Light but not (too) dumb
This is an eclectic list of books to read when you're just not in the mood for something heavy or overly depressing, but don't want a lot of eye-rolling moments either. It can be a thriller, romance, chick-lit, family saga, memoir, non-fiction, or anything else that's enjoyable and easy to read.
1 Water for Elephants
by
4.05 of 5 stars 4.05 avg rating — 628,752 ratings
2 Harry Potter and the Sorcer...
by
4.35 of 5 stars 4.35 avg rating — 1,793,903 ratings
3 Bridget Jones's Diary (Brid...
by
3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 avg rating — 392,429 ratings
4 The Time Traveler's Wife
by
3.9 of 5 stars 3.90 avg rating — 690,929 ratings
5 The Da Vinci Code (Robert L...
by
3.66 of 5 stars 3.66 avg rating — 990,654 ratings
6 Harry Potter and the Chambe...
by
4.25 of 5 stars 4.25 avg rating — 906,367 ratings
7 Pride and Prejudice
by
4.23 of 5 stars 4.23 avg rating — 969,625 ratings
8 High Fidelity
by
3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 avg rating — 94,137 ratings
9 Harry Potter and the Goblet...
by
4.44 of 5 stars 4.44 avg rating — 910,297 ratings
10 Eat, Pray, Love
by
3.4 of 5 stars 3.40 avg rating — 603,970 ratings
11 Twilight (Twilight, #1)
by
3.58 of 5 stars 3.58 avg rating — 1,649,451 ratings
12 White Oleander
by
3.85 of 5 stars 3.85 avg rating — 134,700 ratings
13 The Book Thief
by
4.35 of 5 stars 4.35 avg rating — 302,977 ratings
14 Anne of Green Gables (Anne ...
by
4.2 of 5 stars 4.20 avg rating — 261,689 ratings
15 The Guernsey Literary and P...
by
4.09 of 5 stars 4.09 avg rating — 214,936 ratings
16 The Sisterhood of the Trave...
by
3.7 of 5 stars 3.70 avg rating — 219,241 ratings
17 Harry Potter and the Deathl...
by
4.54 of 5 stars 4.54 avg rating — 907,439 ratings
18 The Eyre Affair (Thursday N...
by
3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 avg rating — 55,026 ratings
19 My Sister's Keeper
by
4.01 of 5 stars 4.01 avg rating — 443,182 ratings
20 Circle of Friends
by
3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 avg rating — 26,922 ratings
21 Harry Potter and the Half-B...
by
4.46 of 5 stars 4.46 avg rating — 875,218 ratings
22 Memoirs of a Geisha
by
4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 avg rating — 781,323 ratings
23 Harry Potter and the Order ...
by
4.37 of 5 stars 4.37 avg rating — 869,817 ratings
24 About a Boy
by
3.77 of 5 stars 3.77 avg rating — 63,786 ratings
25 The Secret Life of Bees
by
3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 avg rating — 576,882 ratings
26 I Know This Much Is True
by
4.12 of 5 stars 4.12 avg rating — 136,611 ratings
27 The Nanny Diaries (Nanny #1)
by
3.31 of 5 stars 3.31 avg rating — 221,193 ratings
28 Harry Potter and the Prison...
by
4.44 of 5 stars 4.44 avg rating — 936,515 ratings
28 To Kill a Mockingbird
by
4.22 of 5 stars 4.22 avg rating — 1,396,153 ratings
30 She's Come Undone
by
3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 avg rating — 154,415 ratings
31 Eclipse (Twilight, #3)
by
3.76 of 5 stars 3.76 avg rating — 728,611 ratings
32 Alice's Adventures In Wonde...
by
3.97 of 5 stars 3.97 avg rating — 133,003 ratings
33 The Kite Runner
by
4.18 of 5 stars 4.18 avg rating — 875,794 ratings
34 The Hitchhiker's Guide to t...
by
4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 avg rating — 515,989 ratings
35 The Firm
by
3.86 of 5 stars 3.86 avg rating — 229,519 ratings
36 Murder on the Orient Expres...
by
4.07 of 5 stars 4.07 avg rating — 66,220 ratings
37 New Moon (Twilight, #2)
by
3.58 of 5 stars 3.58 avg rating — 752,415 ratings
38 Outlander (Outlander, #1)
by
4.08 of 5 stars 4.08 avg rating — 196,733 ratings
39 The Perks of Being a Wallfl...
by
4.16 of 5 stars 4.16 avg rating — 268,346 ratings
40 Jane Eyre
by
4.06 of 5 stars 4.06 avg rating — 646,856 ratings
41 Good in Bed (Cannie Shapiro...
by
3.61 of 5 stars 3.61 avg rating — 164,081 ratings
42 Gone with the Wind
by
4.22 of 5 stars 4.22 avg rating — 463,338 ratings
43 Table 21
by
3.81 of 5 stars 3.81 avg rating — 257 ratings
44 The Princess Bride
by
4.23 of 5 stars 4.23 avg rating — 325,361 ratings
45 Of Mice and Men
by
3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 avg rating — 795,359 ratings
46 Breaking Dawn (Twilight, #4)
by
3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 avg rating — 697,125 ratings
47 The Poisonwood Bible
by
3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 avg rating — 353,729 ratings
48 Jurassic Park (Jurassic Par...
by
3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 avg rating — 358,007 ratings
