Looking for recs for my mom!
She’s a high school teacher but doesn’t really vibe with thematically heavy, upsetting books outside of work. She’s had a rough year so I’d like to get her some stuff that’ll take her mind of things.
She usually goes for what she’d describe as “chick lit” but also it cannot be Colleen Hoover type quality because she will find that infuriating. Books for her need to be written assuming you are a smart person, but have fairly low mental demand anyway because she’s burned out.
She likes comedy and stuff that’s tonally light, but heavier themes are okay too as long as the book is hopeful about it. She’s not a fan of “depressing” books. She probably wouldn’t mind a bit of romance as long as it’s not the only thing going on.
She hates sci fi and horror, but might be chill with certain flavours of speculative fiction (ie stuff with very minimal sci-fi. Like I feel like I could get her into a Parable of the Sower or Never Let Me Go style of speculative fiction if they weren’t so depressing). She doesn’t mind fantasy, but it absolutely cannot be high fantasy. It’s gotta be VERY light magical realism or at the very worst, a familiar fairytale vibe of fantasy. No chance this woman will put up with any amount of worldbuilding or magic systems.
I can’t name a lot of books she likes off the top of my head so here’s a mix of books and tv and movies to get a vibe:
- memoirs by female comedians (Tina Fey’s and Amy Poehler’s and Mindy Kaling’s. Also she reeeally likes Jenny Lawson’s stuff)
- shows-wise, she liked Derry Girls, We Are Lady Parts, The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel, New Girl, Parks and Rec, Schitt’s Creek, The Good Place
- movies-wise, her taste is very “Oscar bait, feminist, possibly indie film”.
She’s a huge fan of music and also the arts in general, especially Soul, Jazz, and early R&B, so any music related books would probably be a hit. Maybe even classical music.
I’m just listing random facts about her taste at this point but TL;DR Does anyone have recommendations for non-depressing litfic or speculative fiction/magical realism with very limited “genre” elements? Thanks!
by IReadBooksSometimes
3 Comments
When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill
These Precious Days by Ann Patchett. Beautiful personal essays. Very uplifting (one ends sadly but is very poignant and inspiring). She lives with a spirit of generosity and it shines through.
I just recently read Women We Buried, Women We Burned by Rachel Louise Snyder. It’s dark, it’s hopeful, it perseverates too much in some parts but then you understand it doesn’t, and it all makes sense in the end in a really kind and thoughtful way. It made me cry but in the way that means something. Highly recommend.