Within a few days of each other, a few colleagues shared similar versions of this sentiment: They were looking for something to read that was not full of trauma. I get it.
Sometimes, you want to explore whatever it is that’s making things feel darker, but sometimes you just need to escape. That’s where those colleagues are at the moment, and where we are today with ideas for things to read that supply pure, unfiltered joy:
'Orbital'
By Samantha Harvey
The current Booker Prize winner (it beat Percival Everett’s enthralling “James”) is all about shimmering prose and people living in harmony. “Orbital” is set during a day on the International Space Station, although “day” is a hazy concept there, since they speed through 15 dawns in 24 hours. Harvey’s sparkling prose describes our beautiful, border-less planet as it appears to the six astronauts, who are trained to lean into kindness and tolerance.
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'Ferris'
By Kate DiCamillo
Honestly, any DiCamillo book is a joy machine, from her debut, “Because of Winn-Dixie,” up to last year’s “The Hotel Balzaar.” But “Ferris” (also from 2024) is my pick for her sweetest, tenderest work, in part because it’s light on conflict and heavy on a big-hearted family. Whether it’s the title character’s bonds with her grandmother, a teacher or her best pal, “Ferris” is a lovefest — which makes sense, since the writer said it was the love story she craved in the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
'Meaty'
By Samantha Irby
There is some trauma in Irby’s 2012 essay collection, which covers health issues and bad sex. But her unfailing wit and emphasis on the lessons she has learned keep things light. I can’t think of another contemporary essayist who is as laugh-out-loud funny.
'I’ll Take It'
By Paul Rudnick
Here’s what you need to know: A man, his mom and his beloved aunts embark on a road trip to look at New England fall colors but their real destination is an L.L. Bean outlet store, at which they have planned an elaborate and spectacularly wrong-headed heist. The fun of the 1989 book is — of course — the ride, during which the family members bicker, bond and compare thoughts on knitwear.
'Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day'
By Winifred Watson
This 1938 novel is sort of a “Mary Poppins” for grownups about an impoverished woman who stumbles into a job as a socialite’s assistant and promptly improves the lives of everyone she encounters. Including herself. The 2008 movie (starring Frances McDormand and Amy Adams) is just as good as the book.
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