49 Practical Magic
by
3.76 of 5 stars 3.76 avg rating — 18,306 ratings
50 The Joy Luck Club
by
3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 avg rating — 347,104 ratings
51 Where the Sidewalk Ends
by
4.22 of 5 stars 4.22 avg rating — 659,924 ratings
52 The Pact
by
3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 avg rating — 127,462 ratings
53 Little Children
by
3.57 of 5 stars 3.57 avg rating — 17,919 ratings
54 Moloka'i
by
4.11 of 5 stars 4.11 avg rating — 35,509 ratings
55 Love Story (Love Story, #1)
by
3.53 of 5 stars 3.53 avg rating — 23,583 ratings
56 A Long Way Down
by
3.4 of 5 stars 3.40 avg rating — 36,322 ratings
57 The Hobbit
by
4.18 of 5 stars 4.18 avg rating — 1,046,600 ratings
58 The Glass Lake
by
3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 avg rating — 11,004 ratings
59 Animal Farm
by
3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 avg rating — 981,821 ratings
60 Unaccustomed Earth
by
4.08 of 5 stars 4.08 avg rating — 39,830 ratings
61 Drowning Ruth
by
3.64 of 5 stars 3.64 avg rating — 36,794 ratings
62 The Runaway Jury
by
3.85 of 5 stars 3.85 avg rating — 109,547 ratings
63 Like Water for Chocolate
by
3.89 of 5 stars 3.89 avg rating — 187,466 ratings
64 Ella Enchanted
by
3.95 of 5 stars 3.95 avg rating — 163,796 ratings
65 The Hundred Secret Senses
by
3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 avg rating — 20,062 ratings
66 How to Be Good
by
3.14 of 5 stars 3.14 avg rating — 29,473 ratings
67 Welcome to the World, Baby ...
by
3.73 of 5 stars 3.73 avg rating — 9,435 ratings
68 The Catcher in the Rye
by
3.76 of 5 stars 3.76 avg rating — 1,093,926 ratings
69 The Spellman Files (The Spe...
by
3.87 of 5 stars 3.87 avg rating — 15,769 ratings
70 Love Walked In
by
3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 avg rating — 19,958 ratings
71 The Shadow of the Wind (The...
by
4.19 of 5 stars 4.19 avg rating — 135,565 ratings
72 One True Thing
by
3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 avg rating — 16,231 ratings
73 Light A Penny Candle
by
3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 avg rating — 8,765 ratings
74 The Tales of Beedle the Bard
by
3.87 of 5 stars 3.87 avg rating — 112,281 ratings
75 Much Ado About Nothing
by
4.04 of 5 stars 4.04 avg rating — 100,524 ratings
76 The Pillars of the Earth  (...
by
4.24 of 5 stars 4.24 avg rating — 226,730 ratings
77 I Don't Know How She Does I...
by
3.23 of 5 stars 3.23 avg rating — 10,491 ratings
78 The Big Over Easy (Nursery ...
by
3.89 of 5 stars 3.89 avg rating — 16,455 ratings
79 Garden Spells
by
4.03 of 5 stars 4.03 avg rating — 34,432 ratings
80 The Year of Living Biblical...
by
3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 avg rating — 30,512 ratings
81 Lord of the Flies
by
3.59 of 5 stars 3.59 avg rating — 907,710 ratings
82 The Count of Monte Cristo
by
4.1 of 5 stars 4.10 avg rating — 348,277 ratings
83 The Pleasure of My Company
by
3.74 of 5 stars 3.74 avg rating — 9,301 ratings
84 Midwives
by
3.89 of 5 stars 3.89 avg rating — 72,291 ratings
85 The Color of Magic (Discwor...
by
3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 avg rating — 92,078 ratings
86 Revolutionary Road
by
3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 avg rating — 35,992 ratings
87 The Great Gatsby
by
3.79 of 5 stars 3.79 avg rating — 1,153,523 ratings
88 Timeline
by
3.73 of 5 stars 3.73 avg rating — 81,689 ratings
89 The Essential Calvin and Ho...
by
4.64 of 5 stars 4.64 avg rating — 42,279 ratings
90 Joe College
by
3.32 of 5 stars 3.32 avg rating — 2,595 ratings
91 Just So Stories
by
4.08 of 5 stars 4.08 avg rating — 18,320 ratings
92 The Future Homemakers of Am...
by
3.54 of 5 stars 3.54 avg rating — 695 ratings
93 Marjorie Morningstar
by
4.01 of 5 stars 4.01 avg rating — 3,133 ratings
94 Something Blue (Darcy & Rac...
by
3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 avg rating — 93,487 ratings
95 The Moonspinners
by
3.95 of 5 stars 3.95 avg rating — 3,255 ratings
96 The Center of Everything
by
3.66 of 5 stars 3.66 avg rating — 4,184 ratings
97 The Septembers of Shiraz
by
3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 avg rating — 3,321 ratings
98 The Mists of Avalon (The Mi...
by
4.09 of 5 stars 4.09 avg rating — 89,936 ratings
99 Lolita
by
3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 avg rating — 284,559 ratings
100 Le Malade imaginaire
by
3.76 of 5 stars 3.76 avg rating — 2,165 ratings
421 books · 500 voters · list created September 2nd, 2008 by Khaya (votes) .
Lists are re-scored approximately every 500 seconds.


