Recently, I made a request on Facebook asking for recommendations for happy books: mainly classics, with exceptions welcome. I had just read about a third of a classic on World War 1, and was literally having nightmares. Jonny suggested that I stop reading it, and I agreed. I realized that what I need and want to read this year are lighter novels, those that lack an overwhelming sense of darkness or sadness surrounding the story or characters, without being pure fluff. And now thanks to so many kind suggestions, I have a wonderful list of books to choose from. Thank you!
I thought that some of you might be interested in the “happy list” as well. I didn’t include every single book recommended (there were just so many!), and for most of the authors recommended I placed their most apparently popular book on the list, as a reminder to myself to explore their other works as well. The list is here, and I will place it in my sidebar for a little while so we can all easily find it again. I know that I will be returning to this list frequently!
Obviously, since I haven’t read most of these, I can’t personally vouch for their goodness. I’m not sure that they are all necessarily happy books, but none sound downright depressing, and most did seem to fit the bill. I did skim reviews, and I think that some if not many of these books would be appropriate for older children, or for read-alouds. In fact, a few are children’s classics. Feel free to leave your own recommendations in the comments!
The Happy List:
The Little World of Don Camillo Giovanni Guareshi :: This is a new title to me, and it sounds great!
Big Stone Gap Adriana Trigiani :: The first in a modern series set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
I Am One of You Forever and Brighten the Corner Where You Are Fred Chappell :: The first follows a young boy growing up in North Carolina in the 1940s, the second is narrated by that same boy, and is about his father, a schoolteacher who sounds like he has all sorts of wild adventures. I can’t wait to read these!
I Capture the Castle Dodie Smith :: First published in 1948 and considered a modern classic, this book sounds really great. Several people mentioned it to me as a favorite. Reading through reviews, I realized that the same author wrote the children’s book The Hundred and One Dalmations.
Mother Carey’s Chickens Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin :: Considered a children’s classic, about a single mother, raising her family in rural Maine.
Mother Mason Bess Streeter Aldrich :: Another classic about family life
North and South and Wives and Daughters Elizabeth Gaskell :: I’ve read Cranford, and have long wanted to tackle a longer Gaskell novel, having loved the minseries based on her books.
So Big Edna Ferber :: I’m reading this one now! I had never heard of Edna Ferber before a friend recommended her last week. So Big is her masterpiece and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1924. It is considered must reading for fans of Willa Cather (yes!), Pearl Buck (yes!) and Marjorie Rawlings (again, yes!) Giant is another of her more famous books.
Little Women and An Old Fashioned Girl Louisa May Alcott :: I’ve not actually read Little Women, though I’ve listened to large chunks of the audiobook. I just finished An Old Fashioned Girl and it was a simple, sweet story.
A Girl of the Limberlost and The Harvester Gene Stratton Porter :: A Girl of the Limberlost is one of my favorite books, and I’ve enjoyed a couple others by Porter. The Harvester is very well reviewed, and I downloaded an inexpensive copy to my Kindle!
Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra :: An obvious classic, one I hope to read someday, though it is LONG!
These Old Shades Georgette Heyer :: Georgette Heyer is often compared to Jane Austen. She wrote classic, “clean” romance from what I can tell.
Edenbrooke Julianne Donaldson :: More clean romance (in the vein of Austen?), though written recently.
Whose Body? Dorothy Sayers :: One of her many classic detective novels, the first of her stories to feature Lord Peter Wimsey.
Shadows on the Rock Willa Cather :: Cather is my favorite author, and this is one of hers that I haven’t read. It was specifically recommended for the happy list. Seth read it a couple months ago, and I’ve been meaning to.
Decline and Fall Evelyn Waugh :: considered a comedy
Right Ho, Jeeves P.G. Wodehouse :: Wodehouse has been recommended to me again and again. Right Ho, Jeeves is considered of the greatest comic novels in the English language. Why haven’t I read it yet?
Excellent Women Barbara Pym :: Another funny classic.
The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas :: I haven’t read anything by Dumas, but my oldest son Seth has read both this one and The Count of Monte Cristo and loved them.
