Hello everyone!
Every single book I pick up destroys me. Physically, emotionally, mentally. I think I could cry reading fairytales nowadays. I don’t know how I survived all the books that were popular in the 2000s/2010s…I read (and re-read) them from the beginning to the end, but how?
My life is not great at the moment. Reading has always helped, but when I’m this down it could seriously make me stay in bed for 24 hours straight (I can’t, but I’d be there in spirit).
I don’t have a favorite genre, nor a particularly disliked one, but I do like a little romance in my books.
I don’t have any requirements, I just want a happy ending. A real one though. Oh, and none of the protagonists or likable characters can die. I don’t do well with grief. Nor with love triangles (unless the third person finds someone yadda yadda). That being said, I can handle a little angst and drama.
I don’t care if the book you have in mind is for children, teens or adults, I just want to smile.
Please, suggest me a sunshine-through-my-windows book, a cozy-hug-from-your-favourite-person book, a hot-chocolate-and-marshmallows book. Thank you♥️
by Imhungry_again
14 Comments
Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster
A Psalm for the Wild Built,
All Creatures Great and small,
The Wind in the Willows
Durell Corfu Trilogy
The House on the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
A Half Built Garden by Ruthanna Emerys
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandana
Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez is the most heartwarming book I’ve ever read! (and just so much fun)
Nothing Ever Happens Here by Sarah Hagger-Holt. A theatre kid and her siblings navigate their dad coming out as trans.
Fannie Flagg. Her books are like a warm hug from a grandma who is proud of you.
((Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree))
((Cursed Cocktails by S L Rowland))
Both well-written cozy fantasies with happy endings. Actually you might want to check out r/CozyFantasy
Heartstopper?
It’s not necessarily a book, but heartstopper’s comic is really great. Alice Oseman has said that when she writes conflict into the story, the conflict is resolved within the next few updates because she writes in an anti-anxiety structure, and I’ve understood this to be true. Even with the short conflicts she’s managed to create a great story with lots of life lessons about growing up queer.
I’m completely with you. I know I am depressed, but I’m trying to get better. Books help me, but they can also make me feel worse.
1. The Penric and Desdemona series by Lois McMaster Bujold. Start with Penric’s Demon. These are mostly novellas, which I think is a great length, and there are more than 10 of them (with at least one full-length novel). Read them in the reading order recommended by Bujold, because she wrote them slightly out-of-order. They are set in a fascinating world, and they have great characters who grow and mature throughout the series. Bujold’s plots are ingenious and varied. Some are quests, capers, or mysteries. Violence and suffering has to be mentioned for the plots to make sense, but they are not gory or overwhelming. Happy ending to each novella which is a self-contained story without a “to be continued.”
If you like Penric and Desdemona, you should check out Bujold’s numerous other series and books. She has won multiple Hugo Awards, and she is one of my favorite authors.
2. The Thursday Murder Club 4-part book series by Richard Osman. It obviously deals with murder, and it often deals with issues regarding mortality. People die, and it’s sad, but I wouldn’t say it’s depressing. Each book is self-contained and has a satisfying ending, even if it might be bittersweet.
3. Lord Peter Wimsey series, especially Gaudy Night, by Dorothy Sayers. This is a series written in the 1930s and set in England. I think Lord Peter Wimsey is one of the great literary creations, and Harriet Vane is a wonderful pairing. I re-read the series periodically and enjoy it each time.
4. Romance novels in general. The Bedwyn series by Mary Balogh specifically. A true romance novel will have HEA – Happy Ever After. I was scornful of romance books until I had a moment in my life a few years ago where it seemed like everything was coming apart. I had to quit a job I loved due to a family illness; my mother, who lived two hours away, had an operation that left her unable to live by herself or even go to doctor appointments without me; close friends went through a bitter and vicious (on the part of the husband) divorce; and my child’s 2 1/2 year old dog who we all adored was diagnosed with terminal cancer. When I realized that I could read romances with the assurance that there would be a happy ending, I started reading them all the time. I must have read at least 100 a year. They helped a lot. One of my favorite subgenres is historical romance, and one of my favorite authors is Mary Balogh. She has written several good series, and one of her best is the Bedwyn series dealing with 6 siblings in the Regency period in England. Read them in order. Each is stand-alone, but they build and make more sense in order.
If you think you might prefer contemporary, then a good series is the Virgin River series by Robyn Carr. There are some gritty issues involving sexual violence, and at least one death that I remember offhand, but there is always HEA.
Good luck. I hope everything gets better soon, and in the meantime I hope books help you deal with everything.
As someone already mentioned, “Legends & Lattes” is a wonderful novel, and there was a pseudo-sequel released just last year.
If you’re into comics, I’d recommend the first “Empowered” volume for some good fun in a parody superhero setting with some genuinely sweet romance and redemption (though Empowered herself is put in some awkward scenarios that are resolved quickly and for comedic purposes).
“The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet” by Becky Chambers is pretty cosy. It’s a road trip book in the vein of “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” without as much snark, and with one sort-of exception, no one dies (it’s an AI that essentially loses some of their memory but keeps their self-awareness and is transplanted into a robot body while another AI replaces it in the ship’s mainframe). Even the pirates that attack the ship are good people, only interested in getting enough resources to survive and leave without seriously hurting anyone, if anyone is hurt at all.
Chocolat by Joanne Harris
Around Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks
Rock on the Road by Rebecca Roberts
Both slightly off the wall but very feel good and funny.
Matilda or Danny Champion of the World are my favourite Roald Dahl books.
Otherwise you can’t go wrong with a classic like Pride and Prejudice or Perusasion or Northhanger Abbey orThree Men in a Boat. Jane Austen is my go to comfort read.
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is one of my fave recent feel good reads. It has moments of seriousness but overall it’s sweet and heartwarming and the characters are really lovable.