Light reading for the serious reader

Warning: post could be interpreted as pretentious but is not meant to be.

Having read so much in my life, I find that I have now painted myself into a corner. I think I have become a fairly discriminating and perceptive reader. Also having read a lot, that leaves less in the way of story ideas or technique that are genuninely new and therefore compelling. The result is that with most fiction writing I can quickly detect false notes or deja vu that make the book more or less unreadable. I wrote sometime back about re-reading Alistair McLean. The quality was quite appalling though I feel bad to use such a strong word. But the level of capturing of human nature is so low in those books. At one point I argued to myself that that's okay -- at a certain age stuff like this appeals and one just outgrows and that's natural. But I now think that's not the right judgement. Even books for kids or teenagers should have a basic... perhaps 'authenticity' is the word. If one grew up reading Alistair McLean and the like, I would guess that ones understanding of human nature and humanity is as juvenile as these books. Not great training for becoming a responsible citizen.

I don't find this problem at all in non-fiction, most non-fiction I pick up (except perhaps management and motivational literature) I find pretty strong and readable. However when I want to read something light to relax I don't have much to turn to. Kinda rough for a voracious reader. I wonder if this a more generalizable concept. Perhaps there are authors who are similiarly very discriminating, and at the same time light and who are right for me. There's a phrase in literature -- 'a writer's writer' . Perhaps what I'm looking for a variation of a writer's writer, a discriminating reader's writer.

Here are a few authors that still appeal to me:
-- Georges Simeon. Somewhat heavy at times, but nevertheless good entertainment. A random recommendation is "In Case of Emergency" which is one of his heavier books.
-- John Mortimer's Rumpole series. Really excellent in its ability to capture the poignancy of life in a humorous way
-- Kiran Nagarkar's Cuckold, and Amita Kanekar's "A Spoke in the Wheel". Both lovely historical fiction works that are not heavy, at the same time very true-to-life and satisfying.
-- Colleen McCullough's Rome series
-- Boondocks and Trudeau comics. Calvin and Hobbes is pretty good, but having read all of them there is nothing left. And there is also a repetitive tendency to them, you can see why Waterson decided to quit when he did.

I would love to get recommendations.