SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

From a tangent on the themes discussion: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I said there:

There's a happy ending, or at least a reasonably happy one. It doesn't require a college education to understand the allusions, themes, touchpoints, or tech. The characters are mostly good people who try to make their 'world' a better place. There may be some humor. It won't give me nightmares. It's no more than about 400 pp.

It does have to be smart, of course. I just don't want it to be draining.

I don't think that anyone really does, actually [have a good definition for 'light']. For example I do not, personally, mean beach reads or fluff.

I've asked for rec's for light and gotten stuff that needed extreme content warnings. Blurbs have similarly misled me, with murder mysteries that have gore and child abuse marked as light. Hence, the list of specific examples to help us brainstorm a simpler way of saying at least what is not or giving examples of works that do qualify.

Nyx used the word "cheerful" which I really like. 'Optimistic' comes up in that thread, as does 'hopepunk.' They are also good words.

"Fluff" came up, but in my own personal opinion, that's refers to stuff that's so very insignificant that it's not worth the time to read, certainly not to read for a group discussion.

What do you mean when you say 'light?' Can there be a book that needs content warnings that would still be considered light, in your evaluation?

And btw, what does beach read mean to you? Is it the same as summer read?

In my own understanding, summer is when there is more daylight, more time, less stress... a good time to tackle the doorstoppers and classics. But maybe I'm in the minority? And in my own understanding, a beach read is simply one that you don't mind if it gets wet or torn....

Light to me is the exact opposite of the grimdark genre. I was incorrect with my use of "fluff". Light will always have a thread of hope rather than being hopeless!

I don't know about light but a beach read to me was always something fairly short as the book would take up valuable suitcase space. Suppose it'll be different for those who don't have to get on a plane to visit a beach.

For me a perfect "beach read" is one that is not only fairly short, but has quick, snappy chapters. It's easy to pick up and put down at will. James Patterson is a perfect author of beach reads.

Kandice, that does make sense to me for beach read. That particular setting would have a lot of distractions, interruptions....

Michelle, does just a thread of hope qualify? If so, I will definitely have to avoid using the word light. Lots of awfully dark and heavy books have just a thread of hope, it seems... and I am not into reading those.

I use the term 'light reading' pretty much exclusively to mean a quick, easy read. It has nothing to do with tone from my perspective and if someone asked me for a light reading recommendation I probably wouldn't think about content warnings for an enjoyable mystery or thriller (for instance).

The idea of beach reading conjures up with people romances in my mind. Something like How Stella Got Her Groove Back. I'm no expert there, though. The one time I ever tried to read on a beach it gave me a headache and there was way too much sand involved LOL.

Maybe think about the word 'escapist' too.
Maybe think about examples from the bookshelf that would qualify as light in some way, or at least as not grim in some way.

Cheryl wrote: "And btw, what does beach read mean to you? Is it the same as summer read?

In my own understanding, summer is when there is more daylight, more time, less stress... a good time to tackle the doors..."

Door stoppers and classics are definitely not a summer/ beach read for me. I consider summer and beach interchangeable. Something smart, funny and/or action packed. Something not too taxing on the brain. I actually do not mind if the book is long but it needs to be “light” for my thought process.

Also many of my summer reads are usually the new, shinny books that are just releasing. I spend January to May focusing on the ones that are collecting dust on my TBR. Took me a few years to realize this trend and create challenge goals accordingly.

Door stoppers are Beach Reads if they're ones like Valley of the Dolls (448 pages), The Devil Wears Prada (432 pages), any of the Outlander books, Stephen King books, etc.

Cheryl wrote: "Kandice, that does make sense to me for beach read. That particular setting would have a lot of distractions, interruptions....

Michelle, does just a thread of hope qualify? If so, I will definite..."

No, I'm not either into that either. I'm having trouble articulating properly. I blame insufficient coffee this morning :)

How about this: it's not unrelentingly dark or depressive in nature? Some dark things can happen, but there is still a basic positivity throughout, hope springs eternal, and all that.

