11 Plus Exams Forum

Ok ladies

This is totally and utterly non-intellectual, can i just stress that? I am looking for holiday reading. I have enjoyed many 'clever' novels and I love time travel etc, and i definitely want an 'intelligent' read, but, I'll be honest, for my holdiay this summer I want a fairly lightweight novel I can enjoy in the sunshine by the pool (oh I hope!!!!) that won't distress me or require too much philosophical thought!

For those of you still left

I'd quite like a couple of good romances, sexy is fine but I don't, absolutely do not want, 57 Shades type ero*ica/p**n

I like a happy ending (Hated The Goldfinch, really hated it)
Love Kate Mosse, Rachel Hore, etc etc but quite fancy something a bit more "manhattan" without resorting to "shopaholic" type Chick Lit.

Any ideas? Please don't hijack my thread for more intellectual and philosophically challenging books as I have put dibs on this thread as a "free to be frothy" zone

Promise I'll read Catch-22 when I get home........

One from the man in the audience.I see mills and boon are still alive and kicking !!!

I do not know if you would consider that ‘too serious’ but really really that is a book that I was not able to put down when I was reading it , and in fact, I was angry with myself as I needed to be fresh during the day despite reading for most of the night! Such a page turner for us , ladies!
It is ‘North and South’ by Elisabeth Gaskell… (it is set in the XIX century so maybe not your cup of tea if you are after something modern?).
You can finish off the reading by the BBC adaptation which is superb though a bit too modern at some places… but here we go, this is the society we live in which sometimes imposes its rules, though it is totally anachronistic with the novel on which the film is based!

trailer of the film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0E6YQnd3AE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You could try The Rosie Project by Graeme Simison. Slightly intelligent, funny, maybe less on the romantic side; it's about a University lecturer who has undiagnosed Aspergers and his search for love with all of the twists and turns.

Another vote here for the Rosie Project - funny, clever, intriguing.

I have really enjoyed novels from Catherine O'Flynn - in particular The News Where You Are, and What Was Lost. Both slightly mysterious and thought provoking but not super heavy, with a little bit of love interest. Rather reminded me of The Shipping News by E Annie Proulx, if you know that.

quasimodo wrote:One from the man in the audience.I see mills and boon are still alive and kicking !!!

Absolutely not! No interest in what my mum referred to as "the penny dreadfuls"!!

Why if I don't want to read Proust must it mean I'm brainless and only want rubbish pot boilers? I admit to light, not intellectual, but I did say intelligent!!

Yamin151 wrote:

quasimodo wrote:One from the man in the audience.I see mills and boon are still alive and kicking !!!

Absolutely not! No interest in what my mum referred to as "the penny dreadfuls"!!

Why if I don't want to read Proust must it mean I'm brainless and only want rubbish pot boilers? I admit to light, not intellectual, but I did say intelligent!!

It was only a tongue in cheek comment and no inferences were intended or suggested and got its expected short thrift.

Apparently they have a loyal readership of over three million in the UK.

Yamin151 wrote:

quasimodo wrote:One from the man in the audience.I see mills and boon are still alive and kicking !!!

Absolutely not! No interest in what my mum referred to as "the penny dreadfuls"!!

crossed with quasi

Quasi likes to tease!

Now, that is my French heritage speaking there: I like to read 'Asterix and Obelix' and I know many Brits who likes it too! The last one is set in Scotland:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Asterix-Picts- ... +the+picts" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oh, and I love 'Asterix in Britain'; that is my favourite with the one about the Olympic games

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Asterix-Britai ... 96MBHCJSPT" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Very light reading when you are on a beach or by a pool... though it is not a novel...

Loved the Rosie Project and the sequel The Rosie Effect.

A man Called Ove ( I cried like a lemon at the end!)

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared

Elizabeth is Missing

Moving by Jenny Eclair

Another vote for the Hunded Year Old Man.... very funny

Also anything by William Boyd

Anything by Anne Tyler

Two novels by Garth Stein: The Art of Racing in the Rain, and A Sudden Light

I hope those count as not too intellectual. They're not frothy but they are just unputdownable good reads.