In kind of a funk; can anyone recommend some uplifting (but not happy-happy or preachy) reading?

Thanks, ya’ll. I am going to order a mix of these from Amazon – I even have a credit from selling back some of S’s books last semester. I am going to try to be more helpful on this forum; I really appreciate that you all took the time to think of a recommendation and write a response. I would say that it made me cry, but these days that would really not be saying a lot :confused:

Have you read Paolo Coelho’s The Alchemist? Many people love it…others find it preachy…easy to find, you can even read a few pages on Amazon to see how you like it. Good luck and feel better!

http://www.amazon.com/Alchemist-Paulo-Coelho/dp/0062315005/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442281550&sr=1-1&keywords=coelho+alchemist

Your library might have some, too. It always makes me feel better to go to the library when I am feeling down. :slight_smile:

The Rosie Project is a delight to read. A Year in Provence is a wonderful story a la A Walk in the Woods.
Bossypants by Tina Fey is laugh out loud funny, even better if you listen to her on tape reading it. All great library lends.

“I Am Malala,” by you know who. “Lost Cat,” a nonfiction about, yes, a lost cat. “Bark,” wryly funny stories by Lorrie Moore.

Yes, A Year in Provence…but you’ll suddenly want to live in an old house in a foreign country.

If you’re a dog person, “What the Dog Did” by Emily Yoffe is really funny.

Another one I liked was “Winter Dance” by Gary Paulsen. Story of him deciding to train for and run the Iditerod dog race with no prior dogsledding experience. I laughed until I cried.

Second that. I often wonder what Laurie Colwin would be writing now if she had lived to be the mother of a teenager, or the mother of a grown daughter.

I have some “go to” books that I re -read when I am feeling sad :

Jane Austen. Any of them except Northhanger Abbey.

Agatha Christie books. My favorites are " Death on the Nile" and “Evil under the Sun”

If you like pastoral village type stories the Miss Read books are great. Simple quiet stories about English village life.

I also enjoyed “In Cod We trust” a silly kind of true life account of an American Couple moving to Norway for a year.

I’m also an Erma Bombeck fan. She’s so down-to-earth and resonated with me from HS onwards. I wish she had lived longer.

Shirley Jackson’s humorous books (i.e., “Life Among the Savages,” not “We Have always Lived in the Castle”).

Not an uplifting book but an interesting one that I am reading now is The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.
It’s not a self-help book but a look at how the brain works, basically. It’s cool.

I picked up Dear Committee Members at the library based on this thread and am thoroughly enjoying it so far.

“If You Feel Too Much” by Jamie Tworkowski is uplifting and inspirational, but not in a preachy way. It’s also a collection of short pieces, so it’s great for reading in short bursts

Really liked dear committee members!

I am another who likes Bill Bryson. Any of his books have a unique and and somewhat sarcastic look at the world and situations he is in. Another series of easy to read not so serious books are the “The Cat who…” books by Lillian Jackson Braun. They are mysteries that are easy to read, reasonably short and for me at least rather delightfully addicting.

Anything by Nora Ephron. I enjoy her books as much as her movies.