The Bird in the Tree Elizabeth Goudge :: This is the first in the popular Eliot family trilogy set in England in the late 1930s. Several people recommended Elizabeth Goudges other novels as well. She wrote for both adults and children.
Jane of Lantern Hill and The Blue Castle L.M. Montgomery :: These are some of the favorites mentioned that were written by the author of Anne of Green Gables. The Blue Castle sounds especially good. Emily of New Moon is another that was mentioned.
Early Candlelight Maud Hart Lovelace :: By the author of the Betsy-Tacy books, this is a historical novel she wrote for adults. It sounds excellent!
The Making of a Marchioness Frances Hodgson Burnett :: By the author of The Secret Garden, this is a brief romantic novel, and I believe it is aimed at adults rather than children.
High Rising Angela Thirkell :: This is the first in a series of satirical English comedies set in the fictional county of Barsetshire
Three Men in a Boat and Three Men on a Bummel Jerome K. Jerome :: These are supposed to be hilarious.
The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty :: I am really looking forward to reading some of the stories written by this Pulitzer Prize winning author. I read her described as the grand matriarch of southern writing tradition.
A Light in the Wilderness Jane Kirkpatrick :: Based on a true story, this novel follows three women along the Oregon Trail. People describe it as “gripping.” Sounds good to me! Where Lilacs Still Bloom is another of hers that sound good.
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Happy Reading!!
Thank you for list! I had some down time and no books or knitting on hand, so I decided to see what all the hullabaloo about Downtown Abbey was. I found the first two episodes interesting, but after I watched the third one I thought that it was starting to smell like a soap opera (the eldest flirty, but virginal daughter sleeps with a handsome foreign stranger who has a heart attack in her bed? Really?). So I looked up the synopsis on some of the following episodes and decided it was definitely soap opera stuff – General Hospital with elegant clothing and superior British acting . Blech, I’m too old for that and I have a happy marriage. I decided not to watch anymore, but pick up some good books from the library and lo and behold you supply me some good choices. Thank you!
I always love a good book list, thank you! I am SO not good with disturbing books. I figured that out years ago, and there is too much out there that is uplifting and inspiring for me to waste my precious reading time on trash.
Thanks for sharing this list. I’m reading Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd right now. It’s taking me awhile to get through because I tend to choose knitting over reading these days. Also, thanks for sharing your husband’s book recommendations awhile back. I ordered Endurance for my husband’s birthday in December and he’s almost done with it! This is AMAZING because he’s pretty much a non-reader. I’ve been working on that for years (in a non-naggy way) 🙂 Awhile back I got him a book about Great Lakes shipwrecks and although it took him the better part of a year to read it, he discovered he really enjoys reading about shipwrecks.
I’ve never posted before, but I read your blog all of the time for book recommendations.
I LOVE anything by James Herriot and would highly recommend any and all of his books; I read them whenever I need something happy. He recounts his career as a rural vet…all about nature and animals. So funny and heartfelt and he’s an amazing writer!! The first one is called All Creatures Great and Small. 🙂
Wow, what a list! Although I’m not sure I’d call Alice Munro’s stories happy, exactly (though I haven’t read that particular book). I always turn to Jane Austen when I want to be reminded (or deluded) that good triumphs over evil. And when I want a good laugh I read Bridget Jones’ Diary.
Love this list. Thank you! I will be searching the library system for some of these. I’m storing your post in it’s very own category on gmail so I can keep going back to it for more reading ideas. Many, many thanks!
Oh, I love Wives and Daughters! Well, I love very book I’ve read by Elizabeth Gaskell, but Wives and Daughters is definitely her masterpiece. BUT BEWARE: she died before finishing it. So, while you know how it’s going to end, you don’t actually get to read the ending. I read the book without knowing that, and had a very unpleasant surprise when I got to the end that wasn’t *the end.* It’s only a few, tidying-things-up chapters, but it can be frustrating for the unsuspecting.
The rest of this list looks great too. I will be adding many these books to my own reading list. So, thanks! I would also recommend Goose Girl and Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale, along with all of her other young adult fantasy books. She’s a contemporary author, but her books are beautifully written and have a timeless quality to them.
