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

[adaptiveness]

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!

Old comfort reads for me are The Diary of a Nobody and the Mapp and Lucia novels by E.F. Benson. They've got me through many a crying and bleak day.

Hope you come through whatever is making things dark.

Mrs Harris goes to Paris
Witches Abroad (Terry Pratchett)

Sometimes a childrens book does it for me as well - Ann of Green Gables for instance or an Angela Brazil. Everythings safe and warm and not a challenging read

PG Wodehouse, Stella Gibbons, The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, EM Delafield

The Diary of a Nobody I find this actually quite a sad book.

Personally, I love the Calvin and Hobbs comic books by Bill Waterson. They really make me laugh.

The Fairacre books by Miss Read are my comfort in dark times.

Miss Benson's Beetle

The Art of Not Falling Apart - Christina Patterson.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Long, adventurous fantasy book, and my favourite book in the world! It has a sequel (A Wise Man's Fear) and will eventually have a (long-awaited) third and final book. It's not totally without romance, but it's not mournful, maudlin or soppy at all.

Elinor Oliphant is completely fine
The Hynpotists Love Story
His Perfect Wife by Natasha Bell - best book I read last year
Doing Time by Jodi something- if you don't mind v light sci-fi a v easy read

@futureghost. I'm intrigued why do you find Diary of a Nobody sad? Mr Pooter is delighted with his quiet life, he doesn't crave anything, does get everything he needs and would be shocked I'm sure to think anyone found him sad.

I've recommended it many times and this is the very first time someone has said it's sad.

Bill Bryson. His earlier travel accounts might be a bit dated but his wit makes me laugh out loud.

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim. There is a very small bit of romance, but it is not the purpose of the book.

Actually thinking about it, when I've really been struggling I find gentlemanly detective stories really good - so Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, PD James etc.

Or just Miss Marple.

'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.

Miss Pettigrew lives for a day - Winifred Watson
Gone with the Wind
Britt-Marie was here - Frederick Backman (or A Man called Ove)
Ladies No 1 Detective Agency

The St Mary's books by Jodi Taylor. Its about historical time travel, its light hearted, fun, interesting, with a female lead, great if you're interested in history or even if you're not.

First one is called Just One Damn Thing After Another (I think). Someone else recommended her Doing Time series but as those books features character from the St Mary's series they may not make sense.

The Keeper of Lost Things, by Ruth Hogan. It's easy to read, but in my opinion, it's absolutely beautiful.

Forget my suggestion, it does feature romance!

I wouldn't start Patrick Rothfuss if I were you. The Name of the Wind is a brilliant book, a breath of fresh air and you'll read it and think it was fantastic. The second book is the biggest pile of dross I've ever read. He's been promising the third book for TEN years and just keeps dicking about going to Comicons and gaming streams and seems to have no intention of ever finishing the book so I would save myself the disappointment if I were you!

StMarysKettle. I'm with you on the Rithfuss dicking about bit but I love the second book!

Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak..it's not romance but more philosophical and spiritual. It's a beautiful read in my opinion

For cosy escapism I love Mapp and Lucia. Petty in-fighting between two women who think they are each the social queen bees of their small town.

For switch-off-your-brain cosy crime - Agatha Christie or the Armande Gamache series set in an artistic little village in Canada.

For easy to read feel-better novels try The Midnight Library of The Alchemist (I've not read the Alchemist but so many people say it's a life-changing story. It's on my list)

At the moment I'm reading The Diary of a Provincial Lady and I think it fits your remit perfectly. It's a lovely read and I'm really enjoying it.

The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne is great

Secret Diary of Adrian Mole