Gentle books

[BillyBarryBoo]

Can anyone recommend something "gentle"?
I can't read more murdered women, missing children, historical fiction where women are accused of being witches. Slavery, mistreated people I'm finding I can't read these books even though they are so important. I can't handle tense right now!

I do like police procedurals - Jane Casey's Maeve Kerrigan, Inspector Frost, Inspector Wexford . I like Jane Harper.
I also like Graham Norton, Rosamond Pilcher.

I read a lot. But I can't seem to find a non- brutal read at the moment. It doesn't have to be rainbows and butterflies either but not violent.

Thank you

@K4fkaesque

Ok here's one out of left field:

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers.

Science fiction but not in the ray guns etc etc sort of way.

The Guardian called it "a quietly profound, humane tour de force" and it's a warm read with characters you really care about.

I agree. All of her books are great, and very humane and thought-provoking.

@FellaItzgerald

Barbara Pym's books are interesting in that they're a study in what life was like for (a certain type/class) of woman in this country in the first part of the 20th century.

The seamstress being booked in the diary at yours & the other village occupants houses & asked to re-seam sheets, the church cake sale being an important part of the diary and so on.

After a few you will be ready for another action-packed tale. They are well-written though. Beautifully understated.
Philip Larkin was a big fan apparently.

Thanks very much for this recommendation @FellaItzgerald - I have just finished 'Some Tame Gazelle' (which I loved) and am about to embark on 'Excellent Women', which I hope will be just as amusing and refreshing to read.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and the follow up book The Unlikely Love Song of Queenie Hennesy by Rachel Joyce

I bawled like a baby at the Queenie Hennesy book at its bittersweet loveliness

The Dales Detective series by Julia Chapman is a gentle read.

I regularly go back to Jane Austen, so much in her books I never get fed up. Also Elizabeth Wharton for a slightly more midern American take onbdocial satire. And some Henry James, The Spoils of Poynton and Washington Square are brilliant, others are a bit too long winded for me. And Wilkie Collins just occurred to me! All older writing style but I actually find that calming especially when reading in bed 🙂

@K4fkaesque

Ok here's one out of left field:

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers.

Science fiction but not in the ray guns etc etc sort of way.

The Guardian called it "a quietly profound, humane tour de force" and it's a warm read with characters you really care about.

I’d agree. It’s cosy, character driven sci-fi.

Redbird Christmas is so lovely. One of my favourite reads. Thanks for this thread

Sorry - on social satire

Try the Persephone press books. I’m particularly fond of Angela Thirkell.

@Zebracat

Try the Persephone press books. I’m particularly fond of Angela Thirkell.

Love threads like this and love Persephone books.

My friend is a member of The Thirkell Circle :)

Just discovered a new writer Laurie Colwin. I'm reading Happy All The Time right now and enjoying it

Leonard & Hungry Paul is a lovely book.

Was just coming on to say Leonard and Hungry Paul too!

Anything by Elizabeth Strout or Anne Tyler.

Miss Read books
James Herriot

And highly recommend Leonard and Hungry Paul

Would you include non fiction?
Mudlarking by Lara Maiklem
Ring The Hill by Tom Cox
The Book Of Trespass by Nick Hayes
Featherhood by Charlie Gilmour

All stand out reads for me last year.

The Ambrose Parry books are good historical crime procedurals.
And my favourite, the Bryant And May books by Christopher Fowler. The murders are inventive, not gory and the characters of the Peculiar Crime Unit an absolute delight. Start from the beginning though.

Agree with @DropYourSword about The Dales Detective series - they're a really good read. Quite funny too. And the author has also written another series, under a different pen name, (Julia Stagg) called The Fogas Chronicles . These are set in The Pyrenees.

Another series I'd recommend is the Kate Shackleton mysteries, set in and around Leeds in the 1920s

Penelope Lively
Joanna Trollope