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Original poster

I'm so down right now, please help me find a book to read

134 replies

adaptiveness · 16/09/2021 11:28

I'm not going into the details, but I'm not in a good place right now and I badly need a good book.

I have 5 mins to write this, so am going to be really unreasonable and just list the stuff that I can't deal with reading about right now.

No sex, suicide, romance, bad stuff happening to kids, sad endings, books that will make me think about the fucked up state of the world. No kooky, random, wet, indecisive protagonists. No 'hilarious' bad parenting.

Any genre fine: fiction, literature, sci-fi, fantasy, non-fiction, historical, comedy, biography, sport. Whatever. I just need to disappear into a good book.

Please help!

OP posts:
Rassy · 21/09/2021 21:45

Anything by Alexander McCall Smith, especially Scotland Street Series

Needspace21 · 21/09/2021 21:37

The comfort book. Matt Haig

PalacesOfMontezuma · 21/09/2021 21:35

The Giver of Stars was an absolute joy. Not the kind of thing I'd usually pick up at all, and romance does feature, but a really lovely story that I flew through in a couple of days

TheUndoingProject · 21/09/2021 21:29

The All Creatures Great and Small series was very comforting to me during a tough time. They’re about a vet in the 1930s in the Yorkshire Dales.

110APiccadilly · 21/09/2021 21:24

Three Men in a Boat does have lovely gentle humour but I wouldn't recommend it to the OP as it does actually have a suicide. (Not of any of the main characters.)

peaceanddove · 21/09/2021 21:09

The Adventures of Goodnight & Loving by Leslie Thomas. Such a feel good book. Gentle escapism.

DameAlyson · 20/09/2021 23:32

If you hadn't said no romance, I'd have suggested Georgette Heyer.

You could try The Talisman Ring, The Tollgate or The Reluctant Widow. They are mysteries with the romance a secondary element.

EatSleepRantRepeat · 20/09/2021 23:24

When I'm feeling down I love Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. 3 hapless men and a dog called Montmorency take a camping trip in a boat down the Thames, and their cluelessness gets them into various scrapes. Very gentle humour, no drama, and its such an old classic that it's very cheap on kindle/e-book.

EnidFrighten · 20/09/2021 23:14

I also prescribe Wodehouse. Flowers

cheeseismydownfall · 20/09/2021 23:07

As well as books, can I recommend Cabin Pressure, the BBC radio comedy? There is something about it that helps lots of people through hard times.

I think the first two series are on Spotify now.

mum2jakie · 20/09/2021 21:26

I agree with previous recommendations for any Agatha Christie and also Anthony Horowitz Magpie Murders in similar cosy murder style

Original poster
adaptiveness · 20/09/2021 20:50

Thanks everyone! I have a long list of books to try out now. I'll keep trying different ones until a book just clicks.

OP posts:
ShrikeAttack · 19/09/2021 19:33

Get yourself stuck into some hard science fiction, no love, romance, children or anything about the current state of the world. Pure escapism, and wonder about the Universe, it makes you feel insignificant in a good way.

Try Alistair Reynold's Revelation Space series or Steven Baxter's Xylee books. They'll keep you going for ages.

Hope you're feeling better soon.

doistayordoigo · 19/09/2021 19:28

West With Giraffes

FlatStanletta · 19/09/2021 19:23

Ooh also on the murder mystery front - anything by Anthony Horowitz is good! He created Foyles War and wrote a lot of Midsomer Murders so it’s all quite gentle and Agatha Christie like!

FlatStanletta · 19/09/2021 19:21

So sorry to hear you’re feeling so down OP.

My favourites have mostly been mentioned - any of their books you are in safe hands and it’s certainly what I turn to when I need a smile:

  • Bill Bryson
  • Terry Pratchett

Also consider getting into an epic series where you can lose yourself. There are some slightly unsettling bits but nothing too horrible from what I can remember in the Robin Hobbs Farseer / Liveship series - I read them during a stressful and emotional time in my life and remember it was total escapism! Start with Assassin’s Apprentice.

EatSprayGlove · 19/09/2021 19:11

@NuffSaidSam

'Elinor Oliphant is completely fine'

That features romance, suicide and dreadful things happening to children!

I came on to say Bill Bryson. Any of his travel books would fit the bill I think.

Yep was going to say whilst it's one of my favourites it is not what you're after
LadyCarolineDester · 19/09/2021 19:05

My comfort reads include many previously mentioned, and also:
Anything by DE Stevenson (OK, they all have a bit of romance but nothing gruelling)
The Pursuit of Love/Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford
John Buchan: The 39 Steps, etc (though be prepared for outdated views and language)
Kim by Rudyard Kipling, ditto
Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

SkepticalCat · 19/09/2021 16:56

I second Old Baggage by Lissa Evans - the protagonist is a former Suffragette, and the story follows what she does once the right for women to vote has been won.

I really love this book, and the characters.

EdithGrantham · 19/09/2021 09:43

OP, I hope you're feeling better and have chosen a book from the suggestions to read, please pop back on and let us know you're ok Flowers

bibliomania · 19/09/2021 09:15

The Wind in the Willows

NuffSaidSam · 18/09/2021 09:40

@doubleshotcappuccino

I know why the crawdad sings
Both 'Where the Crawdads Sing' and 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' feature sexual violence and bad things happening to children. They're both completely not what the OP asked for!
triplechoc · 18/09/2021 09:04

Mudlarking by Lara Maiklem - non fiction, social history in London linked to areas of the river Thames and the objects she’s found mudlarking on the foreshore. Interesting and gentle.
Also agree with suggestions of Bill Bryson and Terry Pratchett.
I hope things improve for you soon.

GoWalkabout · 18/09/2021 09:03

There's sex in The Midnight Library iirc
Richard Osmans Thursday Murder Club

cosmopolitanplease · 18/09/2021 08:57

@doubleshotcappuccino
I think you've combined two books there Grin

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