I’m tired of reading sad and depressing books. Can anyone recommend some nondepressing ones that are well-written?
I’m tired of reading sad and depressing books. Can anyone recommend some nondepressing ones that are well-written?
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Yes, please! So far and few between.
I just published my first novel “Leaving Wickenburg” …and its getting pretty good reviews, it’s a hard first chapter, but the rest is really uplifting and fairly comedic. If you’re interested? I’m not sure if I can plug my own book here, but its called “Leaving Wickenburg.” ?
I love the Stephanie Plum series, by Janet Evanovich.
Crazy Rich Asians series!
Sherry Harris’ garage sale mystery series is a great cozy series.
The Rosie Project.
@Georgie i’ve read it and you’re right. It’s really good.
Amor Towles has a short short available for free on his website. The story is called A Whimsy of the World. It is absolutely delightful.
Try bette Lee Crosby. The magnolia grove 2 book series. A summer of New Beginnings & a Year if Extraordinary Moments
This I know by Eldonna Edwards
The Peshwari Nans series by Stephen Haughan
The Royal we
15 seconds by Andrew Gross. He writes with James Patterson. I liked it
Weird Sisters…light reading
A Man Called Ove.
@Susan yes I’ve read it. A great book!
All of Penny Reid’s books!
Read Roxanne St. Claire’s Dogfather series. But start with the first one. Not all are laugh-out-loud hilarious but I guarantee you’ll enjoy them.
Try the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, these books have me laughing out loud as she gets herself into some situations that are ridiculous. Or if you want a nice series to read that will make you smile & laugh at some of the characters antics try the Bellingwood Series by Dianne Greenwood-Muir I love both of these series
@Karen i have thoroughly enjoyed Stephanie plum as well! They can be addictive!
@Karen I loved this series! Sometimes I would laugh out loud!
@Susan me too, my hubby would be like ‘what’s so funny’ but it’s not the same when you don’t know what Stephanie is like, those poor cars ? although she does have Ranger as a consolation ?
The Rosie Project
@Robin yes! I’ve “read” all three in audible ?
A few that I have enjoyed that have some sadness or distress in them, but redeeming humor, as well are Regrets Only by Erin Duffy; The Book of Polly by Kathy Hepinstall; Husbands and Other Sharp Objects by Marilyn Simon Rothstein; and How Hard Can It Be? by Allison Pearson.
I also enjoyed How Hard Can It Be?
Janet Evanovich – Stephanie Plumb series
The book of Joe! I loved it!
@Susan by Jonathan Tropper?
The Rosie project
Now That You Mention It by Kristan Higgins.
Anything by Adriana Trigiani
Anything by Mary Kay Andrews and Cathy Lamb. Also try Jamie Brenner and Elin Hilderbrand
@Carolyn I was going to say go Beachy and Elin and Mary Kay are on that list. I would also add Mary Alice Monroe, Patti Callahan Henry and Anne Rivers Siddons.
Second the idea of Mary Kate Andrews and Elin Hildebrand. Also Tess Thompson’s Cliffside Bay series. They are sweet easy romance reads
Sophie Kinsella- fun-witty & easy read.
@Kerrin i love her books!
I absolutely adore Elinor Lipman’s books. Quirky characters, laugh out loud moments, plots that original. Try her!
Night of miracles
David Rosenfelt books are always good to read.
Miranda James, Susan Wittig Albert, and Anne George are authors that I enjoy
Mary Alice Monroe
Janet Evanovich. Start with One for the Money. Laugh out loud
@Cathy I agree Janet made me LOL on a quiet commuter train.
@Cathy I wake up my husband when reading those books, because I’m just cracking up! I just can’t hold in the laughter.
The Chatterbox Girl!
The CHATTERBOX Girl https://www.amazon.com/dp/1729251358/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_t3ZSCbMVTDSE9
Zadie Smith: White Teeth
Great book!!
Wow I didn’t expect such a great response. Thank you soooo much!
