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Original poster

Gentle, comforting reads

43 replies

Yoyoyo1 · 28/03/2023 11:42

Sadly my dad has just died. My mum said she was enjoying gentle books, such as 'Seagulls in the Attic'. Can anyone recommend other similar books with no hard topics.

OP posts:
BarrelOfOtters · 29/03/2023 14:38

My DH re read all the James Herriot books when he was grieving. Light, funny and with empathy. I re read Gerald Durrell when I want something unchallenging.

a Gentleman in Moscow recommended above is lovely.

More recently published the Richard Osman books.

The Miss Read books I seem to remember were very unchallenging.

Original poster
Yoyoyo1 · 29/03/2023 14:29

Thank you all, I will look into these. My mum seems to be favouring light reads at the moment. I have given her 'Driving Over Lemons' and she loved 'Up in the Air' by Betty Reigul.

OP posts:
RainyReadingDay · 29/03/2023 06:03

I'm reading a Barbara Pym novel at the moment. Nothing dramatic has happened - it's just daily life and conversations with the various people who live in the village so far.

I also find Katie Fforde's gentle romance novels soothing.

FurElsie · 29/03/2023 00:24

I find good old fashioned writing with a gentle storyline almost like a meditation, so of course Jane Austen, also Edith Wharton, Custom of the Country, or The Age of Innocence (beautiful movie too) Henry James - some are quite impenetrable but The spoils of Poynton and Washington Square are lovely. Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone

DahliaMacNamara · 29/03/2023 00:14

Great minds, @WandaWonder .

AdaColeman · 29/03/2023 00:11

The Language of Food by Annabel Abbs (Fiction about Eliza Acton and her cooking manual)

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towle (Based on a real Moscow hotel)

A Month in the Country by J L Carr (A perfect book)

Another vote for Patrick Leigh Fermor.
So sorry for your loss, kindest thoughts to you and your Mum @Yoyoyo1.

FurAndFeathers · 28/03/2023 23:58

Agatha Christie?

there’s something oddly comforting about Miss Marple

WandaWonder · 28/03/2023 23:53

DahliaMacNamara · 28/03/2023 23:46

Sorry for your loss. A gentle undemanding read is always a comfort.

Can I recommend All Teachers Great and Small, by Andy Seed? You might need to get it from AbeBooks. Real life tales from a young primary school teacher and his wife settling in a Yorkshire village about 40 years ago. It's warm and gently humorous. And there are a few sequels if you enjoy it.

I did not see this post when I posted myself about it I have it on my kindle for ages, great books

WandaWonder · 28/03/2023 23:52

I am currently enjoying thr andy seed all teachers books, there is variations about teachers, police memoirs

SarahDippity · 28/03/2023 23:48

Squiblet · 28/03/2023 11:44

Leonard and Hungry Paul, by Ronan Hession, is one possibility. Not a huge amount of plot, but it's very pleasant and somehow reassuring.

I second this with every fibre in my body. Such a treat.

DahliaMacNamara · 28/03/2023 23:46

Sorry for your loss. A gentle undemanding read is always a comfort.

Can I recommend All Teachers Great and Small, by Andy Seed? You might need to get it from AbeBooks. Real life tales from a young primary school teacher and his wife settling in a Yorkshire village about 40 years ago. It's warm and gently humorous. And there are a few sequels if you enjoy it.

Benvolio · 28/03/2023 22:08

If she likes Victorian authors without the crash bang wallop of Dickens or the viciousness of Thackeray I suggest Trollope or Gaskell. Gaskell's 'Wives and Daughters' is particularly gentle and got my mother through last week after a nasty reaction to her chemo.

Riverlee · 28/03/2023 22:02

Maeve Binchey books

JaneyGee · 28/03/2023 13:52

Sorry for your loss OP x

I'm a big believer in 'bibliotherapy' (i.e using books to heal you). My first thought was P G Wodehouse. He is a wonderful tonic, but I wouldn't describe him as soothing. I guess you want something gentle and lyrical without any darkness or pain. How about Patrick Leigh Fermor's travel books? My favourite is A Time of Gifts, about his backpacking trip across Europe in the 1930s. Fermor is a superb stylist, and always cheerful and upbeat.

Personally, the books I reach for when I need consolation are:

David Copperfield (I prefer it to Great Expectations)
Pride and Prejudice
Kim
The Sherlock Holmes novels (especially read by Stephen Fry on audiobook)
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Brideshead Revisited
Orlando

I find Bill Bryson a pleasant, soothing read. I also find Sagan's Cosmos weirdly comforting. His sense of how small and brief and insignificant we are really puts things into perspective.

Original poster
Yoyoyo1 · 28/03/2023 12:03

Tha k you

OP posts:
Stumbleine · 28/03/2023 11:49

I am sorry for your loss.

I very much enjoyed reading 'Miss Buncle's book' recently by D.E.. Stephenson.

Squiblet · 28/03/2023 11:44

... and I'm sorry for your loss (posted too soon)

Squiblet · 28/03/2023 11:44

Leonard and Hungry Paul, by Ronan Hession, is one possibility. Not a huge amount of plot, but it's very pleasant and somehow reassuring.