Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week.
This week’s theme is Top Ten Books When You Need Something Light and Fun. This was a harder list to put together than I’d anticipated! I now realize that most of my go-to books for re-reading, straight from my shelf of favorites, are not at all light and fun. Dark, sad, dramatic, intense — yes. Light and fun? Not so much.
With a bit of struggle, here’s what I’ve come up with for my top 10 this week:
1) Soulless by Gail Carriger: The first book in the Parasol Protectorate series is full of quippy dialogue, romance, supernatural hijinks, and is a Victorian comedy of manners to boot. Even when the characters are in peril, it’s light-hearted and humorous.
2) Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore: Or really, anything by Christopher Moore. Lust lizards? Stupidest angels? Sequined love nuns? Talking fruit bats? He cracks me up, every time.
3) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling: II’ve read the entire Harry Potter series about a gazillion times by now, and these books always make me smile. Of course, there are a lot of dark and terrible times ahead for Harry, but especially in book one (and really, throughout the series), the darkness is offset by the wonder of it all. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are adorable as younger children, and wonderful heroes as they grow up. I can’t imagine ever getting tired of this world.
4) The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.The adorableness of this series cannot be overrated. Besides, 42!
5) The Princess Bride by William Goldman: I love the movie and I love the book. Either one will cheer me up on a bad day. It’s all about the twu wuv, people.
6) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: The Regency-era snarkiness, the sass and spine of Elizabeth Bennet, and the idiocy of the various other Bennet women are worth revisiting, time after time.
7) The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher: Look, bad stuff happens in this series, to be sure. And yet, Harry Dresden — Chicago’s only professional wizard — is just a total smart-ass of a bad-ass, and is so much fun to hang out with. This is one series that has not overstayed its welcome (cough *Sookie* cough). No matter how the plot twists and turns, it’s always great to spend time with Harry.
8) The works of Dr. Seuss: This may be more for my 10-year-old than for me, although I confess to being a total fan. Whenever my son, who considers himself quite grown-up these days, has a tough day or feels a bit sick, out comes the Dr. Seuss. Our go-to favorites are The Sleep Book and Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?, but really, you just can’t go wrong with a good dose of Seuss on a bad day.
9) The Jane True series by Nicole Peeler. As with #7, bad stuff does indeed happen in this urban fantasy series, but Jane is just such an amazing heroine that these book can totally cheer me up and make me laugh.
10) The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien: I love the Lord of the Rings books (oh, Aragorn…), but The Hobbit is a winner in terms of light, fun reading. Nothing like a thrilling quest, with good guys, questionable guys, wizards, dashing heroics, and piles of gold to brighten up a day!
Trying to put together this list has shown me that I need to read more happy books. Any suggestions? Let me know the books you can count on when you need a big serving of cheer!
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Bookshelf Fantasies 
That is such a lovely cover for The Hobbit! 🙂 I totally enjoyed that book too.
As for suggestions of happy books, I guess I tend to dip into chick lit and authors like Meg Cabot for that. Then again, it was hard for me to put together this TTT too so I don’t think I’m the person to ask. 😛
My TTT is over here.
Isn’t that a great Hobbit cover? It’s not the one that I actually own, but I did just get this one recently for my daughter. I should probably check out Meg Cabot — I’ve read her vampire books, but nothing else. Thanks for the suggestion!
I love the Dresden Files as well, and Tempest Rising has been on my TBR forever, it seems!
Here’s my TTT post for this week.
The sixth & final book in the Jane True series is due out at the end of this month, so now is a great time to give Tempest Rising a try! I’m glad to meet another Dresden fan — thanks for stopping by!
Oh, that’s good to know! I love it when I arrive ‘late’ to a series and can read them all back-to-back!
Can you believe we have to wait until November before we know what Harry’s up to?
Harry Potter is a great choice for a light and fun read. Great list!
I never get tired of Harry! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Tru Luv! ❤ The Princess Bride is one of my all-time favourite books and it's most definitely one that I turn to when I need something not so serious.
I loved Soulless and your list has reminded me that I need to read more of that series. Hope you have a great week 🙂
Thanks, Kate! I loved the whole Parasol Protectorate series, but there are moments where it gets a bit more serious. I love how Alexia can always make me laugh, even in dire straits.
I loved The Princess Bride, and of course anything by Jane Austen.
Yes! And all the movie versions of Jane Austen’s works are perfect for sick days when I can’t quite focus on a book but need something cheery.
Other than Harry Potter I haven’t read any of these. Do love the movie of The Princess Bride; surprised I haven’t read it yet! Also, I do love Dr. Seuss! So very fun!
Thanks for stopping by! Dr. Seuss still makes me giggle…
I can’t believe I forgot to add The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy…and The Hobbit! If ever I was in the mood to slip back to Middle Earth but not necessarily in the mood to re-read through LOTR, The Hobbit would be my go-to book 😀
I’ve been meaning to read the rest of The Dresden Files, it’s a fascinating world Harry Dresden lives in xD
My TTT
That’s exactly why I picked The Hobbit. I love Middle Earth, but those books are soooo dark at times. I’d definitely recommend continuing with Dresden when you have a chance. That series is still so strong!
Hobbit is a good pick, and HP is also, of course. Made my list as well. 😀
MY TTT
Great minds think alike! 🙂 You can never have too much HP.
Wow, we share 3 choices (Soulless, Hitchhiker’s Guide and Harry Potter)! I also love Dresden Files and Pride & Prejudice.
I made a list of light and fun fantasy reads, I hope there’s something you’ve haven’t read that interests you. From your list, I mean to one day read Princess Bride. And I had never heard of the Jane True series before, I’ll have to search for more info on that.
I’ll go check out your list too! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