Easy, Fun Reads for Vacation

I just got done reading "Bossypants" by Tina Fey.

I thought it was funny and interesting and same as you want to do , just read a chapter or so at night on vacation.

If you like very light detective type novels, try Janet Evanovich's "Stephanie Plum" series - she's a half-assed bounty hunter who gets into all kinds of ridiculous scrapes. The first one is "One for the Money" (which was made into a movie with Katherine Heigl, Daniel Sunjata, Sherri Shepherd, Debbie Reynolds, and others. All of the novels in the series have the next number in the series "Two for...", "Three...." etc. You don't have to read them in sequence because there are enough references to the history of the characters in each book. I think they are hilarious and just a riot. She's not the most competent bond enforcement agent, things get blown up, she screws up, and somehow wins out in the end. They go quickly too. Might be just what you need. It's not parenting, so if you're convinced you want more parenting stuff, stay with that. But if you want a change of pace, try one or two. The libraries always have them too if you don't want to pay.

Enjoy your vacation!

If you're looking for mommy humor, check out "The Honest Toddler".

Not sure if this is what you have in mind, but I found "The Hunger Games" series to be a very quick and easy read. (At least compared to the dense and challenging "A Song of Ice and Fire" that I'd read the previous summer.)

I've read a lot of books by Kristen Hannah and Lisa Scottoline recently and loved them all. They are not all uplifting - some are mysteries, some are sad stories - but they are quick reads and really good books.

I also really like James Patterson and they are super fast reads.

Philippa Gregory's books are great too. The Other Boelyn Girl is my favorite but the others from that series are also great. She has a new one out called Kingmaker's Daughters.

I keep hearing good things about Gone Girl, but haven't read it yet.

I always like to read book of the movies I enjoy. Think of movies that you like and then look to see if they spawned from a book. The book is always better! The one exception to the rule was Forrest Gump. The movie was such a good story that the book did not compare.

I don't know about books like those but I did just get done reading Save Haven and The Guardian (both by Nicholas Sparks) and they were both great reads.

I really enjoy the Florida gonzo-caper sort of novels that Carl Hiassen and SV Date or Tim Dorsey write. I just finished Date's "Speed Week" which was just plain silly. These sorts of novels are usually full of bombastic characters, flawed good-guys/girls, outrageous events and situations and are very, very funny. If you don't mind cartoon violence in print, a warped sense of humor and some gratuitous sexual content, this is a fun genre to read. There's plenty of subplots with big Florida "guvmint", Big Tobacco and other players in Dorsey's well-crafted stories. Carl Hiassen's "Star Island" or "Nature Girl" are laugh out loud funny. (I usually like more women's lit/British 1800's period literature, etc. and this is what I often 'take a break' with!)

I am headed for vacation in a couple weeks and planning to take Bossypants and Revenge Wears Prada. Have fun!