Oh, I loved “Book of a Thousand Days.” Gail Carson Levine’s “Ella Enchanted” is wonderful too — the movie version changed the story and ruined it, but the book is great.
What a wonderful list!
If you like Fulton Sheen you might enjoy the re-release of Fulton Sheen’s “Remade for Happiness”. Jen Fulwiler wrote the foreword! The amazon link has a nice description of the book. I’ve added it to my list as a way to rev my spiritual self up for the new year and Lent!
http://www.amazon.com/Remade-Happiness-Achieving-Spiritual-Transformation/dp/1586177834
Thank you, Ginny! What a great resource. I find that my anxiety really gets worse when I am exposed to upsetting books and films. Right now I am finishing The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult, and while the matter she writes about is upsetting (the Holocaust), it can make my life, which sometimes feels hard, feel so fortunate. At the same time, it is upsetting. I guess I’m going to be a rose colored glasses sort of person from now on.
A good list!
I noticed Gene Stratton Porter on there–of course my favorite is her story “Laddie” and another is “Keeper of the Bees”–very sweet, feel-good stories.
Several Harold Bell Wright books are on my good list too!
I also love L.M. Montgomery and love to read her short stories aloud to my family “Chronicles of Avonlea” and “Further Chronicle of Avonlea.” Another author that I like Grace Livingston Hill has some sweet short stories that my family all enjoyed aloud.
Another book I always recommend is “David Harum”
Other authors from days gone by that you might enjoy both children’s books and adult–Elizabeth Enright, Dorothy Canfield, Della Lutes, Kate Seredy,.
Thank you for sharing this list!! I am excited to look for some of the books mentioned. A couple of authors I think you may enjoy as well are: Grace Livingston Hill, Kathleen Norris and Bess Streeter Aldrich. They all wrote books during the first half of the 20th century.
So glad to have recently discovered your blog. Your knitting has me truly inspired! : )
Mother Carey’s Chicken is the name of a bird, a storm petrol. The book title is a play on words.
Ah, thanks for clarifying! I wouldn’t have realized, and I guess that particular reviewer didn’t either!
Thank you for posting this list- I saw some new ones I want to try. Elizabeth Goudge and Gene Stratton Porter I really love!! My favorite of Goudge’s so far is Scent of Water and the trilogy you mentioned, and if you have read Girl of the Limberlost, you will find some of the same characters in Freckles by her. Also, Rumor Godden’s book An Episode of Sparrows is a favorite. Next on my list is to read some Wendell Berry books because so many people have recommended them to me- specifically Hannah Coulter.
I love An Episode of Sparrows too, and several others by Rumor Godden! I’ve read Hannah Coulter, and while it was good, I wouldn’t call it happy.
A FB friend posted your link today and I will be adding your blog to my reader simply based on this great list. I was thrilled to see Freckles in the photo you posted! I have an identical, first edition of Freckles which I got from my great-grandparents as a young child in the mid-1950s. I treasure it and have read most of her other books.
You might want to check some Dorothy Whipple books. She was an english writer and all the books I read form her were awfully good. They are published by Persephone Books, in London, a publish house that specializes mostly on XX century women writers. They have some audio and ebooks too.
You might wnat to check out any of Dorothy Whipple books. She was an english writer and all her books I’ve read until now are wonderfully written. She has been publish by Persephone Books, in London; this publish house has been publishing mostly works by XX century women writers. They have some audio and ebooks as well!
Oh thank you, Ginny, for taking the time to curate this list. I just ordered three of these and this list is exactly what I needed right now! Thank you!!!
I too do not read disturbing books because they give me nightmares and sort of take over my mind. I do enjoy mysteries of the Agatha Christie variety and have discovered a web site called http://www.cozy-mystery.com It eliminates the true crime, super violent from the lists. Someone mentioned book club selections and although I belong to one I just don’t read some of the books that are selected by other members.
So many good books. So many other responsibilities. Why do you need to eat, children?
I laughed out loud at your comment. 🙂 Thanks for the giggle.
That list looks great. Some of my very favorites are on there, but also some I have not heard of. I have a 15 year old son who reads and reads and reads. It is challenging to find books that are not in that young adult horrid genre. He is too young for all that sex and too precious for all that violence. I think I can glean some titles for him out of the list as well. Thank you.
