These are old, but I assume you’ve read the Janet Evanovich series about Stephanie Plum? Starting with One for the Money, Two for the Dough, etc? Definitely a laugh out loud series that only a woman would love. R rated in a lighthearted way. Not normally my type of book but I found the first eight or nine in the series very very funny.
Now, I read “Where’d You Go?” because it was set in Seattle, and though I read it it till the end to find out where she went, I found that I didn’t like ANY of the characters much at all. Not even the kid. But it WAS unique and an easy read. I’m lately enjoying Linwood Barclay-his mysteries are well plotted and there are always screamingly funny scenes. The characters are well developed, too.
For those that assume I’ve read “old” books or series…I tend to read in spurts. I’ll go through a book a week for a few months and then not pick one up for a few months. So many of the “old” ones, there’s a good chance I haven’t read.
I did read Where’d You Go Bernadette though - I thought it was…okay. I think I’ve read one of the Stephanie Plum books, most likely the first one. Maybe I’ll try another one of those!
So many great suggestions! Keep 'em coming!
i just finished In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume. It does take place in the 50’s though. Once I got all of the characters straight I really enjoyed it.
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
I just finished The Rosie Project and thought it was delightful and funny. A very quick read.
I didn’t care for The Girl on the Train. Too much like Gone Girl for me but much more predictable. Most of my friends loved it. Just ordered the Rosie Project from my library. Thanks for the suggestion @surfcity!
Regarding post #23 and In the Unlikely Event…I enjoyed this book, BUT it is not a good book to read if you are traveling by plane–it deals with 3 plane crashes!
Aloha island mysteries and the the Eve series by Iris Johansen
@emeraldkity4 thanks for link to whatishouldreadnext----- love all the suggestions after I inputted a title and then an author. These suggestions go way beyond, goodreads or amazon suggestions. Super thanks
If you haven’t read kate atkinson’s jackson brodie mysteries try her! Great fun. First is Case Histories but there’s also Started Early, Took My Dog! I just finished In Some Other World, Maybe. Contemporary. Very well constructed. Maybe too thought provoking for the beach though. Jojo Moyes’ books are always engaging and diverting. Enjoy your vacation!
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I know you specified fiction, but please consider “The Boys in the Boat” about the Univ of Washington rowing team that went to the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
We have the book but also listened to it as a book-on-tape on the way to/from a wedding. The combination of history and sport is just fantastic!!
I second the motion for anything by Dorothea Benton Frank. Love her books and you don’t have to read them in any particular order.
I also read The Martian and really liked it (but, yes, skimmed over some of the “driving over the dirt and rocks” portions).
I suggest anything by Beatriz Williams. I think she has four books out now, but the one I really like was The Secret Life of Violet Grant.
The Housekeeper and the Professor is short, easy to read, and just delightful. My favorite book I’ve read this year!
My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff is very good - - also easy reading, but not romance at all.
Good luck finding the just the right thing!
p.s. I am currently reading the aforementioned A Man Called Ove, and it is pretty witty. I’m only halfway through, but so far so good.
or as we called it in AP US History, The Big Ditch.
Very enjoyable, although a very quick read. For anybody with a kid at boarding school, it’s filled with inaccuracies.
Re: Dorotheah Benton Frank…funny because I will actually BE in the lowcountry of South Carolina! But, I have a vivid memory of starting one of her books and for some reason, HATING it. I can’t even remember what the title was, or why I didn’t like it. Maybe I was just in a bad mood. I should try again…
Thanks, all, for the suggestions! I hope others are getting good ideas, too!
I like Kate Morton books too. If you really want to lose a few brain cells try Wendy Wax. I third Jojo moyes, elin Hildebrand. There is another book I liked from Maria de Los Santos, love walked in.
The Art of Racing in the Rain-sad sections but overall happy ending. Very easy read.
I like the series by Peter May- “The Lewis Trilogy”. Easy reads but engaging.
If you like Stephen King at all: I very much enjoyed his latest novel, “Finders Keepers,” published in June. It’s a sequel to “Mr. Mercedes” (from 2014), which I thought was a great read as well. Along with “Revival,” which also came out last year, and “Joyland,” a short book from 2013, I think King’s been having something of a career resurrection the last couple of years. Before that, I don’t think I’d read anything he’d written, except some short stories, in about 15 years or so, because they weren’t generally well-received.
There’s the new college-admissions-based novel that came out today called The Admissions by Meg Mitchell Moore. I haven’t read it but a podcaster whose views I respect recommended it as a pretty good slice-of-suburbia book.