Khaya
Khaya
964 books
191 friends
marg
marg
857 books
98 friends
Tamar
Tamar
838 books
424 friends
Haley
Haley
355 books
48 friends
Tessa
Tessa
2235 books
85 friends
Jen
Jen
121 books
15 friends
Ruth
Ruth
468 books
27 friends
La Petite Américaine
La Petite Américaine
346 books
236 friends

More voters…


Comments (showing 1-42)




dateUp_arrow    newest »

message 41: by Tanya (new)

Tanya Is this list some kinda parody twist? A LOT of the books mentioned here are NOT light reads


message 40: by Stela (new)

Stela Honestly, people will vote anything!


message 39: by Elisabeth (new)

Elisabeth Kite Runner is so not a light book.


message 38: by Isabella (new)

Isabella Roland This is just a random assortment of books. Very few of them even coordinate to the list. Poor poor list.


message 37: by Tisa (new)

Tisa Gardon I have to agree with most of them; a lot of items in this list cannot be labeled light.

But of course, isn't lightness subjective?


 ~☆ Alice☆~ Emma wrote: "I'm forced to conclude that some people just go around adding their favorite books indiscriminately to every list they can find."

That is definitely true. I have noticed it over and over too.


message 35: by Emma (new)

Emma I'm forced to conclude that some people just go around adding their favorite books indiscriminately to every list they can find.


message 34: by Elaine (new)

Elaine Les Mis is a really heavy book. Someone who has actually read the book knows that it is way more intense than the musical. The musical is sad/depressing yet in most ways much lighter than the book. Whomever put this book on the list was not (too) intelligent.


message 33: by Ðɑηηɑ (new)

Ðɑηηɑ such a brilliant list!


message 32: by Susanna (last edited Aug 23, 2011 08:29pm) (new)

Susanna I like how tastes vary.


message 31: by Mauve7 (new)

Mauve7 The Hobbit is light reading???


message 30: by Kathryn (new)

Kathryn Many of these books cannot possibly be considered light! Who is adding this stuff?


message 29: by Dominique (new)

Dominique Dixon Maybe it's light as in a light read? Like, easier to handle than, say, War and Peace. If so, some of these should NOT be on here.


message 28: by [deleted user] (new)

Stephanie wrote: "I was surprised by some of the books here. Tis list is supposed to be for not-too-heavy books. And, for example, The Book Theif for me was a really thought-provoking and powerful book. Anything tha..."

I agree as some of these books are anything but light IMO.


Mike (the Paladin) I think the problem here may be the definition of "too". :)


message 26: by Lesley (new)

Lesley Twilight is NOT too dumb?


