Recommendations SciFi Light Fare, Funny or Cozy > Likes and Comments

Light Fare

Some days the universe is just too much. To compensate, you need to sit back, relax, and consume something simple and easy to digest. Then you’ll have the energy to tackle the hard science, space epics, and intergalactic consequences of today.

We are closing off our culinary year with some light fare. Help us whip up some science fiction books with a nomination from the lighter side. Be they cozy or funny, the light books can help us keep our shelf in balance.

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Now that nominations and voting have closed, we're opening up this thread for more recommendations that fit this theme. This time with no limitations. What cozy and funny scifi do you want to share with your SFFBC friends?

These are all the books that were nominated for the November 2026 Light Fare (cozy and funny scifi) Theme.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built
Automatic Noodle
The Last Gifts of the Universe
The Road to Roswell
Qualityland
The Android's Dream
Shades of Grey
The Witches of Karres
Year Zero
A Company of Stars
Dimension of Miracles

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Nominations are open!


Please nominate/second on the first line of your post
If the nomination/second is buried in a wall of chatter, it's hard to spot when tallying. Chatter is otherwise encouraged! :)

Make sure to include the word 'nominate' or 'second'
That's how we double check, by searching for those words.

If you switch your second, please also tell what you're switching from
So that we don't have to search the whole thread to see what you originally seconded.

Wait until the first tally is posted before you start seconding!
To give everyone a chance to nominate something :)

I nominate The Witches of Karres by James H. Schmitz

I totally love this book and think it would also make a hilarious movie

Captain Pausert thought his luck had finally turned—but he did not yet realize it was a turn for the worse. On second thought, make that a turn for the disastrous*.

Unlucky in love, unsuccessful in business, he thought he had finally made good with his battered starship Venture, cruising around the fringes of the Empire and successfully selling off odd-ball cargoes which no one else had been able to sell. He was all set to return home, where his true love was faithfully waiting for him ... he hoped.

But then he made the fatal mistake of freeing three slave children from their masters (who were suspiciously eager to part with them).

I nominate A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (cosy and on my tbr).

Not sure if this qualifies but some reviews said the book is hopeful and has heartwarming moments despite the setting so I nominate Ode to the Half-Broken by Suzanne Palmer.

I'll nominate: Year Zero by Rob Reid

This one sounds fun!

"An alien advance party was suddenly nosing around my planet.
Worse, they were lawyering up..."

Low-level entertainment lawyer Nick Carter thinks it’s a prank, not an alien encounter, when a redheaded mullah and a curvaceous nun show up at his office. But Frampton and Carly are highly advanced (if bumbling) extraterrestrials. And boy, do they have news.

The entire cosmos, they tell him, has been hopelessly hooked on humanity’s music ever since “Year Zero” (1977 to us), when American pop songs first reached alien ears. This addiction has driven a vast intergalactic society to commit the biggest copyright violation since the Big Bang. The resulting fines and penalties have bankrupted the whole universe. We humans suddenly own everything—and the aliens are not amused.

Nick Carter has just been tapped to clean up this mess before things get ugly, and he’s an unlikely galaxy-hopping hero: He’s scared of heights. He’s also about to be fired. And he happens to have the same name as a Backstreet Boy. But he does know a thing or two about copyright law. And he’s packing a couple of other pencil-pushing superpowers that could come in handy.

Soon he’s on the run from a sinister parrot and a highly combustible vacuum cleaner. With Carly and Frampton as his guides, Nick now has forty-eight hours to save humanity, while hopefully wowing the hot girl who lives down the hall from him.

I nominate QualityLand by Marc-Uwe Kling.

Maybe this time it sticks :) It's a dystopian sci-fi, so definitely not cozy, but it's also supposed to be very funny - a dark satire novel.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built (link for Michelle)

Silvana wrote: "Not sure if this qualifies but some reviews said the book is hopeful and has heartwarming moments despite the setting so I nominate Ode to the Half-Broken by [author:Suzanne Palmer..."

It's not tagged as cozy or humorous...
Can someone who has read it weigh in?

I nominate Automatic Noodle, by Annalee Newitz. Noodle-making robots and found family!

I nominate Stars Uncharted by S.K. Dunstall. It's a humorous, found family starship adventure with a ragtag crew. Criminally under-read, so we can fix that here!

Melanie wrote: "It's not tagged as cozy or humorous...
Can someone who has read it weigh in?"

