What I’m Reading: Funny, Original and Relaxing Books
The books I enjoy now and the books I enjoyed when I was younger are vastly different. As a teenager, I loved coming-of-age novels, dystopian adventures, and books that came in a series; otherwise, they’d be over far too quickly.
It’s hard to know where to go from there as you get older. What felt relatable to me then doesn’t necessarily feel relatable now, and figuring out what I find relaxing, interesting, or genuinely enjoyable as an adult can be surprisingly difficult.
I’m a girl who likes her media funny and lighthearted. Most of all, I enjoy original writing. I love a distinct voice, a clever idea, or a writer who does something I haven’t quite seen before.
Plenty of books would probably still appeal to me, but I have committed a cardinal sin: I turned a hobby into my field of study. I completed a BA in English, focusing on literature, creative writing, and stylistics. That meant I was forced to read a lot of books, including plenty of classics, and many of them are just... not it for me anymore. There’s a particular sour taste that comes with having to finish a novel because you need to write something about it afterwards, and unfortunately, that feeling is now attached to quite a few books I studied.
So, the books on this list will not be classics. They’ll be relaxics: books to grab when you want to tune out and simply enjoy yourself, without wondering whether they’re worth the time or mental effort.
Fall is the best season for reading. Here in Amsterdam, the sky gets dark early enough that by 18:00 I can be curled up on the couch under a blanket with a book. I’ll read a page, glance out of the window, and watch the leaves collect on the pavement, a wonderful thing to see when you’re pondering over a plot.
This is going to be a bit of an ongoing reading list rather than a finished list of recommendations. Some of these books I’ve already read, some I’m reading now, and some are sitting there waiting for me. I’ll add little bits and pieces as I go: why I picked something up, what I’m expecting from it, and, eventually, what I actually thought of it.
So, these are the books I’m reaching for as a newly thirty-year-old: the ones that look funny, original, strange, comforting, or simply easy to get lost in. No analysing a classic because someone told me to, and preferably no committing to the next seven books in a series.
Heartburn by Nora Ephron
Status: Finished
Recommended for: funny, lighthearted reading; switching your brain off; clever writing without a heavy plot.
So, as a seasoned When Harry Met Sally... fan, I was surprised to find out that Nora Ephron had written a novel. Her only novel, actually. It feels like such a gap in my knowledge; I should have come across this book a million times over!
Imagine my surprise when, on a weekend trip to London, I walked into a bookshop in Diagon Alley, picked up a book that seemed interesting, and saw on the back that it was written by Nora Ephron?! I opened it up and honestly had to force myself to shut it again, because otherwise I would have been standing there until I finished the entire thing.
Heartburn follows Rachel Samstat, a woman living in the late 1970s who discovers that her husband is cheating on her while she is seven months pregnant with their second child. She reminisces about the romantic moments they have shared while talking about all the shitty things he is doing in the present, and recipes are woven throughout the story.
It is strange to read now. The social world around the affair feels so blasé about cheating that, at times, it barely feels like our reality anymore.
And then you find out that Nora really did go through this.
The novel is a thinly fictionalised version of the end of her marriage to journalist Carl Bernstein, who had an affair with Margaret Jay while Ephron was pregnant with their second child. Ephron turned the whole disaster into Heartburn a few years later, much to the discomfort of her ex-husband.
I am also annoyed to learn that the scumbag who cheated on her outlived Nora. That just ain’t right. And the same goes for the other woman in the whole scandal.
I wish Nora were still around and creating. Her voice is truly unique, and it shines through just as clearly in this novel as it does in the films she wrote. There is something about the way she can make something genuinely painful incredibly funny without making the pain itself feel trivial. I would have happily read another ten novels by her.
Super-Frog Saves Tokyo — Haruki Murakami
Status: Pending
Recommended for: TBA
When I spotted this little thing, it was practically winking at me from the shelf. Colourful and proud.
I’ve read Norwegian Wood by Murakami before and enjoyed it at the time, although I don’t remember all that much of it now. This is something completely different: a short story in a little illustrated edition, with pages full of art. Some of the images are quite abstract to me, while others clearly depict something specific, like Frog himself. At other times, the pages are simply covered in strange patterns.
It seems silly, simple and cute, and I’m excited to get started on it. I’m guessing this one won’t take long to finish at all—perhaps an hour or two at most.
The Doctor Is Sick — Anthony Burgess
Status: Pending
Recommended for: TBA
I’m familiar with Burgess through A Clockwork Orange. I thoroughly enjoy the film, and I remember The Doctor Is Sick being used as an example of something in one of my stylistics classes. Whatever the example was, it worked, because I ordered the book almost immediately.
I’m hoping Burgess plays around with language here too, as he famously does in A Clockwork Orange, but I guess we’ll see. The novel follows Edwin Spindrift, a linguistics professor who ends up in hospital with a neurological illness and escapes before undergoing surgery. From there, he apparently finds himself wandering through a rather bizarre side of London.
If my memory serves me right, it gets quite absurd. The book is supposedly very funny, but also cerebral and thought-provoking, which is probably what interests me most about it. Compared with a novel as effortless as Heartburn, this seems like the kind of book that asks for more attention and active participation from its reader.
That is probably also why I haven’t gotten around to it yet. I don’t tend to have much mental capacity left over these days, and this feels like the kind of book I want to read when I can actually give it my attention. My exams are in about a month, so I’m planning to pick this one up afterwards. Out of all the unread books on this page, I think this is the one I expect to be the most thought-provoking.
To Be Continued…
I’ll continue updating this page as I make my way through these books, adding little thoughts as I go and coming back to my first impressions once I’ve finished the novels. I’m curious to see which ones live up to what I expected, which ones surprise me, and which ones end up becoming the kind of books I’ll want to return to years from now. I may also add books as we move through the season, and I am always happy to get a recommendation!