I enjoyed all things Lousia May Alcott and Girl of the Limberlost but not so much Don Quixote. I gave up on that one…it went on and on forever!
Sounds like a great list!
Thanks for taking the time to type up this wonderful list! I’m reading “A Girl of the Limberlost” right now and am really enjoying it. I read “Were Lilacs Still Bloom” a couple of years ago and really liked it. I felt like I could really relate to that book.
Thanks for sharing your happy reading list! 🙂 I will definitely come back here and browse when I need a new book to read.
Although it’s nonfiction, I want to recommend “the God of the mundane” by Matt Redmond. It’s available for free download on Noisetrade and its a quick read. As a stay at home mom, it was just the encouragement I need to keep plugging along. If anyone feels “insignificant” in their life, it’s a must read book. 🙂
Thank you for this! I suppose you have read ‘My Family and other Animals’? Non fiction though.
No I haven’t, and it sounds great! I just added it to my wishlist.
Hy! Your children are gorgeous! May I ask, what do they cook – paint in the kitchen?
I’d like to suggest you to read the young french author, Anna Gavalda, they made also a good film from her novel “Ensemble, c’est tout”. She has many good books about everyday life, about various life situations resolved with much humour.
I think Larkspur was stirring Macaroni and the littles were making egg paint. Thanks for the recommendation!
What a lovely list of books! I’m so glad you’ve included Heidi – I loved it as a child, and occasionally reread it to capture the spirit of it again. Don’t miss out on the other two books – Heidi Grows up and Heidi’s Children. Not written by Joanna Spyri, they are none the less well worth reading, and carry on the story of her life in a lovely way. Happy Reading!
After trying recently once again to read an “book for grownups ” I am more convinced than ever that I just need to stick to children’s books most of the time. It’s just not worth the nightmares and emotional disturbance! We recently listened to Heidi on audiobook and it was lovely. I’m looking forward to exploring your ‘happy list’. Thanks so much for sharing it!
So true–books for grownups can be a little too much for me too!
Oh North & South! I love that book, it’s like an odd mash up of Charles Dickens and Jane Austen, but it works =) So many good books as usual.
Oh my, I saw that you asked for happy books and I know such a good one – BUT for some reason I missed telling you… It’s Jim the Boy by Tony Earley. It is a modern book that I hope will become a classic and very short – maybe a novella. It is about a young boy growing up on a farm. It is beautifully written. I have read it out loud to others who have enjoyed it and I have bought copies for many of my friends. I hope you can add this to your list – now I’m thinking I should read it again – I also read My Antonia by Willa Cather every year or so too.
I just added Jim the Boy to my wishlist. It sounds perfect! And yes, I reread My Antonia too.
I really liked “Jim the Boy.” It was recommended years ago by Jan Karon, whose Mitford books (beginning with “At Home in Mitford” are great inspirational reads with lots of humor.
Thank you for sharing your list! I have read a good handful of these, and must chime in for my favorites: The Harvester (so glad to know there is a Kindle version…my mother has the very old copy that I read that belonged to my great-aunt); North and South; anything by Barbara Pym; I Capture the Castle…
A few to add: The Green Knowe series by L.M. Boston; the novels of Laurie Colwin (try A Big Storm Knocked it Over); a book of essays by Michael Chabon called Manhood for Amateurs; if you happen to like mysteries, the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters is quite funny and set in Egypt at the turn of the century. Oh, and all of Madeleine L’Engle’s books (The Small Rain and A Severed Wasp–they are not necessarily happy–maybe too dark for you at this point–but I find them hopeful).
I love Laurie Colwin’s “Happy All the Time.”
If you love Jane Austen then you must try Frances Burney. I love Evelina.
Thanks for sharing! May I also suggest Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Emma? In my opinion those are her two best, though her others are also good. Another author I like is Rosamunde Pilcher. Not classic, but such good reads. She’s written a lot of shorter fiction, but her longer novels are her best work. The Shell Seekers, its sequel September, and Coming Home (which is my favorite). The first and last are set in WWII England, so there are some unavoidable sad parts, and The Shell Seekers does have a rather sad ending, but Coming Home ends well for everyone who survived the war.
