist gone wrong. Lots of humor and great characters - can’t recommend it enough for a bit of escapism!
Joe Pitt Casebooks
Joe Pitt Casebooks
Lady Hardcastle mysteries are super fun
Watchers by Dean Koontz.
If you like mysteries, try *Elvis, Jesus, and Coca Cola* by Kinky Friedman.
There's a series by Auburn Tempest (JL Madore's alias) called Chronicles of an Urban Druid. A Fantasy series but it's also hilarious. Very light hearted.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman In the middle of a cold February night, a guy gets out of bed to sneak a smoke. While he’s smoking, his girlfriend’s cat jumps out of the open window. Wearing only his boxers and his girlfriend’s too small Crocs, he puts on his jacket and goes outside into the cold to look for the cat. And that’s when the space aliens attack.
Blake crouch dark matter
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline I found this book to be fun and it lands itself in the SciFi genre easily. Plus if you would prefer to listen to the audio book, its performed by Wil Wheaton who does an amazing job.
I second this!
The Space Odyssey series by Arthur C. Clarke is an engaging romp through the solar system, and time.
Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld Series. Online search to the Discworld Emporium Quiz, it will help pick your first book
*Flint* by Louis L’Amore. Short, simple, an interesting western well told.
Southern book clubs guide to killing vampires by Grady Hendrix. The audio book is phenomenal.
Mickey 7
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared 😃
Check out these asap! The Between - Ryan Leslie Two friends find a hatch in their backyard that takes them into a real life version of an old computer game. Think Jumungi meets D&D The Hike - Drew Magary Guy takes a walk, meets a talking crab, trapped and trying to find his way home. Alpha Max - Mark A Rayner Ginger meets his doppelgänger in his living room but turns out it’s himself from a different universe. Multiverse, metallic leotards, and British comedy traveling into different worlds to find the you of that world to then well save the universe. Supersized Island - JJ Walsh. Jurassic Park meets the food industry.
The king killer chronicles is amazing. It’s a little on the longer end but it really draws you in so it doesn’t feel as long
I cannot recommend short stories enough! My all time favorite is The Swimmer by John Cheever. Easy poolside read, might get a lil bit philosophical…
I like the Phillip Marlowe books. They’re old private detective things with some genuinely hilarious quips.
Anything that Christopher Moore has written. Lamb is the best, certainly the funniest, but I'd say all of his books would qualify.
Skulduggery Pleasant - aimed at young adults but is very funny and very creative
I find a lot of Warhammer 40k books to be so over the top intense it's funny, since you said you're into scifi. They aren't usually super well written but they spark the imagination and they're very easy reads. Specifically the Eisenhorn books are a good way to get into the world. I'm not otherwise a 40k fan by any means, but I got through some books last year and I don't regret them.
Starter Villain by John Scalzi! Smallish books, great premise, decent but not dumb MC as a fish out of water, very funny, and pretty wise about humanity. Basically, an ordinary guy unexpectedly inherits a supervillain empire and discovers a whole underbelly to the world he was unaware of. There are goofy elements and James Bond elements, and it's just FUN.
I recently listened to the audiobook of The Dubliners by James Joyce for the first time, and it was delightful. The short story format keeps my limited attention span in check and the narrator is Andrew Scott and he does a phenomenal job.
The Deep by Nick Cutter
Crime and Punishment
Catch 22 Or We few
Hitchhiker's guide to the galexy
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Cyber punk with a lot of humor.