As an example just off the top of my caffeine-starved brain, Michael Sullivan's Ryria series. Not the prequels, because they weren't as upbeat to me, but the Royce & Hardian books. Bad things happened, but there was still positivity, goodness and humor throughout.

Oh yeah, James Patterson and his numerous one page chapters.

Ryan wrote: "Oh yeah, James Patterson and his numerous one page chapters."


My husband notoriously skips every chapter that takes place at Alex Cross' mother's house and still manages to get the entire gist of the story. Now that's an easy read!

Kandice wrote: "Ryan wrote: "Oh yeah, James Patterson and his numerous one page chapters."


My husband notoriously skips every chapter that takes place at Alex Cross' mother's house and still manages to get the e..."

LMAOROTF. Genius!

To me a light read let's me turn off my brain so nothing too intense. And nothing where I need to use my imagination too much.

And maybe it's because I grew up on Star Trek, animated series and some truly bad fantasy movies but I adore books based on TV series/movies (or vice versa). Star Trek, Stargate, Charmed etc. Those are truly light reads to me. That and nonfiction books about the place where I'm at on vacation.

My hats off to everyone who read doorstoppers on vacation!

To me, it depends on which word “light” is intended to be an antonym for. Dark, or heavy? I see that as two completely different types of books that may or may not overlap. My knee-jerk reaction is to think in terms of “not heavy”, because that’s how I usually mean the word “light” myself. Then my brain kicks in and I remember the person using the term may mean “not dark”.

If light is being used to mean not heavy, I think of it as something that isn’t challenging to read. In that context, it doesn’t mean the book is cheerful or that it doesn't have a ton of dark content, just that it’s easy to get into and doesn’t require a lot of brain power to understand what's going on. That doesn’t mean there isn’t any value to be found in the book, or greater depths to be found if you put more effort into it, just that you can still enjoy it without much effort.

If light is being used to mean not dark, then for me a book fitting that criteria would be one in which the main characters are likeable people with goals I can support. Ideally, they have friends and/or family they get along with and there’s humor, cheerful camaraderie, and banter. Bad things may happen, but they aren’t usually too horrible. The story should end happily, or at least hopefully. Beloved characters or pets shouldn’t be killed off for emotional impact.

I’d see a beach read as kind of a combination of the two. Not heavy, because when you’re traveling you’ll have a lot of distractions and you’ll be doing other things, so you want something you can dip into for short periods with a distracted mind and still not have any trouble following it. Not dark, because you don’t want to be sobbing in public, and because the tone of a not-dark book is (hopefully) less likely to clash with the tone of your vacation.

YouKneeK wrote: "I’d see a beach read as kind of a combination of the two."

I like that way of thinking about it.

I've also often heard it used to mean easy language, short words, short sentences, short chapters. No run-on sentences, Latin or Greek, no having to read paragraphs several times or requiring a commentary to understand all the references.

I think this is why people will e.g. recommend horror, thrillers, and bloodbaths as "light reads": not much serious brain power required for comprehension.

Whereas I think you use the term more for "light-hearted, uplifting, easy on the soul" rather than "easy on the intellect", right?

Yeah, I think that's a terrific distinction. Not dark vs. not heavy, thank you YouKneeK.

I def. use the term to be more about light-hearted. I don't like super heavy, like what Eva is describing first, but I don't want to completely turn off my brain either. So, imo, 'easy on the soul' is a great idiom that the mods might like.

I also appreciate all that y'all are saying about beach and summer reads, too. Fascinating. I guess I've been 'wrong' all these years. ;)

Beach reads, at least in the US and as I understand the term are fluffy, popular books of middle quality that are escapist in nature. The kind of books that you see (or used to see) on the racks in airport bookstores.

The problem with light as an adjective is what Youkneek highlights - it's not specific, so is light an antonym for dark or heavy/serious.

Cheryl wrote: "Nyx used the word "cheerful" which I really like. 'Optimistic' comes up in that thread, as does 'hopepunk.' They are also good words.

