# I need a book with a happy ending
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-book-with-a-happy-ending/587051
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 27, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-book-with-a-happy-ending/587051 "2011-06-27T18:53:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-book-with-a-happy-ending/587051/41 "2011-06-30T19:56:59Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#):
>
> That book is funny in places, but just because you know what’s coming doesn’t keep the ending from being terribly sad.
> How about the [Amelia Peabody](http://www.amazon.com/Crocodile-Sandbank-Amelia-Peabody-Book/dp/0445406518/) mysteries? Murder and archaeology and romance in late 19th-century British-controlled Egypt. Ok, there is obviously a death in a murder mystery, but the books are lighthearted and funny and always have a happy ending.
Very true! The audiobooks (narrated by Barbara Rosenblat) are excellent; in fact I’ll get an audiobook just because she’s the narrator.
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### Author:  [@Lo-Slung\_Denim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lo-Slung_Denim)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-book-with-a-happy-ending/587051/42 "2011-06-30T20:43:35Z")
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell is a good one. I think it was quite sad in places, though I can’t remember too much of the content… but the last few lines are just beautiful.
I haven’t cried about the divorce once. I’m not going to now.
No \*bloody \*way am I crying! I’ll be fourteen in a few days.
‘It’ll be all right ,’ Julia’s gentleness makes it worse, ‘in the end, Jace.’
‘It doesn’t \*feel \*very all right.’
‘That’s because it’s not the end.’
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### Author:  [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-book-with-a-happy-ending/587051/43 "2011-06-30T21:07:11Z")
I have been on a Georgette Heyer Regency Romance kick for a few years.
No one dies (well, in MOST of them no one dies - don’t go for Cousin Kate, which is dark). The girl gets the boy. Everything is very sweet. Try Grand Sophy or Cotillion which are both rather funny as well.
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### Author:  [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-book-with-a-happy-ending/587051/44 "2011-06-30T21:11:12Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#):
>
> Er, I believe it’s a reference to his time taking a French class when he was living in France. I don’t remember anything about a horrible motorcycle accident. Are you thinking of a different book or author?
Kevin Kling. The Dog Says How.
Both authors (Kling and Sedaris) are very funny, but can hit you upside the head with a “what the fuck?!” tragedy aspect as well.
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### Author:  [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-book-with-a-happy-ending/587051/45 "2011-06-30T22:26:25Z")
jsgoddess:
> [@](#):
>
> The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin. A kid’s book, but if you haven’t read it, read it!
One of my favorite books of all time, but someone does die at the end.
You say you like non-fiction - if you like baseball, I’d recommend “Veeck as in Wreck” (autobiography of former owner/promoter Bill Veeck, who is in the Baseball Hall of Fame) and “Stolen Season” by David Lamb (a journalist take a year to travel across America and watch minor league baseball and re-connect with some of the heroes of his youth).
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### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2011, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-book-with-a-happy-ending/587051/46 "2011-07-01T01:35:40Z")
> [@cmkeller](#):
>
> jsgoddess:
>
> One of my favorite books of all time, but someone does die at the end.
Daggone. Sorry, Brynda. The old memory ain’t what it used to be.
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### Author:  [@banjoDavid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/banjoDavid)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2011, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-book-with-a-happy-ending/587051/47 "2011-07-01T11:29:45Z")
He had a continuing stream of novels featuring an inept gang of crooks, Dortmunder was the ringleader.
Also, the funniest science fiction 5 volume trilogy The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
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### Author:  [@xkit0katx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xkit0katx)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2011, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-book-with-a-happy-ending/587051/48 "2011-07-01T13:00:28Z")
_The Princess Bride_ And then go watch the movie 🙂
+1 on _The Phantom Tollbooth_, for awesome subtle humor.
_A Wrinkle in Time_ and the rest of that series always give me the warm fuzzies about the universe in general.
_Neverwhere_ by Neil Gaiman is creepy, twisty, funny and ends beautifully.
