Hi everyone,
I feel the need to read something pervaded with innocence. Let me explain: I don’t mean puritanical works, nor ones devoid of violence, malice, or sexuality, but rather texts that convey a sense of innocence, “purity,” childhood, and simple justice. Maybe books with animal protagonists, or something like that. I hope I’ve managed to convey at least part of what I’m trying to express.
I look forward to your recommendations.
by Frasq
18 Comments
You might like the #1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith. His protagonist, Precious Ramotswe, seems to have the quality of simple kindness you are looking for.
All Creatures Great And Small
The Story Girl/ The Golden Road
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
We’ll Prescribe You A Cat
The Secret Garden
The Ocean At The End of The Lane
Dandelion Wine
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
The narrator of Piranesi is exceptionally pure of heart, and the whole book feels to me like the spell for the refreshment of the spirit in Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy, super quick read. Very cute and memorable.
**A Psalm for the Wild-Built** by Becky Chambers is exactly what you’re looking for. And it’s very short so you can read it and it’s sequel in less time than it’d take you to read almost any of the other suggestions and then move on to those (or on to Chambers’ other, equally wonderful books)
I liked tamora Pierce’s the Immortals series. Book one is called “wild magic”. They’re a YA series with 4 books.
It’s about a young girl in a world where magic exists. She doesn’t have “the gift” (as they call it) and is content to be a simple farm girl until her family is slain
(before the events of the book begin).
Now she finds herself in the crossfire of a country at war with fantasy creatures from another realm and those who seek to control them and her “knack for animals” may be more magical than she thought
Some things I think makes it fit with what you wanted; how much she looks up to the adults around her with a kind of child like innocence. (The good role models at least) Thinking they have everything together all the time, and her trust in her animal friends
Rabbit Hill
Thousand Autumns by Meng Xi Shi how a person can maintain purity and morality in a cruel world even after suffering and tempting by worldly desires.
There’s a strong theme of The Common And Ordinary Good in The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard.
It’s like 900 pages of a man trying to make the world a better place by slowly getting princes to agree to have less power. Simple justice is definitely a theme.
The Goblin Emperor by Kathrine Addison is also similar to that. A young nearly exiled prince is suddenly thrust into being Emperor and slowly wind everyone over with how kind he is.
The Incredible Journey—Shiela Burnford
Maybe The Wind in the Willows? It has that gentle, innocent feeling without being childish in a bad way. Also Watership Down if you want animal characters but with more emotional weight. It’s not exactly “light,” but it has that pure, simple sense of loyalty, survival, and justice you might be looking for.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time .
This is left field but try the Murderbot series by Martha Wells. Murderbot is a security robot who is able to hack its programming and become autonomous. The series is exciting and funny with genuine insights on what it is to be human.
A Wrinkle in Time, though not written for adults, is one many of us have reread multiple times–the whole series
I’m reading The Summer Book by Tove Jansson who created the Moomins right now, and it has that sort of vibe
Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
Fannie Flagg
James Heriott
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C Wrede