20 Favorite Pick-Me-Up Books

You missed:

Oda wrote: "You missed:

"

If we're talking Meg Cabot, my favorites are the All-American girl series and the first four Princess Diaries.

The cover on "Let's Pretend This Never Happened" is great.
It made me smile!!

Caroline wrote: "The cover on "Let's Pretend This Never Happened" is great.
It made me smile!!"

Me too : )

Harry Potter is always my choice!!!

Katsuro wrote: "Oda wrote: "You missed:

"

If we're talking Meg Cabot, my favorites are ..."

True I could have just said Meg Cabot books. But that series espesially for me.

Personally, I would always recommend To Say Nothing of the Dog above Three Men in a Boat, but maybe that’s just me. It’s a delightful book.

I'd recommend all of the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella .
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (and in fact all of Judy Blume's books) are on my TBR list- I haven't read any. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is too.

Mine is a little bit of a strange choice: The Great Gatsby. It's the opposite of a happy book, but I've read it so many times that it's like spending time with an old friend, and it always cheers me up.

Jim wrote: "Personally, I would always recommend To Say Nothing of the Dog above Three Men in a Boat, but maybe that’s just me. It’s a delightful book."

Interesting mix in your list. Loved "Let's Pretend this never Happened" .... soooo funny. And Three Men in a Boat is such a classic funny read. I'd maybe add Nick Hornby's High Fidelity to your list, always makes me smile when I read it.

And "A Man Called Ove' by Fredrik Bachman, ticks all the boxes for humour and being heart-warming and uplifting. A lovely book

Barbara wrote: "And "A Man Called Ove' by Fredrik Bachman, ticks all the boxes for humour and being heart-warming and uplifting. A lovely book"


I agree!

Whenever I'm down about the way this country is going I like to read apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic, and dystopian novels. Reason being they make me feel better because they tell how things could be worse. One of my favorite such authors is Bobby Akart.

Erika wrote: "Mine is a little bit of a strange choice: The Great Gatsby. It's the opposite of a happy book, but I've read it so many times that it's like spending time with an old friend, and it always cheers m..."

Same here!

Little House on the Prairie? Uplifting for whom? They were part of an illegal rush of settlers into the Osage Diminished Reserve commonly called Indian Territory. Few people today realize, and perhaps Laura herself didn’t know, that a section of Kansas was once called Indian Territory. As Amy Fatzinger writes in her dissertation Indians in the House, Wilder raises “a great issue that was still problematic in the 1930s, when Little House on the Prairie was written and remains so today: the Euro-American preemption of lands occupied by Native Americans.”
Come on, Goodreads! For real- come on already!

I have always loved 'My Family and Other Animals'; even the title makes me smile!

My happiest (and favorite) book of all time is Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. Full of sweetness and comedy leavened with Steinbeck's love for humanity, especially the underdog.

Katie MacAlister's Confessions of a Vampire's Girlfriend (Got Fangs? and Circus of the Darned) is my all time feel better book. Who can keep from laughing at Viking ghosts who pillage McDonalds and line dance?

I love Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, but the ending depressed me.

*MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD*
Remember? His pet got eaten alive and almost no one cared.
*MAJOR SPOILERS ABOVE*

For a quick fix of a laugh I always go with the short story 'I'm Sorry I Bit You in the Leg During My Job Interview'

Otherwise:
Especially her dogs. They make me laugh so hard.
Another Jenny Lawson masterpiece. This or I source her blog for her best taxidermy stories.
A light and fun read about when the Queen started reading.

Sofie wrote: "For a quick fix of a laugh I always go with the short story 'I'm Sorry I Bit You in the Leg During My Job Interview"
Wow, that story is hilarious! 😂😂😂 In fact, the whole site is pretty amazeballs.

My top 3 additions to this list are Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, She Thinks I'm a Piano Player in a Whorehouse, Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging and The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4

Any Terry Pratchett will do it for me, particularly the Watch books...

Maureen wrote: "Little House on the Prairie? Uplifting for whom? They were part of an illegal rush of settlers into the Osage Diminished Reserve commonly called Indian Territory. Few people today realize, and perh..."

There's always somebody who has to find something to quibble about on a list... you're totally overthinking this.

Here's one of my favorites:
Men in Kilts

So happy to see Goldman and Sedaris on this list! I highly enjoyed reading The Princess Bride and Me Talk Pretty One Day.

