Non-sad books?

Putputt · Mar 8, 2013

These are the books I've read and enjoyed recently...

-The Kite Runner
-A Thousand Splendid Suns
-The Road
-One Hundred Years of Solitude
-Cutting For Stone (currently reading but have stopped because WARNING: SPOILER Ghosh gets leukemia and I feel like my life is meaningless now)

While I love the writing and the depth of character and the setting, I find them so, so depressing. I appreciate these books, but I'm at a point in my life where I'm sad enough, so I'm looking for books that are similarly character-driven but won't roundhouse-kick me in the heart. Any recommendations?

cornflake · Mar 8, 2013

Putputt said:
These are the books I've read and enjoyed recently...

-The Kite Runner
-A Thousand Splendid Suns
-The Road
-One Hundred Years of Solitude
-Cutting For Stone (currently reading but have stopped because WARNING: SPOILER Ghosh gets leukemia and I feel like my life is meaningless now)

While I love the writing and the depth of character and the setting, I find them so, so depressing. I appreciate these books, but I'm at a point in my life where I'm sad enough, so I'm looking for books that are similarly character-driven but won't roundhouse-kick me in the heart. Any recommendations?

I'm not quite sure what to recommend, as those are mostly all so depress-y from the outset, you know? They're not like an Anne Tyler that you thought might turn out ok but had a sad ending.

I'm also not of the same genre bent you seem to be (assuming those are indicative). However, never met anyone not made happy by Clyde Edgerton. They're not as 'hi, I'm a serious literary work,' but they're definitely character-driven and remarkable.

Also, uhm, some Anne Tyler? Heh.

Putputt · Mar 8, 2013

O lil flake of corn, when I saw that you'd replied, I thought you were gonna suggest Twilight.

I'll look up those suggestions. Thankyew.

Maythe · Mar 8, 2013

When I want some cheerful feel-good cosiness I turn to Alexander McCall-Smith.

cornflake · Mar 8, 2013

Putputt said:
O lil flake of corn, when I saw that you'd replied, I thought you were gonna suggest Twilight.

I'll look up those suggestions. Thankyew.

That'd just make you drown yourself in your mud puddle in abject despair.

KellyAssauer · Mar 8, 2013

The Collected Stories by Amy Hempel...

Has a little of everything emotionally, but the writing...
Oh, the writing!

It will inspire.

Kylabelle · Mar 8, 2013

I really love That Old Ace in the Hole, by Annie Proulx.

LillyPu · Mar 8, 2013

I'd forgotten all about That Old Ace in the Hole. Good book, although nothing compared to The Shipping News.

Amy Hempel is great! But if you're looking for a novel, you might try The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle. Darkly funny.

Canada by Richard Ford
Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon
anything Vonnegut...

Mudwoman by Joyce Carol Oates
Night Woods by Charles Frazier
Birds of America by Lorrie Moore (highly recommended)
A Visit by the Goon Squad by Stephanie Egan

There are so many! What depresses one person may not depress another. I really can't remember ever being depressed by a book. The Grapes of Wrath isn't a depressing book. It's absolutely beautiful. From start to end!

Putputt · Mar 10, 2013

Thanks for all the great suggestions! Already I'm feeling happier just seeing some of the titles...

JBClemmens · Mar 11, 2013

I am currently reading Alexander McCall Smith's The World according to Bernie. I enjoyed Tea Time for the Traditionally Built very much but am pushing myself through Bertie. I don't know why.

Kylabelle · Mar 11, 2013

Putputt I thought of another for you, by Mark Helprin, A Soldier of the Great War. Now within the book it goes into some amazing dark territory, but while I don't want to spoil the ending let me just say, it remains one of the most redemptive I've read. It definitely does not leave you depressed or wanting to do yourself in or that sort of thing. No no no no.

And I agree, LillyPu, Ace is not as fine as Shipping News. But it is good and it is a lark!

Actually, I am fascinated by this right now, the way it seems most of the best writing is also the darkest, why that is. Wondering about that, is all...... *moseys off, pondering and muttering....*

LJD · Mar 11, 2013

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - Helen Simonson
Beautiful Ruins - Jess Walter

thehundreds · Mar 13, 2013

LillyPu said:
I'd forgotten all about That Old Ace in the Hole. Good book, although nothing compared to The Shipping News.

Amy Hempel is great! But if you're looking for a novel, you might try The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle. Darkly funny.

Canada by Richard Ford
Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon
anything Vonnegut...
Mudwoman by Joyce Carol Oates
Night Woods by Charles Frazier
Birds of America by Lorrie Moore (highly recommended)
A Visit by the Goon Squad by Stephanie Egan

There are so many! What depresses one person may not depress another. I really can't remember ever being depressed by a book. The Grapes of Wrath isn't a depressing book. It's absolutely beautiful. From start to end!

That would be Jennifer Egan. And I'd love to hear more thoughts on Night Woods. I loved Cold Mountain, and found 13 Moons to be very good as well. Haven't heard anything about this novel, though.

Vito · Mar 16, 2013

A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

The Wishbones - Tom Perrotta

Mark Moore · Mar 18, 2013

The xoxo, Betty and Veronica novels (based on Archie Comics) published in 2011.

Quickbread · Mar 23, 2013

There are some great suggestions here.