♥ Marlene♥ I agree with you here. What about the Wally Lamb books on the list. They are both definitely NOT light at all. lol


message 24: by kerri (new)

kerri I agree with Mike....... different strokes. Strange choice of words for this title.


message 23: by Lioba (new)

Lioba Not many light reads here altogether.


Mike (the Paladin) Ya but, Pillars of the Earth(murder, broken lives), To Kill a Mockingbird (racism, bigotry), Animal Farm (totalitarian rule, betrayal), The Count of Monte Cristo (false imprisonment, more murder), I could go on, but...at this point I'm forced to the conclusion that some people have a totally different view of a "light read" than I do.


message 21: by Deb (new)

Deb Possibly the people who voted for "Lord of the Flies" think it's a simple adventure story and don't understand the underlying message?


Mike (the Paladin) Okay....I'm very much a "to each their own" sort of guy, but I'm now forced to the conclusion that either there are a large number of people with a sense of irony...or they just don't understand the point of this list as I do/did. Murder, racism, death...all "light but not too dumb" oooookkkkaaaayyyyy.


message 19: by Tanya (new)

Tanya 'The Great Gatsby' and 'Catcher in the Rye' are considered light? I really don't get this list.


message 18: by Zoe (new)

Zoe ummm... white oleander light? i dont think so!


message 17: by Tanya (new)

Tanya Deb wrote: "I wouldn't even call the Harry Potter books "light". Light is the opposite of dark, surely?"

I believe they don't mean that kind of light. I think they mean books where you don't really have to think about (like Harry Potter). Not hard to read, simple.


message 16: by Susanna (new)

Susanna Lobstergirl wrote: "I'm trying to figure out how to add the Book of Job."

How about some Samuel Beckett?


message 15: by Susanna (new)

Susanna I voted for Harry Potter. It is a fast, fun read, at least for me.


message 14: by Deb (new)

Deb I wouldn't even call the Harry Potter books "light". Light is the opposite of dark, surely?


Mike (the Paladin) There's always Alive....


message 12: by Lobstergirl (last edited Jun 15, 2010 05:06pm) (new)

Lobstergirl I'm trying to figure out how to add the Book of Job.


message 11: by Thom (new)

Thom Dunn Mike wrote: "As I said...just wondering about it. Either the words meant something totally different to some, or....well, I suppose that maybe they just didn't read the heading"

I thought of adding The Crucible and Last Exit to Brooklyn. Or perhaps Journal of the Plague Year.


Mike (the Paladin) As I said...just wondering about it. Either the words meant something totally different to some, or....well, I suppose that maybe they just didn't read the heading


message 9: by Margarida (new)

Margarida Alice wrote: "Margarida wrote: "Lord of the Flies is light since when?"

Oh, very true! That is not light either."


There's at least 5 books in this list that I would never classified as light.


message 8: by Margarida (new)

Margarida Lord of the Flies is light since when?


message 7: by [deleted user] (new)

Mike wrote: "That's what I find interesting about "these lists". I like to see the differences in what we think. For me the idea of something being a light read implied a certain amount of humor, not too seriou..."

We think alike on what light should mean here. I think sometimes people don't carefully read what is asked and I have been guilty of the same.


Mike (the Paladin) That's what I find interesting about "these lists". I like to see the differences in what we think. For me the idea of something being a light read implied a certain amount of humor, not too serious as well as not so deep. Then I saw books dealing with fairly serious topics. It says to me that the actual phrase meant something different to each of us. As "Spock" would say...."fascinating".


message 5: by [deleted user] (new)

In Cold Blood is very depressing! Who added that? This list needs to be edited IMO.


message 4: by [deleted user] (new)

Stephanie wrote: "I was surprised by some of the books here. Tis list is supposed to be for not-too-heavy books. And, for example, The Book Theif for me was a really thought-provoking and powerful book. Anything tha..."

I agree. Some of these books made me cry and IMO that is not light.


message 3: by Alana (new)

Alana Revolutionary Road didn't strike me as light either.


message 2: by Kate (new)

Kate White Oleander is "light"??


message 1: by Stephanie (new)

Stephanie I was surprised by some of the books here. Tis list is supposed to be for not-too-heavy books. And, for example, The Book Theif for me was a really thought-provoking and powerful book. Anything that takes place in Nazi Germany isn't light. And My Sister's Keeper wasn't light either.

Right. So my point? None.
I hope I wasn't an annoyance. I suppose I just wished to express my dissagreement. And I suppose that would be my point.

Right. Have a good day.


back to top


flag as offensive (?)

Anyone can add books to this list.