Well, I don't think God had procrastination in mind when He wrote that one... but since I was the first to suggest this and the last to post, I thought it an appropriate title.
So I'm finally taking the time to recommend books, since I've been shamed into it. They are all pretty light-hearted, since that's what I'm in the mood for currently.
1. The Prisoner of Zenda. This is a classic gothic romance, and a favorite of mine, but not at all a serious book. If you don't already know the plot, it is as follows: English man (highly superior by nature) travels to foreign country and while walking into the woods, comes face to face with the soon to be crowned king. Astonishingly, they look exactly alike! That night (the eve of his inauguration), the king is kidnapped, so that the evil man next in line for the throne can take over in his absence. Englishman steps in, and is inaugurated under the pretence of actually being the king. Being naturally superior (he is an Englishman, after all), he is a very good king...but will he help restore the throne to the rightful king?
2. The Crocodile in the Sandbank, by Elizabeth Peters. This is the first book in the Amelia Peabody series. The main character, Amelia Peabody is an intrepid, bloomer-wearing, feminism spouting, Victorian Englishwoman who has just inherited a tidy sum of money, and spurning matrimony, decides to travel the world. On the way she picks up a "fallen woman" in Rome and the attracts the attentions of a reanimated mummy in Egypt. The series spoofs all kinds of books, from the detective mystery, to the Victorian comedy of manners, to the Prisoner of Zenda-type romance (in fact, I think in one of the later books, she actually reads the Prisoner of Zenda). Underneath the spoof, however, Elizabeth Peters manages to weave in a lot of the concerns of feminism and postcolonialism, especially in the later books (in fact, the middle couple books in the series are my favorites).
3. Speak. by Laurie Halse Anderson. Ok, so this isn't lighthearted. And you may have all read it already, but I suddenly felt the need to recommend it. This is one of the best adolescent books I have ever read, and if you haven't read it, you need to. It would be diffucult to do justice to the plot in just a little blub, so I'll just let you look it up on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Speak-Laurie-Halse-Anderson/dp/014131088X/ref=pd_bbs_2/002-9490063-3798440?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174528455&sr=8-2
Bonus: since I waited so long, I decided to give you a bonus (on a slightly more scholarly level)-- the introduction to Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex. Also, under the topic of medieval stuff, I just finished taking notes from Rape and Ravishment in the Literature of Medieval England, by Corinne Saudners, and it was really interesting, if a bit gruesome.
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