Very true! The audiobooks (narrated by Barbara Rosenblat) are excellent; in fact I’ll get an audiobook just because she’s the narrator.
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.’
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.
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.
jsgoddess:
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).
Daggone. Sorry, Brynda. The old memory ain’t what it used to be.
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
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.
I thought it had to do with speech lessons in school, the book opens with. Hysterical.
Not yet done yet, so could be wrong.
Happy ending?
Don’t read The Children of Hurin.
+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.
One of the greatest–To Kill A Mockingbird.
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.
I also really like Carl Hiaasen. However LOTS of people die horrible (but funny and well deserved) deaths in his books.
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.
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.
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.
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.