I so enjoyed the TV show recommendations post, I want to do the same for books! Within similar “let’s be real about the people who visit DCIB and their interests” kind of restrictions.
First, I know many of us are super super smart people who like reading about real life Big Ideas and Problems of the World and stuff. But this is NOT THE POST FOR THAT!!!! I am looking for the Hindi movie (not Indian, Hindi. That fluffy) equivalent of book ideas. I’ll start us off with some random options from my shelves:
No Life For a Lady: A memoir written by a proper New England woman who fell in love with a cowboy and moved west with him to run a ranch in the late 1800s. Lot’s of interesting stuff about making biscuits and stew and how horses work, and also little vague indications of how very romantic her love story was. Non-fiction, but fun non-fiction! Link here.
The Penderwicks: If you have children, or are children adjacent, you might already know about this series. Openly imitating Little Women, and the Elizabeth Enright Melendy books (which I also highly recommend), with a dash of Noel Streatfield’s “Shoes” books, it is a delightful update of those “siblings learning and growing and having adventures over a long summer break” genre. 4 sisters, and eventually a little brother and another sister, each with their own interests and personalities, having adventures with the lonely little rich boy next door and their absentminded professor father. Link here.
Georgette Heyer Mysteries: Heyer is of course the mother of all romance novels, an upperclass British woman in the teens and 20s and 30s who started writing books about witty dashing rakes and the unconventional women they love. But she also wrote some delightful mysteries! Hunt them down if you haven’t read them, my favorite is The Unfinished Clue in which the super smart Scotland Yard detective falls in love with the wise-cracking sister of the chief suspect. Link here.
Jennifer Crusie Books: She has been writing for over 20 years now, started in straight romance novels (which are really fun and light if you can track them down) and then graduated to “grown up” books that have a little more plot. All her heroines are over 30 and intelligent and off-beat, all her heroes are modestly attractive and really really smart, the dialogue is insanely good, and (to be a bit shallow for a moment) so are the sex scenes. Oh, and there’s also lots of dogs. Here’s a link to my favorite (three dogs!), Getting Rid of Bradley.
Janet Evanovich Romances: Kind of the flip of Heyer, most people know Evanovich for her mysteries (Stephanie Plum, New Jersey bounty hunter with a wacky family and two hot boyfriends, obviously I also recommend those), but back before she started writing those she wrote really light and wacky romance novels. Thanks to her later success, they have been reissued (woot!). Here is a link to my favorite The Rocky Road to Romance (eager new traffic reporter and the rich station owner who falls in love with her at first sight, also there’s a dog).
Pineapple Port Series: I just finished the most recent one, book 10, and it was super good and I want the series to continue so you all should buy them on Kindle! Our heroine was literally raised in a retirement community after her grandmother died, a sleepy little development in Florida, and then she finds a body in her backyard and decides (with the help of her dreamy new boyfriend Declan, two 70 year old best friends, and a dog) to learn how to be a detective. Link here.
Marjorie Allingham: Gonna end CLASSY! Allingham is the weird cousin to Dorothy Sayers. She started out with sort of a fun funny romp of a detective adventure book set at one of those 1930s house parties where someone always dies. And then she went off into her own thing, including some kind of deep social commentary, and a sweet romance, and some sort of surreal science fiction stuff, all tied together by her same central detective hero who ages in real time (unlike the others that are frozen). A very Indian romance too, our hero meets the heroine when she is a 17 year old tomboy and then, after a loooooooooooong engagement, realizes he loves her for real-real, it’s not just a habit. The first book is super fun (link here), but if you can handle starting in the middle of a series I recommend the second book of the romance trilogy (link here).
What are your fun fluffy books you want to recommend? Or what are the ones on my list you also love? Or just in general, BOOKS!
dontcallitbollywood 
The Amelia Peabody mysteries by Elizabeth Peters. Assertive female amateur archaeologist meets a diamond in the rough bear of a guy in Egypt, and their adventures go on and on. Escapist and fun.
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I love Elizabeth Peters in general
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YES! Oh man, I love those books! And also shout out for the books written by the same lady under the name Barbara Michaels. And my favorite of all her books, The Legend in Green Velvet, which is a super fun romp adventure book.
On Fri, Mar 6, 2020 at 12:58 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Maybe this is a little on the nose but author Nisha Sharma is great! “My So-Called Bollywood Life” is a delightfully fun and sweet young adult fiction novel that is chock-full of SRK movie references.
And her other book The Takeover Effect (the first of an ongoing trilogy) is basically a modern Indian romance/drama movie only MUCH…spicier.
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I am always up for SRK references!
On Fri, Mar 6, 2020 at 12:58 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I LOVED My So-Called Bollywood Life! So much fun! One of the first I thought of when I was coming up with ideas!
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I don’t read many adult fluffy novels, unless a friend has specifically recommended them to me and then I’ll read it to talk to her about it. Thus I’ve read all the Fifty Shades of Grey etc. books so I could talk to my friend about sex, and now she’s divorced… But I read A LOT of teen lit, which is where I get my fluff. Rapture Practice by Aaron Hartzler and the Girl of Fire and Thorns series by Rae Carson are two of my all time favorites that aren’t as well known to the general population.
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I also have a passion for teen lit, but like really old teen lit. My current favorite author is Janet Lambert who wrote books from 1933 to about 1963, all about dances and new dresses and WWII and stuff like that.
