I have been struggling with depression and anxiety for a while and I have found that it has made it hard for me to pick up and read fiction books as most of the summaries involve heavy life subjects when I m trying to escape that for a while. I’m not really interested in strictly romance books right now. Open to science fiction or fantasy that’s not overly complex. I’ve have been reading a lot of the Vinyl Cafe series as for an example of the kind of tone that I m looking for.
by DueSchedule2408
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Becky Chambers specializes in “hopepunk” sci-fi. The “Wayfarer” series (which starts with “A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet”) is about various space ship crews and such being emotionally healthy and supportive to eachother though there IS >!death!< in the series. (spoiler kept as vague as possible).
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
Also, if you’re open to YA, “I’ll Be The One” by Lyla Lee is an utter cupcake of a book. It DOES have a romance b-plot, but it’s primarily about a plus-size Korean-American girl competing in a Kpop competition. Everything is kind and nothing hurts kind of book.
Ooh, also Sarah Gailey’s “American Hippo/River of Teeth” novellas. They’re short (good for depression-brain). The gist is that Gailey thinks the Old West would have been cooler if everyone raised and rode hippos instead of cattle and horses. And she is right.
Just the fun adventures of some hippo-riding ne’er-do-wells.
Some feel good reads that I’ve read this year:
Legends and Lattes: fantasy with small brave acts, low stakes
The Rosie Project: light hearted rom com vibe with a neurodivergent character. I don’t typically do strictly romance either but this one just had such a different main character it made it really interesting
Jan Karon’s Mitford series. Fictional stories that take place in a small town. Nothing scary or anxiety-provoking happens and people care about and look out for each other.