Fiction and non-fiction diary recommendations please

[Weatherwaxing]

Can anyone recommend something cheerful or funny in diary format? Fiction or non-fiction on any topic whatsoever as long as it is vaguely uplifting.

I love Alan Bennet, Adrian Mole, The Diary of A Provincial Lady, The Diary of A Nobody, The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen and I Capture the Castle.

Have also read The Diary of A Bookseller, and Bridget Jones. Liked both but not as much as the above.

I like witty travel writing in diary form too.

I've got Alan Rickman's diaries and Nella Last's War lined up, but I'm not fancying either at the moment for some reason.

I adore diaries and read lots of them. At Christmas I picked up a wartime diary called These Wonderful Rumours! written by a young teacher called May Smith. She was very funny about her wartime experiences of living with her parents and her various boyfriends (most of whom she was extremely withering about). Despite the fact that it was written in WW2 she was an appealingly joyous person so it was definitely an enjoyable read.

I'll have a think about more…

That sounds spot on, thank you.

Michael Palin's diaries are fab!

I’d totally forgotten about Michael Palin! Yes, they are good. Don’t know whether you’d consider letters as well as diaries OP but if so, Nina Stibbe’s Love, Nina is v funny.

Few Eggs and No Oranges Vere Hodgson. A woman who lived in London during WW2.

Have you read 84 Charing Cross Road? It's a book of letters so maybe not what you're after but it's really charming.

Oh yes that's a great book!

How about Provincial Daughter by RM Dashwood? She's the daughter of The Provincial Lady!

I read Noel Coward's diaries yonks ago and that's fun to dip in and out of if you like that kind of thing. Kenneth Williams diaries are also fascinating BUT incredibly depressing at points.

Political diaries are often recommended but I haven't read many myself. Barbara Castle for example. My dad got given Giles Brandreth's Breaking the Code Westminster Diaries: Westminster Diaries 1992-2007 and was somewhat horrified as a staunch socialist and not a fan. However, he read them and said they were actually very enjoyable.

Kenneth Williams' diaries are very, very funny.

I've been slightly obsessed for years with The Diary of Anne Hughes, an 18th c farmer's wife in Hereford.

Anything by Bill Bryson is great.

Funny but also pretty distressing. I read them on holiday and it put my in a gloomy mood for days. Then Dh read it after me and was the same.

Any diaries as podcasts to recommend?

Also - Alan Bennett's two volumes of diaries are wonderful.

Similarly to Kenneth Williams, Joe Orton's volume of diaries are a gripping, if depressing, read.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Have read and enjoyed the Nina Stibbe, and I love 84 Charing Cross Road. Lovely, lovely book.

Also love Bryson. I think I've read most of his.

I tried the Michael Palin audiobook of Around the World in 80 Days recently and was surprised to find that I didn't get on with it. I'll give the diaries a try.

Will add Vere Hodgson, Kenneth Williams, The Provincial Daughter and Anne Hughes to the list.

Having said "any topic whatsoever" I might give the political ones a swerve for now. Even if the diaries themselves are good, the whole world of politics just makes me cross these days.

Forgot about Diary of an Ordinary Schoolgirl by Margaret Forster.

@Weatherwaxing

Nella's Last War by Nella Last-the wartime diaries of a housewife living in Barrow. Victoria Wood made a television programme about it, which was really good but it the book itself is well worth a read.

Diary of an Ordinary Woman by Margaret Forster-a long time span and so realistic, many people thought it was real.

The books that sprang from the Mass Observation project are really enjoyable. People sent in their diaries to the project (they still do) and they make very interesting reading. My favourites are: The View form the Corner Shop and Our Hidden Lives by Simon Garfield. T

Not read it but eyeing up after hearing it discussed on Backlisted - Full Tilt by Dervla Murphy.cycles from Ireland to India sith lots of adventures. She's covered other journeys too.

Thanks all, these are really helpful suggestions.

@MaryCrawford I definitely will get to Nella Last's War soon. I love Victoria Wood so would like to watch the programme too, once I've read the book.

Thanks for the Mass Observation diary recommendations. Helps to have some picked out by someone, given how many there are.