On Fri, Mar 6, 2020 at 1:28 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I recently gave away an anthology titled the Golden Age of Children’s Literature with articles on the Winnie the Pooh etc. And while I LOVE Winnie the Pooh, I think the golden age of children’s literature is right now. With our bigger population we have more authors, more people have the ability (with computers) to write, and because the competition is fierce, the stuff that does get published is usually great. I can’t think of a book that I read growing up, that was better than The Absolutely True Diaries of a Part-time Indian, though Anne of Green Gables does come pretty close.
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If you like fantasy, I read a really good one last month. Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri. The author said she was inspired by Mughal-e-Azam. It’s sort of an alt-universe Mughal Empire India, and the heroine can weave spells by dancing Bharatnatyam. The film does get pretty dark in the middle with an evil cult leader, but it all comes right in the end. Very noble hero, too, who also dances!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39714124-empire-of-sand
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Oooh! I do like fantasy and will definitely check this one out!
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Ooo, Bharatnatyam spell dances is a really good idea!
On Fri, Mar 6, 2020 at 1:31 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I highly recommend anything by Marjorie Sharp — EXCEPT NOT HER DARK ONES!
One of her novels is even titled “Something Light” (featuring “Louisa Datchett, Photographer of Dogs”)
I particularly recommend the Martha trilogy (“Eye of Love,” “Martha in Paris,” and “Martha, Eric, and George”).
See:
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I would recommend:
– Mills & Boon’s Least likely to marry a duke, it’s a delightful fast read
– Sarah Pinborough’s Beauty, Poison and Charm (a sexy fairy tale retelling trilogy and very short and I recommend reading it in that order)
– Anything Rainbow Rowell (Fun, Modern YA and Fantasy)
– Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (1920s Australia with a free loving lady detective! Also if the series is still on Netflix in the USA I recommend watching it at some point)
– The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern which is about a magical circus in the 19th century and it is my favourite book of the decade, so good I bought it twice because the first one didn’t have a cover that could last long. It is honestly so good I can’t recommend it enough!
– If anyone is into reding plays then Cupid and Psyche: The Bad Quarto by Emily C. A. Snyder is the one to go with! It needs more love (only on Kindle)
– So Now You Know: Growing up Gay in India by Vivek Tejuja and it is a bit on the sad side because he is so real and honest about his life
– The Pig Keeper’s Assistant: A Steampunk Short Story by E. Long (only on Kindle) it is short and sweet with snappy dialogue
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Ooh! Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries is awesome. I believe a new movie is also coming out soon.
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Yes! Crypt of Tears! And so far it looks awesome!
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A movie??? I watched the first 1-2 seasons but didn’t read the books. And I know the series isn’t 100% faithful to the books, is the rumor that the movie will be faithful to the books? Or is it just more of the TV series?
On Fri, Mar 6, 2020 at 5:20 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Movie is a continuation of the tv series, starring all the same people.
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I used to work at a bookstore, The Night Circus is super loved. I’ve never heard a reader say anything bad about it.
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Even in the bookstore where I bought my second copy of it, the saleswoman said that it is a fantastic book on the checkout. Definitely a future classic.
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I adored Night Circus!
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It is such a beautiful book! I mean, just the description of the magic is beyond words.
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Oh man, I am saving this comment for the next time I am in a romance novel mood!
On Fri, Mar 6, 2020 at 4:20 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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The Night Circus keeps coming up as a recommendation in my life. Must get my hands on it!
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I’ve been wanting to re-read Martha Grimes’ cozy murder mysteries with Richard Jury. They’re such an odd mix of straight and spoofy. It’s about time for a re-read of the Kinsey Milhone alphabet murders books. She’s such a great character to fantasize being. Self-employed, lovely friends, doesn’t care about clothes or hair, but regularly gets with interesting hunky men.
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Oh oh! Sue Grafton hugged my Grandpa! A proud moment for the whole family. He showed up late at a book signing, and was adorable and elderly, so she signed his book and asked if she could hug him.
On Fri, Mar 6, 2020 at 9:16 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Whaaaat? Proud moment, indeed! Lucky Grandpa, and lucky Sue.
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I read a lot of YA, as the token young person here. And gay stuff lately. But here’s my recommendations anyway:
“A Honeyed Light” by Freddie Milano: A little on the nose. Closeted Indian man meets out Filipino man. They fall in love during the lead up to Diwali. A little sexy towards the end, but super sweet and delicious.
“The First Girl Child” by Amy Harmon: Inspired by Norse mythology. A dying mother curses her kingdom by proclaiming there will be no girls born. As her son grows up, a girl is born, but through nefarious means. He is sworn to protect her. Lots of enticing, forbidden romance, evil deeds, high fantasy, gorgeous writing.
“By Hand and Heart” by Yolande Kleinn: I read this in 20 minutes. Modern, gay adaptation of Pygmalion. Super cute.
The “Crazy Rich Asians” series by Kevin Kwon, and the “Luxe” series by Anna Godbersen: Rich people doing all kinds of crazy things to get what they want. One set in modern day, the other in 1900s New York. Lots of romance, backstabbing, crazy antics, over the top drama.
But I would also like to second “My So-Called Bollywood Life” and Rainbow Rowell stuff, particularly “Fangirl”.
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I do like rich people doing crazy things! It’s so much more fun than poor people doing crazy things.
On Fri, Mar 6, 2020 at 10:02 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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