Fucking hell. Please no. I can’t take any more of this shit from 2016.

Hi! Here are some books that have afforded me entire days of escapism from major depression recently (Note: They aren’t lighthearted so much as really engaging):

Where’d you go Bernadette is fun!

The MythAdventures series by Robert Lynn Aspirin are really great, light hearted fun fantasy.

Ooh, I am just finishing Neverwhere and I love it. It’s my first Gaiman novel. I grew up on fantasy fiction during the 80s and am wondering why I left it.

I second The Pursuit of Love/Love in a Cold Climate! Good laughs. Snarky dialogue.

Seven Years in Tibet was a childhood favorite, so I reread it when I’m feeling down. It’s very adventurous. Even though the author is imprisoned as a POW for a decent-sized section of the book, it’s somehow not depressing because he spends the whole time scheming with clever escapes.

But you’ve got to listen to a few episodes of This American Life first so you can have her voice in your head while you read her books. I love her voice!

I just finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Really enjoyed it.

YES hyperbs and a half, very good! I second. I’m trying to find some new reads. Hard for me to articulate my taste but I like Wally Lamb, Jhumpa Lahiri, Jenny Lawson, Jeanette Winterson, historical fiction..if that’s helpful..any recs?

I always buy “The Best American Short Stories of...” for each year. I love each little gem.

I work in book publishing and have for decades. (This is not really relevant except to say that I read for a living and read for pleasure so I do a lot of reading.) Except for the romance/YA stuff I’ve read almost every book recommended so far and they’re ALL great. Combined this is an excellent reading list.

Lamb by Christopher Moore. Funniest book I’ve ever read and you won’t be able to put it down by the end of chapter 2.

If you like YA and/or fantasy, anything by Tamora Pierce will be fun and good company. The best written series that I’ve read are “Protector of the Small” and “Trickster”, but all of her books are fun.

Mary Roach is a fantastic writer who covers non-fiction topics in a really relatable way. I love her books.

I worked as a bookseller for something like ten years. If you reply with three of your favorite books I can tailor this just for you, but just generally, here are some I’d recommend, considering your mood.

My book recommendation is always the Dragonriders of Pern books by Anne and Todd McCaffrey.

I’m working my way through the Discworld series and currently on Book 5 Sourcery and loving them. Granny Weatherwax has me laughing so much. I also recommend the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch kind of a cross between Pratchett and Gaiman.

I’ve been known to go through the entire works of Jane Austen when I need an everything is going to work out ok, nobody will get raped or descend into a nightmarish spiral of addiction or mental illness, body of literature. As long as your ok with the marriage plot and cousin on cousin romance.

Hola Jezzies!