Also _Coraline_, for the same reasons.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2011, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-book-with-a-happy-ending/587051/49 "2011-07-01T13:06:29Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#):
>
> Er, I believe it’s a reference to his time taking a French class when he was living in France. I don’t remember anything about a horrible motorcycle accident. Are you thinking of a different book or author?
I thought it had to do with speech lessons in school, the book opens with. Hysterical.
Not yet done yet, so could be wrong.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2011, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-book-with-a-happy-ending/587051/50 "2011-07-01T13:08:45Z")
Happy ending?
**Don’t** read The Children of Hurin.
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### Author:  [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2011, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-book-with-a-happy-ending/587051/51 "2011-07-01T13:18:19Z")
> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> Well, I can’t exactly promise that no one dies, but it’s a 2000+ year old spoiler at this point. And this book always cheers me up: [Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal](http://www.amazon.com/Lamb-Gospel-According-Christs-Childhood/dp/0380813815)
+1
Almost anything by Moore is going to be a good fit. Not **A Dirty Job** , save that for later, but anything else like and funny and happy.
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2011, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-book-with-a-happy-ending/587051/52 "2011-07-01T14:14:55Z")
One of the greatest–To Kill A Mockingbird.
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### Author:  [@Rala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rala)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-book-with-a-happy-ending/587051/53 "2011-07-01T15:25:45Z")
> [@xkit0katx](#):
>
> _Neverwhere_ by Neil Gaiman is creepy, twisty, funny and ends beautifully.
But quite a few people die and/or get tortured.
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### Author:  [@xkit0katx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xkit0katx)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-book-with-a-happy-ending/587051/54 "2011-07-01T16:01:24Z")
> [@Rala](#):
>
> But quite a few people die and/or get tortured.
Well yeah…but it all comes out alright in the end. Point taken though, that’s probably not what the OP is after.
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### Author:  [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-book-with-a-happy-ending/587051/55 "2011-07-01T16:15:56Z")
I also really like Carl Hiaasen. However LOTS of people die horrible (but funny and well deserved) deaths in his books.
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### Author:  [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-book-with-a-happy-ending/587051/56 "2011-07-01T17:13:13Z")
Isn’t it interesting how many deaths are part of fiction? I had a hard time finding books to read after my husband’s death. For a good year or so, I just couldn’t take anything with death or heartbreak or finding your one true love. Now that I am grieving my mom’s recent death, I am less sensitive, but still want escapist, light-hearted fiction.
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### Author:  [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2011, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-book-with-a-happy-ending/587051/57 "2011-07-01T22:05:23Z")
I recommend “The Ladies of Missalonghi” by Colleen McCullough. It’s short, light as dust bunnies and a really fun read.
A bit heavier, but still fun with a great ending is “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows is one I’ve re-read a couple of times because it flows so well and ends so well.
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### Author:  [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-book-with-a-happy-ending/587051/58 "2011-07-01T22:10:58Z")
Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series is excellent but can require some brainwork to keep up with the satire. And while Death puts in several appearances, he is a pretty funny guy.
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### Author:  [@JackGPoint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackGPoint)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-book-with-a-happy-ending/587051/59 "2011-07-01T23:26:25Z")
I recommend “Hey Cowboy, Wanna Get Lucky?” the first novel by cowboy poet Baxter Black. Immediately after I finished it the first time, I read the entire book out loud to Mrs. Point. It was very hard to read because we were both laughing so hard.
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### Author:  [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-book-with-a-happy-ending/587051/60 "2011-07-02T01:00:19Z")
> [@JackGPoint](#):
>
> I recommend “Hey Cowboy, Wanna Get Lucky?” the first novel by cowboy poet Baxter Black. Immediately after I finished it the first time, I read the entire book out loud to Mrs. Point. It was very hard to read because we were both laughing so hard.
I just added Baxter Black to my Amazon wish list - he was hilarious on NPR. And that reminded me of Jean Shepherd - whose writing inspired the movie “A Christmas Story”. Not novels, but funny stuff.
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