To be an avid reader doesn’t have to mean that you’re capable of devouring multiple books within the space of a week. Not all of us can be veritable Rory Gilmore’s and we’re frankly not sure that such a person can exist in a modern world.
Not only are we inundated with distractions from social media, television and films (which can be equally enriching), but contemporary life is often filled with enough drama and tragedy for us to resent reading of more hardship at the end of a long day.
When we flip through the crisp pages of a brand-new book, most of us are seeking some kind of escape from the mundanity of the day-to-day. When we’re not quite in the mood for escapism, we tend to seek a sense of comfort in the fact that there are other human beings out there who we can inherently relate to.
After all, we’ve expended enough mental energy navigating a busy city centre Waterstones and hopping on a crowded tube home before an attempt at engaging in a good book can even be made. If getting out of a reading slump is going to be accomplished, it has to be done through what we bookworms refer to as the perfect light read.
We’re talking about the books that re-ignite our passion for literature through language which is accessible yet expertly crafted, comedic with an understanding of melancholy, witty, dry and unexpectedly philosophical.
Light reads can be characterised in two ways: literature that is lighthearted in subject matter – offering a feel-good atmosphere paired with a joyful parabolic narrative – and literature which is light in pages, aka short. An ideal light read, in our humble opinion, reflects a healthy blend of the two.
Light reading is also inherently subject to the books which precede your choice. For instance, if you’ve just put down a copy of Tolstoy’sWar and Peace and would like to shift to a short, contemporary novel, Michelle Zauner’s critically acclaimed memoir Crying in H Mart will feel like a wonderfully light read.
However, if you’ve just wrapped up The Little Prince for the first time, Zauner’s memoir will feel like a kick in the teeth. Finding your ideal light read is all about trusting your instincts while being unafraid to try something new.
No matter what your reading timeline looks like just now, we’ve curated a selection of light reads that will lift you from your literary stasis. Keep scrolling for our top picks.
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Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
This best-seller is about a 36-year-old woman named Keiko who has never had a boyfriend and has worked in the same convenience store for 18 years. A novel that will have you bowled over with laughter while clutching your heart in sheer awe, Murata’s Convenience Store Woman is a story of self-love and acceptance without any of the sappy language which usually surrounds such grandiose themes.
Buy now £6.99, Amazon
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Though the extent to which writer and musician Michelle Zauner’s brilliant memoir can be considered a light read remains up for debate, you don’t have to be a fan of the band Japanese Breakfast (which she heads up) to delve into her simultaneously joyful and gut-wrenching account of a highly complicated mother-daughter relationship forever changed by a devastating cancer diagnosis.
Buy now £7.45, Amazon
Franny and Zooey by J.D Salinger
No one writes coming-of-age stories quite like J.D Salinger, and while Catcher in the Rye remains his most famous novel, Franny and Zooey is a wildly underrated classic. It follows the relationship between the titular characters, a pair of well-off siblings who hail from a highly sophisticated family full of oddballs. We encounter two journeys into adulthood, from two different perspectives which converge with comedic and emotional splendour.
Buy now £9.99, Waterstones
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver
Carver’s brilliant collection of short stories is decidedly postmodern in nature, reflecting the lives of ordinary men and women in the mid-west throughout the late 20th century. A treatise on the power of human emotion and introspection even within the most quotidian of settings, you’re bound to come out of this a fresh perspective on what exactly constitutes normalcy.
Buy now £9.99, Waterstones
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Translated from Japanese, Kawaguchi’s beautiful novel follows the stories of four separate individuals who enter a mystical coffee shop in Tokyo which has been serving meticulously brewed coffee for over one hundred years. Warm, caffeinated beverages aside, this shop also offers customers the ability to travel back in time to confront their past.
Buy now £9.99, Waterstones
South and West, Joan Didion
Even though South and West is only really a collection of notes and musings about Didion’s travels throughout the American deep South, her incomparable insight and ability to delve into the deepest corners of societal prejudices and idiosyncratic behaviours shines through as though this text is the polished final edition of a novel that has been worked on for decades.
Writing of the sticky and often sickly heat which encompasses the vast majority of towns and cities in the South, Didion at once reveals the sense of claustrophobia she feels not only because of the weather, but also the strange flat contentedness that its citizens feel in their unenviable positions. This, followed by her musings of California, makes for a strangely complete reflection on the polarities of the United States that is as relevant today as it was in the 1970s where the book is set.
Buy now £6.72, Amazon
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Yet another beloved fantasy novel which has been adapted for the silver screen, Gaiman’s Stardust remains a classic piece of escapist literature for adults and children alike. When speaking of his inspiration for Stardust, Gaiman stated “I wanted to write a story that would feel, to the reader, like something he or she had always known.” Indeed, the mythology which Gaiman builds feels like the type shared between childhood friends at the bottom of imagined fairy gardens.
Protagonist Tristan Thorn falls in love with a local girl called Victoria Forester and, in an attempt to win her love, vows to bring her a star from the night sky. Crossing over his town’s ancient border, Thorn finds himself in the Faerie realm – a dangerous land which is unfit for an ignorant human. We follow along as Thorn attempts to keep his promise to Forester in this devourable read.
Buy now £9.99, Waterstones
The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Originally written in French, The Little Prince is technically a children’s book yet serves as a parabolic tale of morality and virtue, the lessons from which many of us have taken with us into adulthood. If you’ve ever found yourself questioning the meaning of life, we highly recommend picking up this seemingly unlikely, beautifully illustrated guide.
Buy now £9.15, Amazon
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
When a highly intelligent chemist is offered the starring role in the USA’s favourite cooking show, Supper at Six, she takes it upon herself to offer the average American woman a tad more than some simple instructions on how to perfectly roast a chicken. Set in the 1960s, Elizabeth Zott dares to challenge patriarchal society through her experience as a scientist, as well as her natural-born charisma, humour and sheer intellect.
Buy now £5.00, Amazon
Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny
An atypical romance, Heiny’s heart-warming novel is about finding a sense of self beyond the realms of romantic relationships. Set in a small town where ghosts of the past confront protagonist Jane’s burgeoning love at every twist and turn, we follow along as she and her handsome beau Duncan navigate the trials and tribulations of Boyne City, Michigan.
Buy now £8.29, Amazon
Dog Hearted by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan and Jessica J. Lee
A collection of personal essays on the irreverent power and beauty of our furry companions, Dog Hearted contains stories about precious hounds of all types, at all stages in their lives – whether in the form of ageing family dogs, or the unforgettable canines we meet only in passing. This anthology makes a delightful read for any dog lover.
Buy now £9.99, Waterstones