Kylabelle, I'm so glad you mentioned Mark Helprin. I *love* him. He has another novel that's also incredibly beautiful called Winter's Tale.

A couple fun novels off the top of my head:
Super Sad True Love Story, Gary Shteyngart
Motherless Brooklyn, Jonathan Lethem
Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger (Ok, it's not super happy, but Holden is so damn lovable)

Papaya · Mar 24, 2013

Most stories have sad elements, but that is not the same as depressing, which I don't do anymore. I find Stienbeck, Hemmingway and many of the other classics very depressing. I used to read a lot of bleak literature, but I do my best to avoid it now, whether classic or not. The Shipping News is great literature, but as I recall, it was pretty heavy. Annie Proulx is incredible at description, so it’s worth it if you can stomach the suffering.

Some of my all time favorite literary novels that are not depressing –
1) A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving is one of my all time favorite books and has been since the first time I read it when I was 12 or 13. Cider House Rules and The World According to Garp are also fantastic. In fact, though I’ve still got a few to go, all the books I’ve read by John Irving are great literature.
2) Narcissus and Goldmund, by Herman Hesse, is incredible.
3) Anything by Tom Robbins, though I have not yet read his later works from 2000 on.
4) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
5) Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
6) The Tale of Murasaki by Liza Dalby

Also worth considering –
Kurt Vonnegut’s satire
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

These are just off the top of my head. The list could go on and on and on, but it's a good beginning. I'm so glad to have found this thread, as it reminds me of how many amazing literary novels are out there that aren't depressing.

Ellaroni · Mar 26, 2013

thehundreds said:
That would be Jennifer Egan. And I'd love to hear more thoughts on Night Woods. I loved Cold Mountain, and found 13 Moons to be very good as well. Haven't heard anything about this novel, though.

I loved Nightwoods, it was quiet and hopeful. Not as complex as Cold Mountain or Thirteen Moons when it comes to the sheer number of characters, time span and themes, but very gratifying.

sohalt · Apr 13, 2013

Wow, depressing is really subjective, isn't it?

So many of the books listed here I would absolutely recommend because they are simply lovely, but they do contain quite a bit of stuff I'd consider rather tragic.

A Message from the Goon Squad for instance ... it's in the title, after all, which refers to the ravages of time. Some passages are positively heart-breaking. But it's also very beautiful in places, so I guess the overall effect is life-affirming after all, if useless beauty can do that for you.

(In that case, I could also recommend NW, Zadie Smith's venture into neo-modernism. Think Mrs. Dalloway in contemporary).

Stuff that has served me well when I was not up for the slightest bit of heart-break:

Dodie Smith, I capture the castle (makes me nostalgic for a young girl I never was)
Anything by P.G. Wodehouse (the kind of book that makes me laugh out loud, whereas I usually just silently chuckle).
Muriel Spark, Loitering with Intent (has the kind of clear-eyed no-nonsense never sorry for herself heroine I always find so inspiring)

Rereading my favourite children's books by Astrid Lindgren.

Bushrat · Apr 13, 2013

Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood is hilarious. Drop City by TC Boyle is a really fun read (about a hippie commune moving to the backwoods of Alaska).
Maybe of lesser literary stature, but unbeatable for warm, uplifting and funny reading are the James Herriot books, about his life as a vet in the Yorkshire Dales.

askcb · Apr 14, 2013

KellyAssauer said:
The Collected Stories by Amy Hempel...

Has a little of everything emotionally, but the writing...
Oh, the writing!

It will inspire.

Cannot agree with this strongly enough. Love Amy Hempel.

Kylabelle · Apr 14, 2013

I'm re-reading Touchstone by Laurie King. Anything by her is good but this one is possibly my favorite. And, it definitely has its dark, sad, tragic elements, but fundamentally it's a really excellent mystery and very well done.

thehundreds · Apr 16, 2013

Ellaroni said:
I loved Nightwoods, it was quiet and hopeful. Not as complex as Cold Mountain or Thirteen Moons when it comes to the sheer number of characters, time span and themes, but very gratifying.

Very good to know. I'll put it on my list of books to get to!

Pammie Simon · Apr 25, 2013

I second recommendations for anything Vonnegut and add Christopher Moore as well.

Oh and do make sure you finish "Cutting for Stone." I gets better - I promise!

Livilla · Apr 26, 2013

Changing Places + Small World + Nice Work, all by David Lodge. It's a trilogy, but loose enough so you can read and enjoy the books individually. David Lodge is one of the funniest and smartest writers I know.

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
and
The Egyptologists, by Kingsley Amis and Robert Conquest. Both these books are :literally laugh aloud: funny IMO.

Eating People Is Wrong by Malcolm Bradbury
Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith
This Is Your Life by John O'Farrell
The Wimbledon Poisoner by Nigel Williams
Scoop by Evelyn Waugh
many (but not all) short stories by James Thurber
pretty much anything by Stephen Leacock, although the "character-driven" thing might not really be there

Vito said:
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

I love that book so hard.

Non-sad books?

permanently suctioned to Buz's leg

practical experience, FTW

permanently suctioned to Buz's leg

practical experience, FTW

The Anti-Magdalene

unaccounted for

permanently suctioned to Buz's leg

Patient Seahorse

unaccounted for

Recalled to life

Unfold your own myth. - Rumi

reaching for the sun

If in doubt, mumble

unaccounted for

Pammie