"Fluff" came up, but in my own personal opinion, that's refers..."

Guilty. I mentioned Fluff and Stuff. I consider The Disc World Series to be Fluff and Stuff. Light, entertaining, and generally a quick read. Along the same lines, I also consider almost anything by Douglas Adams to be in that category. But I would agree that some things that are grouped in a category like this would not be suitable for a group read. Bunnicula for example.

Cheryl wrote: "And btw, what does beach read mean to you? Is it the same as summer read?

In my own understanding, summer is when there is more daylight, more time, less stress... a good time to tackle the doors..."

As I understand it a Beach Read is a book that you would take to read at the Beach on Vacation. So unless you are someone like me, it would generally be a shorter book that doesn't need to hold your attention, since you are mostly expecting to be doing other things.

I of course break that rule and have read things like Rise and Fall of the Third Reich on the beach. Amazingly enough, for kids under five, it is great for reading out loud and inducing napes.

Michelle wrote: "Light to me is the exact opposite of the grimdark genre. I was incorrect with my use of "fluff". Light will always have a thread of hope rather than being hopeless!"

Having books of a more 'light' type, as opposed to a 'dark' type, would be good. I have found (although I suspect this is more the books I have picked off the shelf) that there seem to be quite a few books that border more on horror than what I consider to be SciFi/Fantasy, but maybe it is just me.

Ryan wrote: "I don't know about light but a beach read to me was always something fairly short as the book would take up valuable suitcase space. Suppose it'll be different for those who don't have to get on a ..."

That is a serious bummer. I used to live on the coast, so the beach was five minutes away. Now it is about two hours. Never moving back to the MidWest again. LOL.

Ryan wrote: "I don't know about light but a beach read to me was always something fairly short as the book would take up valuable suitcase space. Suppose it'll be different for those who don't have to get on a ..."

Kindles (or other ereaders/reading apps) are the way to go - I can go to the beach and easily carry more than 500 books with me that weigh less than one paperback

ETA, when I moved, I moved from x miles to the beach to alsmot the same number of miles and from the same elevation to the same elevation. I did, however, trade hurricanes (went through several bad ones and the resultant flooding from tropical storms) for earthquakes (far less likely, but I am in an are what has them or could have a major one.

CBRetriever wrote: "Ryan wrote: "I don't know about light but a beach read to me was always something fairly short as the book would take up valuable suitcase space. Suppose it'll be different for those who don't have..."

According to the Doomsayers, the PacNorWest, in this case, Portland OR, could have a major earthquake in the future, also a volcano, or a Tsunami, all of which would make a great post-apocalyptic story for the Portland area. LOL. I like to go with what one volcanologist had to say about Mt. St. Helens erupting again. He said that yes it would erupt again, the question was would it be next month or a thousand years down the road? Seems like a reasonable set of odds to live with. Certainly better than living in Hurrican alley, or even Tornado alley for that matter.

Dj wrote: "I like to go with what one volcanologist had to say about Mt. St. Helens erupting again. He said that yes it would erupt again, the question was would it be next month or a thousand years down the road? "

Mount Hood (80 miles from Portland) is also a possibility. But it's so beautiful to be driving along and suddenly see it, that it's totally worth it

from Wikipedia:

Mount Hood is considered the Oregon volcano most likely to erupt, though based on its history, an explosive eruption is unlikely. Still, the odds of an eruption in the next 30 years are estimated at between 3 and 7%, so the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) characterizes it as "potentially active", but the mountain is informally considered dormant.

CBRetriever wrote: "Dj wrote: "I like to go with what one volcanologist had to say about Mt. St. Helens erupting again. He said that yes it would erupt again, the question was would it be next month or a thousand year..."

Yeah, got to love Mt. Hood, it dominates the skyline. I live West of Portland, in Beaverton, and can see it from where I live. It is mentioned in almost any book involving Portland even if just in passing. It has a more or less starting role in some of the later Dies the Fire series of books.