can anyone suggest some good, uplifting, books to read, please????????????

ohh PG Wodehouse jeeves and Wooster books are an easy and amusing read.

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.

fannie flag, redbird christmas, a very good read and so topical.

WHen I feel like this I get stuck into my childhood books: Ballet Shoes, The Little White Horse, and a bit of Pride and Prejudice.

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!)

VHC I hope you feel better very soon

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

I always suggest this, but Cold Comfort Farm or any of the Tales of the City series !

Wheres theres a will

and

This book will save your life

Bill Bryson (Notes from a Small Island, Neither Here Nor There, in particular) if you want an easy read and a bit of a chuckle.

I reread those whenever I'm feeling a bit glum.

Pride and Prejudice is my comfort read (also Enid Blyton ).

I say it each time, but Yes Man and Join Me - Danny Wallace.

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).

and if we're allowed a bit of slush:

- The Shell Seekers (Rosamunde Pilcher)

- Ralph's Party (Lisa Jewell)

Wish you better!

I loved the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency books. Really gentle and just nice to read

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.

I love all of Jodi Piccoult's books.

Though can have tough storylines....

Jojo Moyes or Rosie Thomas are also good

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.

If you're going back to childhood favourites (I always do for comfort) how about Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

All of the series are lovely and make you feel cosy and warm.

Or Louisa May Alcott - Little Women.

Oh, I want to lie under a blanket on the sofa and indulge!

Hope you feel better soon.

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

Or absolutely anything by E Nesbitt. I loved them and used to re-read them time and again. Quite envious of OP

<LuLuBai thinks coniving thoughts about feigning illness and packing DH off with her library card cough cough>

I loved

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

seeker i gave dh Other Men's Flowers for a Christmas present a couple of years ago, he wasn't delighted but at least i got to read it!

Seeker, I was reading Other Men's Flowers this evening.