Since I "waste" a lot of my free time with playing games and watching TV I try to go a bit more profound route when reading books, so I'm usually focusing on "classics". But since my daughter was born I noticed that I a) don't have that much time anymore to read and b) would rather read something that's ultimately uplifting instead of depressing. I realize a lot of classics deal with themes of sadness and melancholy, with which I don't have any problem at all. But there should be hope in there, too.
The book should not be much longer than 300-400 pages and not completely impossible to read – I think my English is good, it's not my main language though (German is). I like to read books in the language of the author (so in my case either English or German) but I'm not fully adverse to translations, if they're good and capture the spirit the author intended.
Books that I liked:
- Most stuff by Wilde (especially Dorian Gray and the Importance of being Ernest, which I thought was hilarious)
- Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (English translation)
- Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
- The Five People You Meet in Heaven & Tuesdays at Morries by Mitch Albom
- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (although that felt a bit too much like a children's book at some places to me)
- Most of Hemingway (though I'd probably not call that "uplifting" technically…)
- I really liked Grapes Of Wrath by Steinbeck – which kind of fits the description above, because I thought that even within all the sadness, hope could be found so it still fits the profile for me.
- Same for Call of the Wild by Jack London
- And White Nights by Dostoevsky (German translation)
Books I didn't like:
- Pride and Prejudice – after reading similar threads on here I feel like I may have misunderstood the book, since it's mentioned so often. To me it felt tedious and incredibly boring, I had to force myself to finish it.
- Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad – impossible to read for me as well as too depressing.
- 1984 by George Orwell – simply too depressing
- Please spare me anything by Kafka 🙂
Books that I put on my list after reading a couple of threads here.
- A room with a view by EM Forster
- Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
- Three Men In a Boat by Jerome K
- Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
- The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame
As you can see I already found some tips from similar threads but I still wanted to open one to hopefully get some further tips specifically for what I search. 🙂
Thanks a lot in advance for all your time (and happy new year to everyone)!
by Soundtheke