Anything by Alexander McCall Smith https://smile.amazon.com/44-Scotland-Street-Book-ebook/dp/B000FCKKSA/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2GWU9JR50I1LU&keywords=44+scotland+street&qid=1555252993&s=gateway&sprefix=44+scot%2Caps%2C151&sr=8-1
https://bookriot.com/2018/05/17/flavia-de-luce-books/
@Cathy I’ve read them all and was crushed when I realized the one I recently read was the final in the series!
Flavia is the best!
@Amanda oh I either blocked that info or didn’t know it! Guess I will have to start over – again! I think they are really fun to read. So many laugh-out-loud moments.
Any books by Susan Wiggs are great!
Have you read the Discovery of Witches series by Deborah Harkness? It’s now a TV series…great reading.
@Anna no but I’ll check it out.
Janet’s Stephanie Plum series is the best laugh out loud reading ever. A friend introduced me to her in 2003 when I was going through a very rough time.
@Becky also hilarious to listen to. The voices!!!!
@Becky my favorite way to read Stephanie Plum series is on audible. I laugh out loud
@Leslie absolutely!!
The Thin Woman by Dorothy Cannell.
I’m really into Jana DeLeon’s Miss Fortune series right now. Seriously find myself laughing out loud.
Book one in series is free on Amazon Prime!
@Susan thanks
Miss Buncle’s Book by DE Stevenson, The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson, and Donald Westlake’s Dortmunder series—about low-level criminals, but funny!
@Dorothy Love Westlake!
Miss Buncle is gold! Love that book.
Anything by Carl Hiaasen (sp?) Very funny mysteries based in Florida.
Janet Evanovich!!!!!
Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
Do you like romance at all? I’d recommend anything by Susan Elizabeth Phillips or Jennifer Cruisie. Joshilyn Jackson and Marisa des los Santos both write great, engrossing, but ultimately uplifting books. I love both of them. If you like essays, check out Jenny Lawson, Laurie Notaro, or Kelly Corrigan.
Her Royal Spyness series by Rhys Bowen, The 100 Year Old Man Who Jumped Out the Window and Disappeared.
Sarah Addison Allen’s books and any Anne Tyler book.
I also like reading Joanne fluke, Hannah Swenson series. . Not sad, and good mix of funny, murder and mystery.
I was just going to suggest that! ?
The Kiss Quotient- Helen Hoang
Room 23 surviving a Brain Hemorrhage it’s positive and motivational! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Room-23-Surviving-Brain-Hemorrhage/dp/1631524895
A gentleman in Moscow
I never read depressing novels ?… If you are into the Victorians, Cranford by Gaskell is pleasant, though a bit weird
@Maria my book club tends to pick depressing ones.
@Laura hmmm maybe read just a bit of each?
Tessa Dare’s historical romances are very fun and lighthearted. I recently read the Spindle Cove series, now reading Castles Ever After. Very different from the usual books I read, at times maybe a bit too lighthearted and slapstick for my tastes, but I needed a break from sad and serious and for that, they have worked well.
I love Charles Todd. I like the Doon books on kindle unlimited
I have been reading Catherine Coulter. Very good.
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand was absolutely delightful.
@Stacey I enjoyed this one too!
A NOISE DOWNSTAIRS by L. Barclay
Anything by Alexander McCall Smith. His No. 1 Detective, 44 Scotland Street and Isabel Dalhousie series are great friends. A prolific author, Smith’s books are funny, soothing, philosophical (in a quiet, musing way) and very human. I love the characters and their small, but never dangerous, adventures. I pick one up and find peace.
Anything by Jenny Colgan or Maeve Binchey. Delicious by Reichl, How to fall in love in a bookshop by Henry
Any of the pot thief series by Mike Orenduff!
I agree! The latest Jenny Colgan, as well as Wendy Wax’s Ten Beach Road series.
Here’s a fun, sexy, read for you…
Break Free available on Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BLLCWQQ
Thanks
Anything by Sarah Addison Allen