For mental health reasons, I’m seeking light reads, but I don’t exactly know what to look for.
I am a fan of kidlit, but I am a bit tired of it at the moment. I prefer an ending where until the last 20 pages I can’t predict what will happen. Relevant likes: trans/queer rep, disabled rep, fantasy, absurd humor, allegories, verse novels
If you must recommend romance, I do like more epic love stories like Song of Achilles, or platonic romance like Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Red White and Royal Blue was a DNF for me, and Book Lovers had me rolling my eyes every other page when I read it for a book club.
by PutEarthInRice
9 Comments
Are you familiar with Terry Pratchett’s Discworld? Absurd fantasy stories with maybe some not-so-fluffy themes but mostly just wickedly funny.
House in the Cerulean Sea! It’s so heartwarming.
Although the only box it may check is fantasy, it’s light, not a focus of romance, funny original characters, a little bit of action without being too much gore or a battle every chapter. The Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews is my newest favorite series. I’ve read it 3 times this year so far.
The Space Adventures Of Commander Laine. The main character and her gurl are trans.
I agree with Discworld but it can be a big undertaking.
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz
Especially the latter two for trans & queer rep.
And one more, with a content warning. Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki is a gorgeous warm funny weird book and I love it, but it opens with a real emotional kick to the teeth with a traumatized trans kid running away from home. If you can handle about a chapter of that, it’s worth it.
Nancy Warren has so.e fun little cozy mysteries.
There is a bit of romance, but it’s not the main focal point. It’s more like a minor distraction before you get to the whodunit .
Except in book 14 of the Vampire Knitting club. That one is centered on a wedding🤣 and a murder.
Good Omens
The Professor and The Housekeeper
Anxious People (tw: discussion of suicide)
Have you ever read books by Francesca Lia Block? She’s most known for the Wheetzie Bat series (technically kidlit) but she’s written a bunch of other standalone, adult novels that are super fun and i think might hit what you mentioned. Her style is magical realism for sure. She has descriptions on her website. I particularly liked “Ruby” and “Pretty Dead”
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree (fantasy with LGBTQ rep)
The Dreamhealers books by MCA Hogarth (anthro sci fi series focused on a committed friendship)
Penric and Desdamona novellas by Louis McMaster Bujold (an overall fun, though some individual books are dark, series focused on a gender non-conforming man and his demon who had previously possessed many women, including queer women)