How FUN are your books? — In Defence of Guilty Pleasures & Midnight Burners

What are books for? You might come up with a zillion reasons — see other worlds, connect with characters, know about other cultures, to find ourselves in stories — but at the end of the day, a good book is all about how it makes you feel. Sure, there are novels revolving around serious themes, but how precious are those guilty pleasure reads? The fluffy reads, nail biting thrillers and pure, unadulterated fun reads? I always fall for a good book  — the kind that makes you groggy eyed for work because you stayed up too late, or the ones that make you miss your stop on your commute. Aren’t we all partial to the unputdownable books that pull us through reading slumps? I talked about books and their responsibility to entertain readers with seasoned bookworms, Tara and Freyan. “Fun books” as we like to call them, and the good news is we have a TON of recommendations to get you started. Be prepared to get out of reading slumps and pace through these page turners.

Over to the questions.

FUN BOOKS AND PAGE TURNERS FOR READING SLUMPS

Both of you read a mix of genres. When is it that you feel an ache for something fun? Do you have a preferred genre of ‘fun books’?
Tara : I read a bunch of different books at once, so I always try to have something fun on hand to balance things out. I also read with my morning coffee and on my commute, two situations in which I don’t want to be reading anything too heavy!

I read a lot of YA and some crime, and I’m an obsessive re-reader of favourite childhood books and Sophie Kinsella-s. But my favourite genre is what I like to call, broadly, ‘Rich People Problems’. There’s nothing more entertaining to me than books about extremely wealthy / beautiful / well-dressed / self-obsessed people, especially if their love affairs are tragic or unrequited. I hope that doesn’t make me a sociopath.

Freyan : If I’m busy, travelling, or if I’ve been reading too many ‘heavy’ books, I usually like something fun and light, sort of like a palate cleanser. For this, there’s nothing better than a good romance novel (I used to love regency romance (Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series will always hold a special place in my heart), but I find I prefer modern ones more these days — authors like Helen Hoang, Sally Thorne, and Jasmine Guillory are always a good bet.

Another genre I turn to, especially when in a reading slump,  is a murder mystery (usually the kind where the women are villainous and brilliant). I need to get to the resolution quickly, so I usually race through them, and they leave me hungry for more! Still looking for a book that’s the perfect blend of murder and romance.

What are the keywords in a blurb that’ll make you swoop in and grab a book?

Tara : I am so easily led by a blurb, I’m basically a marketer’s dream. I’ll read almost anything involving time travel, modern retellings, or thirtysomethings navigating their adulthood; and anything blurbed by or namedropping an author I love. I pretty much have an entire shelf’s worth of books compared to Gillian Flynn or Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel.

Freyan : Ooh! I’ve never really thought about this, but there are definitely some words that call out to me. Books described as ‘heart-warming’, ‘magical’, ‘generous’ (I love the idea of someone’s writing being generous), ‘compelling’, ‘wise’, ‘frank’, or ‘funny’ are usually what I’ll gravitate toward.

Have you been pre-judgmental about any books to be serious reads but they ended up as entertaining reads? (what made those books entertaining reads)

Tara : I used to think all non-fiction was serious and dry, until I deliberately tried to read more in the genre this year, and discovered how wrong I was! Bad Blood by John Carreyrou (the Elizabeth Holmes exposé) reads like a thriller, and I couldn’t put it down. Jia Tolentino’s essay collection, Trick Mirror, is as breezy as a podcast.  I’ve realized there’s nothing more entertaining than when a writer can pull you into their world so convincingly that you have a hard time resurfacing to reality, and that’s a quality you can find in any genre.

Freyan : Have you seen the TV show You? It’s based on a novel by Caroline Kepnes and because of the premise, I thought it would be terrifying (which it was!) but it ended up being campy and fun as well. Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is equal parts cringe-y and delightful, and while there are heavier parts, it was a fun read and left me feeling oddly optimistic and happy by the end of it. Katherine Heiny’s Standard Deviation turned out to be a lot funnier than I expected, and any book that makes me laugh out loud in public places is worth a mention, I think.

And finally, a book that really surprised me recently was The Godfather by Mario Puzo. Having never seen the movie, I didn’t go in with any expectations, except that it might be a bit of a sombre drag, but wow was I wrong! The book hooked me within minutes and I never wanted it to end. What made it fun? I don’t know. Murder, mobsters, good, clean prose — I couldn’t put it down!

Light reads are often stamped as romance or fluff or even Women’s fiction. What is your opinion on this? Do you think fun books have to be necessarily light reads?

Tara : I have so many thoughts about this! I hate that we think of “light”, “fun” books as somehow lesser – as if the opposite of light and fun is serious and literary, or as if “women’s fiction” has no literary merit, which feels like a disservice to all genres. When I’m looking for a “light” read I’ll pick up anything from a YA fantasy to a murder mystery to a beloved classic. And, conversely, there’s no reason I wouldn’t have fun reading a book labelled as literary fiction either. I like to think all the books I read are entertaining and fun in their own way – why else would I be spending so much time reading them?

I’ve definitely had to unlearn unconscious snobbery about some genres over the last few years, but now I know there’s complexity and surprises and fantastic writing pretty much everywhere, as long as you’re willing to look.

Freyan : My opinion on this is that it’s The Worst. This is one of the main reasons I don’t like to take book recommendations from men or male authors. So many great books are dismissed because of this label, which is infuriating, and so many people (both men and women) don’t think to read these books because (just as infuriatingly) ‘women’s fiction’ is looked down upon.

