Is there a book that is gentle and inspirational to read to someone who is very poorly

[GozillasZit]

Terminal cancer
She only wants to see close family and friends around her.
My best friend and I are going to do tag team-
We want to read a book/a to her in shifts - we’re thinking it has to be something with a beautiful story or autobiography?

I’m not a reader at all regretfully but would love to have a stash to choose from

Thank you very much

What about something the person loved as a child? Anne of Green Gables seems to be universally adored.
Jeanette Winterson writes beautifully and poetically so I'd also suggest Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, which is also autobiographical. Not twee though.
Maybe something simple and funny such as Bill Bryson's Notes From A Small Island (if she's British) ?

Yes Bill Bryson. A walk in the woods is v gentle too.

I agree about a book that she loved as a child. Is she well enough to ask?

Jeeves and Wooster is good reading for someone who is sick as the humour is in the lines rather than the whole - so if she’s sleepy and forgetful, she will still be able to enjoy it in the moment.

Not exactly inspirational but light and gentle humour.

I agree with Jeeves and Wooster, very much my comfort reading.
Actually, what make me laugh the most (though I know you didn't request humour so much, sorry I'm not big on uplifting!) is William Brown, as in Just William.

My best friend was in this position with a dying friend. Poor guy died of AIDS in the early 90s. She spent many hours reading to him from Winnie The Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner - perfect books full of love, friendship and gentle philosophy.

The Magic Apple Tree by Susan Hill is lovely - a gentle countryside book.

Gladys Taber, the American author also wrote very gentle books about her life in Connecticut - gardening, cooking, nature.

Miss Read - especially the Fairacre books about a primary school teacher, humourous.

James Herriot.

The Secret Garden.
The Wind in the Willows.

Alexander McCall Smith, especially the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency.

Miss Buncle's Book, D E Stevenson.

Her family are from abroad
She was never a girly girl and because her family’s first language was British unfortunately she wasn’t a reader - hence us deciding to do this

I’m so very grateful for your suggestions and will hey googling

Oh my god
Winnie the poo just made me burst into tears at my desk
😢

Children's books are a good idea - how about :

Ballet Shoes
The Children of Green Knowe
Moondial
Tom's Midnight Garden
The Secret Garden
Narnia

All quite gentle and uplifting on the whole, and generally with consolatory messages

For adult books, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is very gentle and funny

I read Winnie the the Pooh to my dad when he was very ill.

Anne (as in 'of Green Gables') is not a girly girl either

Pippi Longstocking might be a good call too, or the Moomins.

Thank you

Reading aloud is much more difficult than you think! You need something with very short chapters, so children's books are ideal; also poetry.
Miss Pettigrew - as someone suggested above - would be a lovely choice. Needs to be something easy/familiar so even if the reader stumbles, the listener can keep up. Even short stories are often too long.
How about Mrs Miniver (Jan Struther) - it was originally newspaper columns, and has a gentle uplifting tone. Or Diary of a Provincial Lady? The Summer Book by Tove Jansson also has a very gentle, elegiac feel.
Diaries would be better than autobiography; but perhaps some childhood memoirs like Period Piece (Gwen Raverat) or A London Child of the 1870s (Molly Hughes).

Ballet shoes by Noel Streatfield is lovely. Maybe not strictly inspirational but soft, relaxing and gentle story of making the best of your circumstances to get somewhere.

The Prophet by Kalil Gibran

Wind in the Willows is very pastoral and very funny.

if she's a catlover

Another vote for children's books, they are so comforting. I love the Children of Green Knowe, also a less well known one called Children of the Noisy Village. Each chapter in that one is a slightly different story about the children's lives so if you lose the thread it doesn't really matter.
Or something about nature and the seasons, I enjoyed the Easternmost House recently which follows a house on a cliff edge throughout a year, with all the changes each season brings.

Laurie Lee is gorgeous. Cider with Rosie.

Something by Jane Austen? Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility? Or Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte?

What about Barbara Pym in adult books? Jane and Pudence or Crampton Hodnet and nice gentle well-written stories.

Or EF Benson's Mapp and Lucia books.

How about The Last Battle, CS Lewis?

I’d advise against The Last Battle if she’s not familiar with the Narnia books as I doubt it would make sense without the context. I’d also be slightly wary of that one because it’s so much more religious than the others

Possibly not Anne of Green Gables - the ending involves the sudden death of a beloved character, and might be tough given the situation.

I Capture The Castle is gentle and lovely. Or Pride and Prejudice?

16blades

I'd forgotten "I capture the castle"! It is indeed a wonderful book.