If you’re up for some nonfiction, which has the added bonus of providing ideas for your “classics to read” list, may I suggest Helene Hanff’s 84, Charing Cross Road (it’s a collection of letters)? And her other books, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street (a travel diary) and Q’s Legacy (part memoir, part travel diary, best read after the other two). So very good. There’s a movie version of 84 with Anthony Hopkins, Judi Dench, and Anne Bancroft, which is sweet but doesn’t really do the book justice–great cast though.
this is a lovely list!!! :)))) and we do need books that give us peace inside!!
I love Louisa May Alcott and have even been privileged to visit the home she lived in while writing Little Women, Orchard House…but I’m also going to recommend Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom…when I read all of her books as a kid…I enjoyed those books more than Little Women and Little Men for some reason…there is an ick factor for those of us in 2015, as there is a love story between first cousins…if I remember right…..The Secret Garden is my all time favorite book…and The Forgotten Garden is like a grown up version by Kate Morton…
I loved The Secret Garden sooo much too, and The Forgotten Garden!
Great list! I love happy books. I can never be a part of book clubs because I become too disturbed by most of the depressing, violent, disturbing books that are chosen. I loved “Excellent Women” and the Big Stone Gap series is one of my all-time favorites!!
I know–I’m finally starting to realize that those books just aren’t good for me!
That dog photo makes me laugh out loud! I want to hear more about that new dog! (Oh, and the book list is great too!)
🙂
He’s a total nut. I love him! I’ll have to write more about him soon!
Love this list. I will be adding many to my to-read list as well. I have read many of Jane Kirkpatrick’s books and have kept them on my shelf to read again. Her book A Gathering of Finches is my very favorite. My husband and I had our wedding 25 years ago in the public gardens that were created from the estate in this true love story, not just the characters, but the land and the secrets it holds.
These look great and I have addd some to my wish list. Have you ever read the Betsy-Tacy books? You and the girls would love them. We took our girls to see the houses in Minnesota when we were there one year for a convention.
The Very Last Time I Promise…the most beautiful Brother Sun, Sister Moon… Saint Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Creatures..reimagined by Katherine Paterson and illustrated by Pamela Dalton…it is one so beautiful and uplifting.
p.s. yes elizabeth g. and barbara pym as well..whew!…oh, and rumer godden.
blessings to you.
May I add to the list? “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” is a wonderful book!
I listened to that on audio–loved it!
Oh, goodness..have read some of these and have not read so many others. What a delicious list. I started reading some of Heyer’s books last January on the recommendation of a family member when I had a terrible back injury. I have never been a “romance reader”, but have truly enjoyed her books…having English roots, they make me laugh.
I have loved Daddy Long Legs..it is wonderful. Also children’s books (but lovely books for me) are The Cat Who Went to Heaven, Across Five Aprils, Miss Hickory, books by Kate Seredy and Doris Gates.
A hundred more I have forgotten, but do check these authors out.
Always loving my visits here, Ginny. I admire all that you do and the faith that shines through your posts…and of course those lovely children.
(oh, Gerald Durell books for certain) Forgive me if I have misspelled titles and author names.
Wishing you the very best in the new year, with affection, Ellen.
This is wonderful! Too many times I’ve begun a book and either gotten a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that the book will end up being about depressing/psychologically twisted characters or that awful things will happen in it that once read cannot be unread. I’m glad for more upbeat books with characters to love rather than loathe.
Thank you for sharing this! I often am looking for more uplifting books in a classical vein. The Blue Castle is my all time favorite book:)
Yes yes yes – Elizabeth Goudge! “A City of Bells” – read it, I urge you! Marguerite de Angeli’s “The Door in the Wall” – a children’s Newbery winner. Very nice.
These books sound great, several are on my wish list….thank you!
These are some great recommendations- I’m adding many to my list (The Blue Castle is a favorite)
Thank you for the list! I’ve read many of these, but by no means all, and I look forward to exploring! 😀
I loved I Capture the Castle, but be aware that the movie has some female frontal nudity (we haven’t watched it).
Oh my goodness Ginny , this is quite a list and one I will be using often this year, thank you.