So. Yesterday I got some awful news. I spent yesterday mostly on recreational crying and today mostly trying not to cry at my desk.
However, Amazon decided to ship my backordered new Kindle two weeks ahead of schedule, and it is waiting for me on my porch. Getting into a good book and getting out of my head seems like a fantastic idea.
I am in search of a good, entertaining book. Bonus if it will make me laugh. Fiction or Non-Fiction ok. Happy ending a must. Preferably not in any way about pregnancy, babies, or motherhood. I’d like it to be something I can finish in a weekend, but won’t blow through in a few hours either (am a pretty fast reader). It needs to be available on Amazon Kindle, of course.
I’m a chick, but a very nerdy one. Y’all seemed like a compatible audience to ask. Any suggestions?
I head for the Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency books when I am feeling down. Mma Ramotswe and company are just so nice to be around. It does occasionally touch on some of those themes, but they are (usually) not central and there is always a happy ending.
Each book is pretty short, but there is a whole series.
Sorry to hear you are so down. Whatever your specific situation is, I think I can sympathize a bit - the night I was having my miscarriage I watched a bunch of movies to distract myself/cheer myself up, and 3 out of 4 had pregnancy or miscarriage plots. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, it was so ridiculous! Hang in there, sweetie.
If you have a library card, be sure to check out your local library for Kindle books so that you can blow through them at an alarming rate without impoverishing yourself.
Mary Roach. She writes extremely funny non-fiction. I don’t remember if Bonk had anything to do with pregnancy (it’s about sex), but I doubt any of the others do.
Bill Bryson. More funny non-fiction.
Dick Francis. Thrillers set around horse racing.
Dorothy Sayers. Golden Age mysteries.
MM Kaye. Mystery suspense set in exotic locales.
The Vicky Moon books by Elizabeth Peters, starting with Borrower of the Night. I think Peters is quite funny.
The Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich, starting with One for the Money. I got tired of this series, but the first ones are laugh out loud funny.
The Sam Jones books by Lauren Henderson, starting with Black Rubber Dress. There are two earlier books, but they are extremely hard to find.
Apparently, I find comfort in murder mysteries. What this says about me is better left alone.
Spider Robinson’s Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon stories do it for me. There are quite a few other books in the series, but it makes the most sense to start with the first.
Strongly second the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series and Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand. I also very much enjoyed The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton.
Ha, you beat me to it. These are my go-to happy books, but I listen to them as audiobooks. The narrator’s voice is soooooo sooooothing. I love the way she rolls her rrrrrrr’s.
Another happy book I listened to lately was a The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, which is available for your Kindle free at Project Gutenberg.
National Lampoon’s Bored of the Rings - it has more jokes per page than anything else I’ve read. Pat McManus was the humor columnist for Field and Stream. His collected columns are very funny even if you don’t hunt or camp or fish. If you or anyone you know has hunted or fished or camped they are hilarious. His novel’s pretty good, too. Dave Barry - including his novels. The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. I don’t know which of these are on Kindle, if any.
You know, I was trying to think of good ideas but then I have to go with the first post - No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. I seriously need to catch up on those.
I’d also agree with whoever mentioned the Dorothy Sayers Wimsey novels, particularly the ones with Harriet Vane (my particular favorite, among my favorite books in the world, is Gaudy Night.)
How about the book that got me to read that one - Connie Willis can write some sad sad books but I first read her with To Say Nothing Of The Dog, which is not sad at all. Or if you want some Victorian very funny humor, Three Men In A Boat, which is what the Willis book is riffing off of.
If you do, do not read the story “A Voice Was Heard in Ramah”, based on your OP. It’s a great story, they all are in that collection, but it’s definitely about what you said you don’t want to read about.
For funny try Connie Willis’s : Bellweather…Lamb makes me cry at the end, don’t know why cause I know how it ends anyway. While I agree with the “Stupidest Angel” it helps if you’ve read some of Christopher Moore’s other books first. Carl Hiaasien’s stuff always makes me laugh. And of course Terry Pratchet always works as others have said.