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I'm fond of "A Fire Upon the Deep" by Vernor Vinge, and its kind of prequel "A Deepness in the Sky", they both contain some great ideas and I love the fact they have some very alien aliens! Oh and if you haven't read any Douglas Adams "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is fantastic
Anathem by Neal Stephenson is superb and I recommend you carve out some time to really let it soak in. Anything by Neal is phenomenal, but Anathem stands out for me.
Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson is my favorite sci-fi book I've read in a while. Generation ships, AI, and a fascinating narrative perspective. I'm a sucker for realistic/hard scifi with well-researched technical explanations, and KSR is among the best.
I am just finishing reading the Hyperion Cantos which is an absolutely inspired masterwork by Dan Simmons. I can’t stand rereading / rewatching anything, this series is so rich that it feels like reading fresh material all over again. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_Cantos
My other favourites are Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained by Peter F Hamilton (and the rest of the books in the Commonwealth series).
At some point I found Charles Stross' Accelerando, which is freely available online (along with a bunch of other short stories), and found everything I've read (which is most of it at this point, I think) enjoyably fast-paced. In particular the Laundry series (of which I've bought every iteration as soon as they came out over the past few years) -- though arguably these maybe cross-over from SF into fantasy a bit -- and the Halting State trilogy.
In terms of online available work, Cory Doctorow's work is also great. Like Stross, most of his work is more near-term SF, which I have liked, and a bunch of it is available online under a Creative Commons license. It often moves fast and is also politically interesting; sometimes the activism shines through a little blatantly, but the themes are always make me thing in various ways I appreciate (but maybe will fail your lighthearted criterion even if it is fun). His latest is Walkaway, which I would recommend.
I got into Neal Stephenson through Cryptonomicon, which is one of the greats. Stephenson has a pretty rambly, wordy style, but at least that also makes his stories last a bit longer. After that, I mostly moved on to Anathem, Reamde and Seveneves all of which are big and interesting and great reads (it took me longer than usual to get up to speed on Anathem, but it was very much worth it in the end). I tried one of the more historic ones (I think it was Quicksilver) at some point but haven't finished it. The 2017 Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. was a bit lighter, but lots of fun, too.
William Gibson has already been mentioned, which I would also recommend. I read the Sprawl trilogy a very long time ago, and it's made a lasting expression. I've started rereading it recently. I also liked the Blue Ant trilogy and The Peripheral, but have so far missed the more recent work.
More in the one-off category: The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell is one of my all-time favorites, and mixes deep SF with psychology and religion in interesting ways. There's a sequel, but it's not as good. I also liked The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, which is also on the softer side. I read Scalzi's Redshirts and liked it (especially if you're familiar with the Star Trek universe), it feels similar to Ready Player One in some ways. Daniel Suarez's (or Leinad Zeraus as he originally published them) Daemon is fun and easy to digest, along with its sequel Freedom. I liked Robert J. Sawyer's The Terminal Experiment, but one person I recommended it too wasn't impressed -- I still think it's fun, if not very deep. I also bought his Factoring Humanity and liked it okay.
Hope that helps. Always interested in more recommendations based on this list!
I'm fond of "A Fire Upon the Deep" by Vernor Vinge, and its kind of prequel "A Deepness in the Sky", they both contain some great ideas and I love the fact they have some very alien aliens! Oh and if you haven't read any Douglas Adams "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is fantastic
Just about to chime in about Vernor Vinge myself - awesome conceptuals and well written
Snow Crash is great too. Probably a bit problematic now, but fantastic world building. A bit more gritty and dystopia though.
Both are by Neal Stephenson.
It reads like a thriller and a mind bender. It sort of has the feel of the movie Inception if you liked that. It's not too long or hard to read, and it's completely self contained. The more I read by Phillip K Dick the more I appreciate his ideas.
I also second a recommendation for A Player of Games someone noted above.
A dystopian future where people live in a Silo (a skyscraper but underground). What I found especially nice is how the author tried to make it realistic and portray people and work fields (machinist, IT, etc) as they really are without to much buffing.
The IT department in this story plays a really big role and it is portrayed as I've seen real IT departments, with the old, stubborn, autistic 'this is my kingdom' sysadmin boss down to the 'stupid' intern. It's just to real.
The first chapters are a little off compared to the rest of the books as it was released as novella's at first via Kindle and later written into 3 books. But every bit is as awesome as the other.
Edit: I think this mismatches on your fun/non-dystopian critaria that I just now read. But a good read anyways. Otherwise definitely Hyperion cantos as already mentioned. Although also not without drama it sure is a hell lot of mindboggling world's to plunge into!