I wouldn't consider it humorous or cozy--it's actually quite dystopian, but with some Becky Chambers influence, particularly with the characters.

I’ll nominate The Last Gifts of the Universe by Riley August.

Cozy is generally out of my comfort zone but this book sounded interesting because it was about a Space archivist who scours planets for the remnants of dead civilizations: their last surviving technologies, lost cultural rituals, etc. what they end up unearthing is a lost message about the world-ending entity from many years ago.

There’s also a space-faring cat named Pumpkin.

I’ll nominate The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis

The book’s description sounds whimsical while still having a cozy heart. An alien abducts several people from the Nevada desert and the most skeptical of the bunch believes that the alien needs their help. There appears to be found family elements and if anyone has ever read Willis’ previous works they would be familiar with her sense of humor

I nominate A Company of Stars (Starship Troupers @1) by Christopher Stasheff.

A heroic young man saves an old actor from a mugging and gets dragged into adventures (tropey old trope). However, the actor is one of the 'old guard' of Broadway actors and his croneys come up with an idea to 'take the theater to the stars.' Leading to wonderful adventures with many references/Easter Eggs/explanations drawn from the history of theater. Delightfully humorous with scattered darkness - like rich pudding with occasional currants.

@Silvana, Can you nominate another book?

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You can begin seconding now :)
And keep those nominations coming too!!

I second Automatic Noodle.

I second The Last Gifts of the Universe

I second Automatic Noodle

I second The Road to Roswell
*Not sure what to nominate, so if you want to talk me into something, I'm open to suggestions.
#BeckyStoleMyNomination:)

I second Automatic Noodle (I thought of nominating it, but Meredith got there first!)

I second The Road to Roswell.

I’ll give a second to QualityLand.

Melanie wrote: "I second The Road to Roswell
*Not sure what to nominate, so if you want to talk me into something, I'm open to suggestions.
#BeckyStoleMyNomination:)"

😬 Sorry!

I’ll second Stars Uncharted.

It's all good. Great minds think alike and all that.

I second The Last Gifts of the Universe

Maybe getting this in late but I nominate Rewinder It's an alternative history book with the best take on the old time travel trope that I've ever seen. Very easy to ready and the 2 sequels are great too.

Stewart,
If you read post #3 or the title, you'll see that we are nominating books that are comic or cozy. Can you nominate a different book?

Melanie wrote: "Stewart,
If you read post #3 or the title, you'll see that we are nominating books that are comic or cozy. Can you nominate a different book?"
Oh sorry, I just read "light fare" which is what this book is - easy to read and not mentally demanding. But if that doesn't fit the brief I retract the nomination.

SFFBC wrote: "@Silvana, Can you nominate another book?"

It's okay, maybe next time. Thanks for checking, though!

I also second Automatic Noodle - I think everyone should read and enjoy its coziness :)

Netanella wrote: "I nominate Stars Uncharted by S.K. Dunstall.

@Netanella,
The mod team thinks this book doesn't quite fit the theme. Can you nominate something else?

@Becky,
You can change your second as well.

I nominate The Android's Dream by John Scalzi

Second for Automatic Noodle

OK - I'll change my second from Stars Uncharted to QualityLand. (Still think I'm gonna read it though! :D )

Perhaps hopelessly, I'll second A Psalm for the Wild-Built.

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I'll nominate Dimension of Miracles by Robert Sheckley.

Extremely funny and absurdist. In 1979, Douglas Adams said in an interview: "The SF writers I like best are the ones who are funny, and there are not many of them. Robert Sheckley. He's a very, very funny writer. He's also a stylist. Very few science fiction writers write English well. Robert Sheckley can."

I second A Psalm for the Wild-Built

I nominate Project Hail Mary

Very humourous tone throughout.

I second The Road to Roswell

I want change my second from Automatic Noodle to Last Gifts of the Universe

@Mahaila,
Project Hail Mary is not tagged as humorous or cozy.

Does anyone have an opinion? Is this book funny enough to count for this theme? I'm leaning towards no, but I'm open to arguments.

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I'll second A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Melanie wrote: "@Mahaila,
Project Hail Mary is not tagged as humorous or cozy.

Does anyone have an opinion? Is this book funny enough to count for this theme? I'm leaning towards no, but I'm open to arguments."

I've read and enjoyed the book. There are some humorous and touching moments between the human and the alien, but this isn't really a humorous or cozy book, imo.