shinyhappypeople Posted September 26, 2019 Share Posted September 26, 2019 (edited) I'm at a loss. The books I'd like to do (Lord of the Flies, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc.) are pretty dark. Older DD needs light, funny, short reads. Any ideas? My only request is that there are absolutely no direct discussions or descriptions of sex or sexual topics. In addition to her age, I have other very good reasons for this. Just trust me. Edited September 26, 2019 by shinyhappypeople 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted September 26, 2019 Share Posted September 26, 2019 (edited) I have to run right now, but just to help get the ball rolling: poetry - Opposities; More Opposites (Wilbur) -- books of very short, humorous riddle-like poems; Wilbur is a 20th century poet, master of rhymed forms and making them feel effortless perhaps a few classic poets and poems -- here's a very random assortment to start you off: - The Road Not Taken (Frost) - Tell All the Truth, But Tell It Slant (Dickinson) - How Do I Love Thee? (Barrett-Browning) - The New Colossus (Lazarus) -- poem on the base of the Statue of Liberty - The Tyger (Blake) - When I Consider How My Light Is Spent (Milton) + On His Blindness (Borges) - Death Be Not Proud (Donne) - I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud (Wordsworth) - The Jabberwocky (Carroll) - Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day (sonnet 18) (Shakespeare) - several poems by Ogden Nash - Still I Rise (Angelou)plays The Importance of Being Earnest (Wilde) -- light, humorous Pygmalion (Shaw) -- comedy You Can't Take it With You (Kaufman and Hart) -- light comedy Arsenic and Old Lace (Kesselring) -- screwball comedy Twelve Angry Men (Rose) -- dramashort stories - The Lady or the Tiger (Stockton) -- the famous first "you decide" story ending - The Open Window (Saki) -- irony; twist ending; very short; humor- A Story Without An End (Twain) -- how hard it is to write the ending of a creatively set-up story; humorous- Rikki Tikki Tavi (Kipling)-- epic in miniature - Farmer Giles of Ham (Tolkien) -- humorous mock epic- The Monkey's Paw (Jacobs) -- horror, suspense, and a "leave you hanging" ending - Lamb to the Slaughter (Dahl) -- "dark humor" - The Red-Headed League or A Scandal in Bohemia (Doyle)-- a Sherlock Holmes mystery - The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Thurber) -- humor - The Catbird Seat (Thurber) -- bordering on dark humor, with a bit of a mystery and a twist - Rip Van Winkle (Irving) -- this character and situation are SO frequently alluded to, it's a good one to know - A Sound of Thunder (Bradbury)-- the original "butterfly effect" time-travel story - The Fun They Had (Asimov) -- sci-fi; a bit ironic; light - The Most Dangerous Game (Connell)novellas A Christmas Carol (Dickens) -- the lightest Dickens I can think of, besides his slapstick-is fairy tale "The Magic Fishbone" Mama's Bank Account (Forbes) -- humorous autobiographical anecdotesnovels Wooster and Jeeves -- but just about anything by PG Wodehouse -- most of his books are actually short story collections Anne of Green Gables (Montgomery) -- a lot of humor; no sex; there is a death towards the end, but it does not overshadow the overall mood Murder on the Orient Express (Christie) -- a "cozy" mystery (lol) -- can discuss the structure of a mystery Sophie's World (Gaarder) -- not masterfully written, but lots to discuss, as it covers the history of philosophy movements through a thin overlaid storyAll Creatures Great and Small (Herriot) -- a mix of hilarious, but also poignantly/painfully sad anecdotes; overall a positive tone Upper Elementary/Young Adult -- because going back to children's books can feel very safe, and even feel like that are "redeeming" the past The Great Wheel (Lawson) -- light tone, lots of humor, Irish teen immigrates to the US and works on the first ever ferris wheel The Pushcart War (Merrill) -- humorous look at how wars start The Search for Delicious (Babbitt) -- humor, but also with a theme past threads -- you would have to preview carefully, but more of a chance that some of the ideas here would be okay:Happy, inspiring feel good book recsUplifting teen girl book/gift recsS/O Steinbeck thread: I need novels that don't have a tragic/fatalistic worldview High School Literature suggestions that aren't so dark and depressingHelp! Need some modern wold literature that is not depressing High Literature which is encouraging Suggestions for meaty but not depressing classics for teenagersLooking for upbeat literature selections Need North American novels that are not depressing!! OK, last one for today, I promise: American Lit, favorite light, funny...American Literature -- happy/uplifting ETA -- I came back and added a few more ideas. I would have suggested Jane Austen, but all of them do have an incident (never directly stated) of a side character having a s*xual encounter that leads to falling out of "acceptable society", so I would think that would be a no-go. I am so sorry for DD and you that there is a real-life reason for having to make this request. 😪 Edited September 26, 2019 by Lori D. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kassia Posted September 26, 2019 Share Posted September 26, 2019 My daughter enjoyed James Thurber's "My Life and Hard Times" and Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest." 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted September 26, 2019 Share Posted September 26, 2019 I was just going to recommend PG Wodehouse. And I want to say Patrick McManus (A Fine and Pleasant Misery is a good one). His books are irreverent and funny but I don't think that there is anything sexual in them? We really enjoyed them in our teens. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Familia Posted September 27, 2019 Share Posted September 27, 2019 9 hours ago, Kassia said: My daughter enjoyed James Thurber's "My Life and Hard Times" and Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest." Caution with "My Life and Hard Times". One of the stories portrays a humorous evening when one catastrophe after another plagues a household. I have a vague memory of a bed collapsing - maybe the author makes a quip about what 'activity' could also make the bed collapse or something like that...you may want to pre-read if you want to avoid absolutely any colorful reference for your daughter. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Familia Posted September 27, 2019 Share Posted September 27, 2019 If she is not opposed to quite youthful books, youngest Dd & I discovered the Grandma's Attic series by A Richardson when she was a teen. We somehow missed them during their younger years. They are hilarious! We downloaded one after the other onto our kindle b/c we just couldn't get enough. Quite light and fast reading. Although it is a children's series, I reread the stories myself when waiting at appointments and such. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldenecho Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 (edited) This one is short and actually a novel in poem form, but it pretty hilarious... HATE THAT CAT by Sharon Creech The Ordinary Princess (sort of like a fractured fairy tale...I read it as a teen and loved it. Moderate length. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (slightly dark but very funny and short if I recall) Don't recall the length of these.... Spaced Out by Stewart Gibbs Both of these are set in middle school I think, but I enjoyed them so maybe a teen would too... iFunny (series) Origami Yoda (series) Edited September 30, 2019 by goldenecho 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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