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I'm off work due to illness, loving the chance to get my head stuck into books again, but starting to feel quite lonely and depressed, and really want some ideas of books that will lift my mood. nothing too heavy going though as I'm pretty tired at the moment
currently reading 'so many ways to begin' by jon mcgregor, good, but making me feel quite down, as did 'brightness falls' which i read before that....
Try Adriana Trigiani? Lucia Lucia was the first one I read but she has written a few linked ones about a small American town. They are a touch schmaltzy but I really like them.
and of course... nancy mitford? I think Pursuit of Love is the only one I would really recommend to you in your current state. The others imo all have a piercing touch of bleakness amid the jokes, but it's muted in PoL.
dickens actually. great expectations. and if i had time i would read all the miss read books again. and gerald durrell. and john o'farrell. and john irving.
Lovelydear, you have the same comfort list as me : Fannie Flagg, Miss Read, Gerald Durrell, John Irving, especially Widow for a Year.
Would also add Blackberry Wine by Joanna Harris and Secret Life of Bees. Heidi. Pride and Prejudice, and, because this an anonymous site, Those Dreadful Children by Enid Blyton.(Sshhh!)
Pride and Prejudice My Family and Other Animals Jeeves and Wooster Rivals by Jilly Cooper (all the others are ghastly - this one is very good!) The Marlow books by Antonia Forest Barcelona Flats by Alexi Sayle A poetry anthology called Other Men's Flowers that no one but me will have heard of. Three Men in a Boat Ballet Shoes
some great suggestions, thank you, feel cheered up just at the idea of reading / re-reading them!
and ballet shoes/ heidi etc is stroke of genius... don't know why it hadn't occurred to me to go back to the childhood favourites, will be spending a lovely afternoon in the swiss mountains :-)
Many of the above are my recommendations, particularly the idea of going back to childhood favourites and especially Noel Streatfield.
- still in print is a lovely series by Elizabeth Enright, starting with 'The Saturdays', known as the Melendy Quartet.
- Many of Libby Purves' novels are good for curling up when you're poorly
- The Accidental Tourist (Anne Tyler)
- the non-fictional '84 Charing Cross Road (Helene Hanff' is wonderful (make sure you get the edition that contains 'The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street' - I think this is it:tinyurl.com/5a3wba).
I've been reading a lot of Alexander Macall-Smith. Especially love the Scotland St series. I'm not ill but am pregnant and have a young toddler so need stuff that well written but is still easy for my tired brain and goldfish attention span.
I also love going back to childhood faves when I'm feeling poorly. Even as far as Winnie-the-Pooh or the Narnia chronicles.
Also love any excuse to re-read Tales of the City or Bridget Jones or anything by Gerald Durrell.
Thanks for this thread. Am pg with terrible morning sickness and a toddler and was going to start a similar one. Can't cope with anything heavy. Have re-read my Anne of GG, now on to swallows and amazons. I also turn to Bill Bryson at times like these...and ooh, the Shell Seekers!! Loved that one for a trashy read. Will try to find a copy.
What about the Catweazle books? (Showing my age now!). Recently re-read these and couldn't stop laughing, particularly at the first one. Hope you feel better soon. X
This Book Will Save Your Life by A M Homes (possibly one of the best, lol books Ive ever read)
also
How to Talk to A Widower but cant remember who it was by
Both books were uplifting and feel good, with a truth real life factor running through them so they werent all ladybirds and happy people but great reads
Comfort reads: I Capture the Castle: Dodi Smith Love in a Cold Climate, and The Pursuit of Love: Nancy Mitford Anybody Can Do Anything etc. Betty McDonald (nobody will have heard of that) Gaudy Night Dorothy Sayers
I love to re-read Arthur Ransome - Swallows and amazons etc, Agatha Christie - I re-read lots of her stuff during and after a miscarriage. I was also a big Alistair Mclean fan years ago ( guns of navarone and Road to a dusty death were made into films ..Steve Mcqueen was in the latter) but I'll save them for a re-read next time I'm ill!!
Another thought - to cheer - depending on your sense of humour any of the Tom Sharpe novels - Wilt etc (always found the earlier ones better though... used to read them out loud ... cracked me up!)
2nd No 1 Ladies Detective Agency books. Lovely with a cup of tea and biscuits. Love in the Present Tense, Catherine Ryan Hyde Anything by Eric Newby Jean de Florette and Manon of the Springs by Marcel Pagnol.
I can't tell you how delighted I am to find other people who know Other Men's Flowers! Such a wonderful book. The modern equivalent, I suppose has to be The Rattlebag.
I know it's chicklit but I quite like it none the less - Christina Jones' stuff is lighthearted and can be uplifting, but no good to you if you don't like hippies/ hedge witchery/ aromatherapy!
Gerogett Heyer romance novels are always a good bet when I need cheering up - I read my entire collection this time last year, in the last couple of weeks of pg and then the first 4 weeks of bf'ing.
The Rattlebag is an anthology by Seamus Heaney where all the poems are arrange in alphabetical order, rather than by date or poet. It means you find some lovely juxtapositions!
just a quick message to say thank you for all the suggestions so far, I'm sure I won't be the only one who feels cheered up just reading through this list , glad to see old favourites (dodie smith, elizabeth gouge, jane austen) and names I wouldn't have thought of and am going to look up!
pg wodehouse and heidi already working their magic, still ill but definitely much less gloomy about it...
prayer for owen meany - john irving e nesbit - any anne tyler - any
ooh loads actually and cant wait to try some of these suggestions and to reread some children's classics. i'm forever pushing my poor dd towards these!
seeker - my grandma gave me OMF for my 18th birthday. She used to be able to quote loads of it; I try too!
VHC - do you like detectives? Lindsey Davis's Falco series are cheery, with good jokes and no real gore. I also have a passion for Malcolm Pryce's Aberystwyth Mon Amour (and the rest of his series) and anything by Martin Millar, especially The Good Fairies of New York and Lonely Werewolf Girl.
P&P (but of course); Ballet Shoes; Bill Bryson; The No 1 Ladies' Detective.
Would also add:
Re: childhood faves: Charlotte Sometimes / Tom's Midnight Garden / Goodnight Mr Tom (although it always makes me howl, it is ultimately heart warming).
The Five People You Meet In Heaven (I loved this, although I really didn't expect to); Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day.
). 
, glad to see old favourites (dodie smith, elizabeth gouge, jane austen) and names I wouldn't have thought of and am going to look up!