Oda wrote: "You missed:



[bookcover:I've Go..."

Stiff upper lip by Lawrence Durrell.
Never fails to make me laugh.

This list is just what I need today :-( Time to grab my Jeeves & Wooster books!

Katherine wrote: "I'd recommend all of the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella .
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (and in fact all of Judy Blume's books) are on my TBR list- I haven't read any. A Tree Grows in Brook..."
You have not fully lived until you've read Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret!

I wold add "Evil Librarian" by Michelle Knudsen. What a riot.

books i found lol funny

Lisa Lutz 's The Spellman Files it is a mystery/spy. crazy funny family series.


Jasper Fforde's A Thursday Next Digital Collection: Novels 1-5 smart laughs with lots of puns and literary references.


Carol Burnett's This Time Together and other biographies on audio, read by burnett. some of the stories she repeats. some are not funny but a lot are.


Tina Fey'sBossypants on audio read by the author, lots of lol moments with some serious stuff mixed in.


some funny romance authors- not all are lol but most are, not all are well written but most are.
Tessa Dare
Julia Quinn
Sarah MacLean
Olivia Dade
Jen Turano

Summer of Light by W. Dale Cramer so very funny. none of his other books are similar to them. i found that strange but i am glad he wrote it. i wish he had written more like this instead of the romances.


Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach now it might not be as funny to men since it is the angst/coming of age of a HS boy. but i found many moments jut lol cuz boys are just.... well boys. he wrote sequels to this story but i didn't read those.


and there are some more biographies/memoirs i have listened to of comedians that had many lol moments as well as serious stuff. so i'll list some.
Tim Conway

Trevor Noah

Aziz Ansari
(not a memoir or bio but funny and serious like the others)

Ellen DeGeneres -all of 'em


annnnnd i'm done.

"Cricket in Times Square" by George Selden was a favorite mood-lifter for me as a child.

I loved Charlotte's Web as a child. I wanted to swing on the rope swing and listen to the animals talk. Heck who am I kidding. I still love it as I have just found the audio book and have the author read it to me when I need an escape.

Thought of some others!
Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing
Velveteen Rabbit
Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Little House in the Big Woods
All the books by Beverly Cleary!

The Swap
Bounce by
Megan Shull
are two books that really warm my heart!

Everything Discworld, also 84 Charing Cross Street and Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops.

All Things Great and Small, by James Herriot.

I always feel uplifted and reenergized every time I re-read this gem of a book. For that matter, all of his books are worthwhile reads.

I am definitely going to look up that short story mentioned earlier in this thread. Just its title had me laughing my head off! :-)

Anything by Fanny Flagg! Her characters are a hoot.

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons-a British classic. Very funny but don't bother with the film.

Jim wrote: "Personally, I would always recommend To Say Nothing of the Dog above Three Men in a Boat, but maybe that’s just me. It’s a delightful book."

Ditto! And I'd have to add Bellwether & Even the Queen: & Other Short Stories.

Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson is a book a read 20 years ago and I vividly remember laughing uncontrollably at parts of it.

Dancingdogs wrote: "Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson is a book a read 20 years ago and I vividly remember laughing uncontrollably at parts of it."

It is a great book and funny.

Has anyone ever read 'Little Teepee On The Praire'? It's a hoot (it's about owls). Honestly. Seriously.

Seriously though, I always find the last few sentences of Kurt Vonnegut's 'Bluebeard' always give me a lift. The rest of the book isn't too bad, either.

'Three Men In A Boat' has me laughing insanely, for the most part of it. It's about people who take themselves too seriously. And you have to laugh at that...

Alexander McCall Smith
No.! Ladies Detective Agency and 44 Scotland St

Also anyone read The Young Visiters by Daisy Ashford? Makes me smile just thinking about it...

Anne wrote: "Also anyone read The Young Visiters by Daisy Ashford? Makes me smile just thinking about it..."

Oh yes - great book!

So glad you liked it, it's pretty unique I imagine but just so innocently funny!

Dancingdogs wrote: "Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson is a book a read 20 years ago and I vividly remember laughing uncontrollably at parts of it."

I also liked I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America after Twenty Years Away. Really, you can't go wrong with any of his books!

Mickey wrote: "Dancingdogs wrote: "Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson is a book a read 20 years ago and I vividly remember laughing uncontrollably at parts of it."

I also liked [book:I'm a Strang..."

So True!!