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Upbeat light hearted summer reading suggestions


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I'm trying to get myself out of this depression. I find reading to be my escape. I like upbeat books, light romance, animal stories, historical fiction. I don't want anything dealing with death or other heavy topics. I need something easy to read (not up to the challenge of some of the classic books out there). I like books that draw me into the story and are hard to put down. I prefer fiction or biographies rather than nonfiction. I would appreciate ideas.

 

I've been lying in my bed all day crying. I know my mom wouldn't want to see me this way so I need to pick myself up and ease back into life. The past month I've been living under a dark cloud and I think a few good books would be the perfect start. So I'm grabbing my kids and treating them to a trip to the bookstore.

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Sending hugs.

 

Some book ideas:

Pink Boots and a Machete by Mireya Mayor

Passionate Nomad by Jane Fletcher Geniesse

Phoebe and the Ghost of Chagall by Jill Koenigsdorf

anything by Terry Pratchett (if you like fantasy)

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

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I think that is an awesome idea. I like the Mitford Books by Jan Karon as lighthearted reads. They aren't all sunshine and roses, but they are fun. The Miss Julia books by Ann Ross are good, too. If you like Christian fiction, not heavy Christian fiction, but one the lighter side, Elizabeth Musser books are good, but most of them seem to start with death of a parent, so maybe not good for you right now. Anne Rivers Siddons books are fun. I like Downtown, Plantation, Peachtree Road... Her books are mostly set in the South and many of them near Atlanta. Mary Kay Andrews just had a new one come out. Or maybe it comes out today?

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Really stupid totally cotton candy will probably rot your brain reading, try Susan Mallery's Fools Gold series. They are Harlequin so that should tell you the literary value but I keep reading them and they make me feel good :D

 

Hope you feel better soon

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All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot made me laugh out loud at the pool one summer.  I'm getting ready to re-read it with Dd this summer.  Not necessarily always lighthearted, but definitely made me laugh (if you can take the profanity) Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A mostly true Memoir by Jenny Lawson.

 

These are recommendations for you, not your Dc.  When I was depressed and recovering from a seriously debilitating flare up one summer, I read a couple of the Dr. Doolittle books aloud to Dc.  They were amusing and I have fond memories of that time (despite being mostly stuck in bed in serious pain) and those books.  They were fun and charming, but not too serious.  Just what I needed.

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A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Right Ho, Jeeves and Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse (or a collection called Week-end Wodehouse)

Three Men in a Boat (to say nothing of the dog) by Jerome K. Jerome (particularly funny if you have ever gone camping or boating, or are married to a hypochondriac.)

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I enjoyed The Night Circus. I've been reading some YA stuff, as a way to relax. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making and it's sequel were fun, as is The Princess Bride. Me Talk Pretty One Day was hilarious, but not a good choice if you're easily offended by language. Rereading some of your favorite childhood books might be a good way to cheer up.

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I'd recommend two mystery series.  They are both great -- very entertaining and quite light-hearted.  The second one has some poignant moments in it as well:

 

Mrs Pollifax series by Dorothy Gilman  (about a 70-something year-old woman who joins the CIA)

 

The #1 Ladies' Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith (about a woman who opens her own PI company in Botswana, Africa)

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The Spellman Files are funny if you like sarcasm and slightly twisted family dynamics. (This is definitely an adult series)

 

A children's book I have been reading this week is The Hero's Guide to Saving the Kingdom, by Christopher Healy. It is sort of like a fractured fairy tale, telling the stories of Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzael, and Sleeping Beauty from the princes' point of view. I am only half way through, but so far it is hysterical.

 

I read Tina Fey's Bossypants not too long ago and was pretty amused.

 

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens is also very funny.

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Louisiana Longshot by Jana DeLeon  

 

It is labeled a mystery (they do find a body part - not graphic at all) but it is not a deep mystery.  

 

I have never laughed so much while reading a book.  My family thought I had gone crazy.  I reckon the neighbors did too as I was reading on the porch part of the time.   It does have some cussing but not any love scenes..  

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