Hi everyone. I need a book recommendation, please. Preferably one that feels like a deep exhale.
Lately I’ve been feeling pretty burned out between work (2 hour round trip commute included), parenting a toddler who believes sleep is optional, and the general *gestures broadly at everything happening in the U.S.* sense of overwhelm (doomscrolling included). My brain feels both overstimulated and undernourished, if that makes sense.
I’m not looking for anything heavy – more like: absorbing but not stressful, smart but not demanding, comforting without being cheesy. Something I can pick up in short bursts before bedtime and actually look forward to.
Bonus points for beautiful writing, humor, or stories that remind you people are mostly decent (we still have hope, right???)
Thank you kind internet strangers.
by circe_a
6 Comments
I read a lot of nonfiction and a lot of classics but when I just need to chill the eff out I read Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum mysteries. So fun. So low committment. Nothing too intense in any way, just fun and sassy. I can’t put them down.
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower. 8 books in the series so far.
A Month in the Country by J L Carr.
It’s absolutely the literary embodiment of a deep exhale.
A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers
I really enjoyed *You Are Here* by David Nichols. I read it last year when I was feeling a similar sense of overwhelm and needed a break from the normal books I read which are typically very depressing. It’s very low-stakes, lot of nature, good characters and an engaging but not demanding story.
…conversely, I recently read *Shark Heart* by Emily Habeck, which I feel like is recommended here a lot, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I finished it. It is very fast moving, beautifully written, incredibly emotional – very sad at times but also very hopeful. I loved it even though I didn’t expect to and might be up the alley of what you’re looking for, too.
I don’t know if you enjoy mysteries but when I feel like this I like a cozy/funny mystery (nothing gory or scary). I’ve enjoyed Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club Series, How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley and all of Bob Mortimer’s books. All have funny, heart warming elements and eccentric characters.
I’m British so I don’t know if they were popular elsewhere but I really liked Jacqueline Wilson when I was growing up and she did a recent novel with the characters from her Girls series called ‘Think Again’ that was lovely in a super nostalgic way for me.