Recommendations for cheery/uplifting books

[KingLooieCatz]

Might settle for not depressing!

Since getting a Kindle last year I have realized I'm not sure what kind of book I enjoy anymore. I spend an hour and a half to two hours on public transport most days so I can get through a book a week.

A friend recommended the Earthsea books, which were okay up to appoint but they are bit of a downer.

I've taken some notes off the other thread about the best books people read last year too. I don't think it has to be easy reading necessarily, mild peril can be tolerated along the way but could we end on some sort of cheery/uplifting note?

Any suggestions?

Sounds good. Watching for tips.

Watching for tips too ... I need something uplifting and something to ease me back into reading .. I struggle to concentrate due to depression.

What sort of books have you enjoyed in the past? What genres do you like?

If you like old-school light fantasy, I always enjoy the Pern books by Anne McCaffrey when I want something not too heavy. The Harper Hall trilogy is particularly good - plenty of mild peril along the way but a good old fashioned happy ending.

How about "Just One Damned Thing After Another" by Jodi Taylor? A bit of everything there, mild peril, adventurous, mystery, humour. Everyone I know who has read the series agrees that they're a hoot

Thanks Sadik. I used to read Anne McAffrey as a teen so I could re-visit them. I'll look at Harper Hall trilogy too.

Lucy I lived and breathed "Jonathan Strange and Dr Norrell", probably my favourite book for a while although not that cheery really, I just got totally lost in it.

I went through a lot of MC Beaton murder mysteries when they were going cheap but got fed up that you could never guess whodunnit anyway so it felt a bit pointless.

When I first got the Kindle I re-visited the horsey genre, typically aimed at teens. That is a fairly bottomless barrel but they can be quite same-y and can get good reviews even if they are badly done. I love a story about turning things around, e.g. the horsey books where a scrappy school girl rescues a horse from the knackers yard, and they end up showjumping at the Olympics.

Similarly, rags to riches type stuff, or unexpectedly inheriting a derelict café and bringing it back to life. I used to read Louise Bagshawe, but I think I have read everything she's ever written.

I'm up for trying something new, just don't want to get to the end and its just as bleak as the beginning and the middle. E.g. the Booker short-listed "His Bloody Project", which I got as I knew someone who knew the publisher. I found it surprisingly easy to read but pretty miserable. Felt totally inconclusive to me, I might have missed the point.

Re-reading that might look like I think there is a whole genre that revolves around inheriting derelict cafe's. I meant that as an example of what I mean by "turning things around" and an extension of rags to riches.

Also recommend the Jodi Taylor series. A surprising find on audible originally, but now following the whole chronicles.

I've read all the Jodi Taylor books and really enjoyed them. There are a few dark bits but they are few and far between.

Ooh yes I love a book about inheriting derelict something and turning it around!

Not about that, but have you read Lisa Jewell, The House we Grew Up In? It fascinated me ... if you've a kindle maybe download a sample chapter?

I read quite a few of the M C Beaton books too, but got fed up.

I've been rereading the Adrian Mole books a bit and also liked her books Number Ten and The Queen and I ... don't know if you've tried them, but I found them quite funny.

I've just realized the Harper Hall trilogy is by Anne McAffrey. I've added Dragonflight and Just One Damned thing after another.

More suggestions welcome!

Just thinking, on the 50 books threads one that pretty much everyone seems to like (can't think of a single negative review) is Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.
Plus, a bit of a random one, but The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage had me giggling away like a maniac. It's a graphic novel, but there's actually at least as much text as comic IYSWIM (even the footnotes have footnotes)

I find anything by Alexander McCall Smith uplifting.

Oh, just thought of another one. The Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger (first one is Soulless I think) is comedy steampunk - very, very silly, but a good one for a bad day.

I like the Lollipop Shoes, for a feel good book.

James Herriot's vet books? Some of the stories are sad, but never bleak, and they have me crying with laughter.

My dh is steaming through Ready Player One and enjoying it, as recommended by Sadik above (and thanks for reminder of Lovelace and Babbage, have wishlisted)

Lucky Jim is very funny.

Where'd You Go Bernadette.

Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch are good Peter Grants interactions with the personifications of the river gods are excellent

Bartimaeus series by Jonathon Stroud - worth reading for the djinns thoughts in the footnotes

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

Jeeves & Wooster books by P. G. Wodehouse

Dragon Knight series by Gordon R. Dickson

Warlock series by Christopher Stasheff

All the Jilly Cooper books - Riders, Rivals , Polo etc? Horsey, funny and sexy??

David Baddiel? Darkly funny rather than cheery funny

water for elephants by sara greun

Terry Pratchett is my go-to read when I need something cheering. I remember reading that when he and Neil Gaiman were writing Good Omens, he made Gaiman put in a bit showing that some minor character who'd been killed off earlier had actually survived.

Both DH and I have recently enjoyed The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild.

Oooh I got some good books for Xmas . If you like Jane Austen The Real Jane Austen by Paula Byrne it's fabulous I couldn't put it down, it's non fiction though

Also Christmas Days by Jeanette Winterson. Nice short stories, some ghostly, for Xmas of course, but not necessarily.

I love a bit of Georgette Heyer for cheeriness - everything comes right in the end

The Rosie Project was cheery! Cutesy romance about a 'socially challenged' geneticist looking for love in a methodical manner.

Also seconding Christmas Days by Winterson- lovely nostalgic memoir spotted with short stories.

Jilly Cooper !
Adrian mole
Jackie Collins
David Nobbs