Last joyful book you read

[whatausername]

My other thread has had a fair few responses so I thought we could discuss books that made you sing with joy. An antidote to the books of misery!

I actually can't think of one right now...

When God was a Rabbit
We are all made of Glue

Well, anything Jane Austen has written always has a happy ending without too much hardship or nastiness in the middle. And I did enjoy Voltaire's Candide a lot but that had comical misery rather than bleak saddening misery.

‘The keeper of lost things’ - Ruth Hogan
Lovely book.

‘Mrs Harris goes to Paris’ by Paul Gallico

Yes to Mrs Harris Goes to Paris
MIss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is the most joyful book I know
Bill Bryon's books, especially Down Under and A Walk in the Woods

The Raptures by Jan Carson. It's dark but so funny, emotional, uplifting and amazing. I skived off paperwork this afternoon to finish it and now I feel lost.

Lessons in Chemistry? Some upsetting moments along the way but a lot of joy.

A gentleman in Moscow.

Operation nativity by jenny Pearson....read it last Xmas as I run a kids book group.....its was quite joyous!

I agree!

Yes to Miss Pettigrew. Full of joy.

I have been reading things by Ian Moore - comedian who lives in France - they make me smile - so he does some detective things and some about his family

The Miseducation of Evie Epworth and the sequel All About Evie by Matson Taylor.

They're both joyous, with lots humour.

Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett. I reread it earlier this year and it is such a delightful, wise, warm and witty book.

Leonard and Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession. Heartwarming without being cloyingly sentimental.

Mainly placemarking, but I found a lot of the Matt Haig books fit into this category. Being human springs to mind.

Still Life by Sarah Winman. Just beautiful.

Very much agree

Small Miracles by Anne Booth
and
Over My Dead Body by Maz Evans

Both funny and uplifting, enjoy!

All creatures great and small etc….they’ve stood the test of time for niceness…

Very much yes to Miss Pettigrew, Bill Bryson, Herriot's vet books and Terry Pratchett.
In particular, Mort by TP and A Walk In The Woods by BB.

I'd also add in:
Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
The Uncommon Reader, Alan Bennett
Paul O'Grady's Country Life
The Common Years, Jilly Cooper (about the years she spent walking her dogs on Putney Common)

Bizarrely I recently read The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coehlo and found it joyful. It’s not an obviously joyful book as it’s about a somewhat punishing spiritual quest and I don’t actually believe in metaphysical but I found it curious enough to strike some joy in me.

Great suggestions.

French Braid by Ann Tyler.
Green Gates by RC Sheriff.
Excellent Women by Barbara Pym.
The Blessing by Nancy Mitford.

And a second vote for Leonard and Hungry Paul. A lovely book.

The books I'm about to mention aren't joyful of course. But they have in them some of the constituents of joy, which would perhaps have flowered into the most joyful books imaginable if the author had been allowed a life without atrocity. All of Primo Levi's books. The most astonishing, resilient humanity in the most adverse circumstances. The persisting capacity to see beauty.
I haven't read them for a long time but their sheer vitality stays with me.
It is so strange and striking that it is the 'most joyful book' thread, not the 'most miserable book' thread that has called them to my mind.

Yes!