Top Ten Books I'd Play Hooky With

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted weekly by the lovely ladies at The Broke and The Bookish.

For the sake of not boring you all with the same ten books I always post, I arbitrarily decided that "books I'd play hooky with" means light, spring/summery reads that you could take to the park and read in an afternoon. Of course, it turns out that none of my books are exactly what most people think of as "beach reads" (I know, you're shocked, right?) so some of them may be kind of...um...borderline.

Milrose Munce and the Den of Professional Help
Douglas Anthony Cooper

For the crime of talking to people who aren't really there (otherwise known as ghosts) Milrose Munce is sentenced to Professional Help. With the help of fellow Professional Helpee Arabella, he must find a way to escape before he can be Cured. This book is hilariously absurd and lots of fun to read. There are grotesque ghosts and explosions and other fun things, so you should definitely check it out.

Hex Hall

Rachel Hawkins

Another light(er) book, Hex Hall is funny, sweet, and cute. When Sophie uses her witch abilities in public one too many times, with disastrous results, her father sends her to Hecate Hall, a sort of school for supernatural delinquents. Though she's supposed to be safer there, it turns out there's even more danger at Hex Hall than there was in the normal world.

Hounded
Kevin Hearne

Atticus O'Sullivan, snarky Druid extraordinaire, stars in this urban fantasy about the Celtic pantheon. It's always interesting to see different myths crop up in UF books, and Kevin Hearne does a great job incorporating Irish mythology as well as more well-known legends like vampires, werewolves, witches, and all sorts of gods and goddesses.

First Grave on the Right

Darynda Jones

Not a page of this book goes by without Charley Davidson saying something Impressively Witty. Yes, it's a little ridiculous, but it's fun, which is the point of this list. Charley can see and interact with the dead, an ability she's used to help her father and uncle, both detectives, and to start her own private eye business. But it turns out there's a lot more to her ability than she ever imagined possible.

Sandman Slim
Richard Kadrey

Have you noticed that my idea of "light" frequently involves lots of explosions? This is like the cherry on top of the whipped cream on top of the ice cream of the "explosions" pile. There's lots of death and destruction, but it's fun death and destruction. Sort of. Okay not really. Stark returned from Hell intending to wreak vengeance on the people who killed his girlfriend. Fine, I have no idea why I put it one here, except that it reads like a really exciting action movie. That's fun and light, right?

Mercury Falls

Robert Kroese

I think I've read this book about six times and it's been hilarious every single one. If Douglas Adams wrote a book about the Apocalypse, it would look like this, but not as good. Plus, you should definitely read it this year, before the world ends in December. It's double theme appropriate!

Sunshine
Robin McKinley

I absolutely did not put this on here just because I want to include it on every list I ever write. Nope. I'm totally impartial. But it does have a heroine whose magic is tied to sunlight, and part of it takes place in the summer! You can just ignore all the blood and gore and death and those kinds of things. It's called Sunshine, therefore it is appropriate. QED.

The Lightning Thief

Rick Riordan

Look, I found some books that actually are light! It's just a coincidence that they're at the end of the list. And there are still definitely people trying to kill other people in them. But they fit my definition of light, which is pretty much that they make you laugh while trying to kill your favorite characters. Anyway.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians is an absolutely wonderful series. It contains actually accurate Greek myths (I'm looking at you, The Goddess Test), lovable characters, and a truly great story. Percy's narration is a lot of fun to read, and these books are easy to get through. Great for a warm afternoon!

Leviathan
Scott Westerfeld

Why is it that a girl pretending to be a boy is always such a fun story? Leviathan has not only that, but cool steampunk/...bioengineering steampunk? I have no idea what to call the Darwinist creations. Terminology aside, Leviathan is great for it's setting, characters, and story.

Dealing with Dragons

Patricia C. Wrede

This was easily one of my favorite books growing up, and it cemented my love of dragons forever. Princess Cimorene doesn't particularly enjoy being a princess, and has no desire to get married. So she runs off and becomes a dragon's princess, leading to some excellent scrapes and situations.

So that's it for this week! What did you pick for this topic? Leave your links in the comments!