I don’t think fun books are necessarily light reads. Take Erotic Stories For Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal  as an example — There’s a lot of lightness in the book, plenty of funny moments, but it also deals with some pretty serious issues (policing of women in eastern cultures being just one of them). Also Jane Austen — Her books are a delight, but I wouldn’t call them light reads: there’s so much nuance to unpack in them, so many lessons on life to be learned.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUN BOOKS

What are some of your best reads that kept you very entertained and you are totally jealous of someone reading them for the first time?

Tara : After a lot of overthinking, I’ve decided that my top three are Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, the only book I’ve ever read that kept me up all night; Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson, a book so full of goodwill that it feels like a summer picnic with a glass of wine; and Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny, which has the warmth and laugh-out-loud quirk of a Nora Ephron film.

My ‘Rich People Problems’ faves: Kevin Kwan’s delightful Crazy Rich Asians trilogy; Tiffany Tsao’s The Majesties (releasing soon, and I promise you’ll want a copy!); and Tara Isabella Burton’s Social Creature, perfect for fans of scammer stories and Gossip Girl.

My current YA obsessions are Holly Black’s Folk of the Air fantasy trilogy and Maureen Johnson’s boarding-school mystery series, Truly Devious. Sarah Dessen’s books, especially Along for the Ride and The Rest of the Story, are summertime staples. But my top recommendation in this space is Megan Whalen Turner’s extraordinarily underrated, incredibly plotted, devastatingly romantic Queen’s Thief series. Start with The Queen of Attolia and thank me later!

I don’t read a lot of romance, but Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game is delicious, as is Soniah Kamal’s Unmarriageable, a Pride and Prejudice retelling set in Pakistan.

If you’re like me, sometimes the best form of entertainment is willingly scaring the daylights out of yourself – I spent a childhood cheerfully reading and re-reading Rosemary’s Baby before bedtime. I also recommend Jac Jemc’s slim, claustrophobic novel The Grip Of It; Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House; and Carmen Maria Machado’s spectacularly unsettling collection, Her Body and Other Parties.

And finally, Samantha Shannon’s The Priory of the Orange Tree isn’t literally a “light read”, but if you can get past the page count (maybe read an e-book?), it’s 100% one of the best reading experiences I’ve had all year. Dragons! Politics! Powerful women! What more could you want? I’m already considering a re-read.

Freyan : Oh my god. I wouldn’t even know where to begin, but I guess I’ll start with an old favourite. If you haven’t watched Game of Thrones and you like fantasy, I would highly recommend reading A Song Of Ice And Fire. If I could have selective amnesia, I’d choose to forget the series completely just to read it all over again. George RR Martin, if you’re listening, PLEASE! I need the next book!

Maureen Johnson’s (as of now incomplete) Truly Devious series. The most fun murder mystery I’ve read in a while and we still don’t know how it ends, which makes me want to SCREAM with frustration, but in a good way, if that makes sense.

Nora Ephron’s Heartburn. My copy is well-worn and for good reason. It makes me chuckle every time I pick it up and I’m so jealous if you still haven’t read it!

Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan series. It took several tries to really get into the first book, but once I truly started, I was obsessed —the world she’s created, her characters, her writing. Uff! I was completely engrossed and I read each book as slowly as possible because I never wanted it to end.

Another series I am constantly recommending is Laini Taylor’s Daughter Of Smoke And Bone. If it was socially acceptable to go door-to-door forcing people to read this series, I would. Excellent, excellent world building! I’ve probably read the series three times already and I can feel myself craving a fourth round.

Samit Basu’s Gameworld Trilogy. Hilarious cross between fantasy and Indian mythology. Please read these books!

Kind of jealous of anyone who hasn’t read (and doesn’t know spoilers for) any Gillian Flynn, and of course I’m always going to be jealous of someone who is as yet unaware of the delights of Maria Semple’s Where’d You Go Bernadette. So funny! Wait! One more! Meg Cabot’s The Princess Diaries! I cannot explain the amount of joy those books have given me growing up, and continue to. Whether you’re a teenager or grownup, I say, read them!

Have you ever been intrigued by the buzz around a book or its cover and it ended up to be a fun experience?

Tara : I’m one of those obsessive social media scrollers, so this happens to me all the time! Most recently, I read My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing because I saw it all over Instagram, and it was such a great read. And I totally judged Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid by that gorgeous cover, and was not disappointed – I read it in a single sitting!
Freyan : The first thing that comes to mind is J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Three books were already out at the time, and I hadn’t read them yet. I remember picking up the first one at my friend’s house one rainy day and being so, so enthralled. More recently, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, deserves all the hype that surrounded it when it first came out. Helen Hoang’s The Kiss Quotient and Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game — both are steamy and so much fun! What I prefer, though, is finding a book I’ve never heard of and having a grand time reading it. The first time that happened was years ago, when I picked up Anthony Capella’s The Food Of Love. It’s a retelling of Cyrano De Bergerac and Italian food (Roman in particular) plays a big role in the story.

Lastly, what you are reading at the moment?

Tara : I have a couple of chapters left of the wonderful Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor; and I’ve just picked up The Girl Before You by Nicola Rayner and Delayed Rays of a Star by Amanda Lee Koe.

Freyan : Slowly, slowly, ever so slowly getting through Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I know every plot detail thanks to the Winona Ryder movie and the illustrated classic version I was obsessed with as a child, but I’ve never read the original till now! It’s quite preachy, I’m sad to say, but it still leaves me feeling warm and fuzzy. And, yes, I’m #TeamAmy and not afraid to say it.

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