I’ve been keeping a mental list of books about books for some time now, and it’s only now that I’ve turned it into pixels.

From The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek to Ruth Shaw’s memoir of her wee bookshops in the deep south of New Zealand, recently there have been so many books that have made me think, “yes! that will go in the books post!”

So without further ado, here are my favourite books about readers, librarians, bookshop owners, and, of course, books…

The best books about books for people who love reading

1. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

“As I gaze at the vacant, birdless scene outside, I suddenly want to read a book – any book. As long as it’s shaped like a book and has printing, it’s fine by me. I just want to hold a book in my hands, turn the pages, scan the words with my eyes.”

Kafka on the Shore, a fan favourite from Murakami (and one of my all-time favourite books), is an immersive and otherworldly book to get lost in when you want an escape from everyday life.

It’s also a wonderful book about books, and contains one of my favourite libraries in literature. 

Comprising two distinct but interrelated plots, the narrative runs back and forth between the life of fifteen-year-old Kafka Tamura, who has run away from home, and an aging man called Nakata.

2. The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

The Bookshop on the Corner is a wonderfully cozy book about books, packed with musings on the joys of reading.

It’s also a book about librarians: namely, Nina, a literary matchmaker and librarian with the gift of finding the perfect book for her readers.

However, after losing the job she loves, Nina must make a new life for herself. Nervous but determined and ready for a new start, Nina moves to a sleepy village in Scotland where she buys a van and transforms it into a mobile bookshop.

She drives her bookmobile from neighborhood to neighborhood, changing one life after another with the power of storytelling. With every new reader she meets, Nina slowly realises that this place might just be where she can write her own happy ending.

3. The Bookseller at the End of the World by Ruth Shaw

The Bookseller at the End of the World, one of my favourite new books for 2022, is Ruth Shaw’s immersive, heartbreaking, yet charming story of running two wee bookshops in the remote village of Manapouri in the deep south of New Zealand.

In this beautiful book for booklovers (that is sure to make you want to read even more books), Shaw weaves together stories of the characters who visit her bookshops, musings on the books that have shaped her life, and bittersweet stories from her full and varied life of adventure.

4. The Secret History by Donna Tartt

The Secret History is one of my all-time-favourite books about books; 30+ of them, in fact (if I counted correctly), from The Iliad to The Great Gatsby.

It’s an excellent novel to spark a hunger for classics and mystery-solving, beginning with some of my favourite opening lines in literature: “The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.”

(For more book inspiration for fans of The Secret History, I’ve also curated a list of Donna Tartt’s favourite books.)

5. The Velocity of Being by Maria Popova

Like everything else from Maria Popova, the mind and heart of The Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings), The Velocity of Being is a gorgeously curated book celebrating the joys of discovery.

Here, Maria Popova brings together some of the most wonderful culture-makers – writers, artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, and philosophers — to reflect on the joys of reading, how books broaden and deepen human experience, and the ways in which the written word has formed their character. 

A beautiful illustration accompanies each letter about how books have shaped a contributor’s life, with stories from figures as diverse as Jane Goodall, Neil Gaiman, Shonda Rhimes, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Elizabeth Gilbert.

6. The Library Book by Susan Orlean

On the morning of April 28, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. The fire reached two thousand degrees and burned for more than seven hours, consuming four hundred thousand books and damaging seven hundred thousand more by the time it was extinguished.

More than thirty years later, the mystery remains: did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who?

Weaving her lifelong love of books and reading into an investigation of the fire, The Library Book is Susan Orlean’s love letter to libraries and a dazzling reflection on their past, present, and future in America.

7. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

Inspired by the true blue-skinned people of Kentucky and Roosevelt’s Pack Horse library service of the 1930s, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a story of raw courage, relentless kindness, and one woman’s belief in the transformative power of books.

In this historical fiction novel (which I loved listening to as an audiobook), the hardscrabble folks of Troublesome Creek have to fight for everything. However, what they do have is their very own travelling librarian.

Cussy Mary Carter travels by packhorse to bring books – including Peter Pan, Doctor Doolittle, and The Call of the Wild – to the Appalachian community she loves. But with her skin a shade of blue unlike most anyone else, Cussy has to contend with prejudice and suspicion as old as the Appalachias.

8. The Diary Of A Bookseller by Sean Bythell

If you’ve always dreamed of owning a bookshop, The Diary of a Bookseller is the perfect book to indulge your bookish fantasies.

Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown – Scotland’s largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100,000 books, spread over a mile of shelving, with twisting corridors and roaring fires, and all set in a beautiful, rural town by the edge of the sea.

In these wry and hilarious diaries, Shaun provides an inside look at the trials and tribulations of life in booklover’s paradise, from struggles with eccentric customers to wrangles with his own staff.

Along the way, he recommends books and evokes the charms of small-town life in delightful detail to inspire your own literary self-care and reading rituals.

9. The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

The Reading List is a wonderfully heartwarming book about books and connection. In this debut, a chance encounter with a list of books in the back of To Kill a Mockingbird helps forge an unlikely friendship between two very different people in a London suburb.

Mukesh lives a quiet life in Wembley after losing his beloved wife, now worrying about his granddaughter, Priya, who hides in her room reading. Aleisha is a bright but anxious teenager working at the local library and trying to escape the painful realities she’s facing at home.

Slowly, as the reading list brings these two lonely souls together, fiction becomes their key to escape their grief, forget about everyday troubles, and even, with time and gentleness, find joy again. 

10. The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill is a marvellously laid-back and joyful book about books to get lost in.

Shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Prize, Abbi Waxman’s charming and quirky romance follows introvert and bookworm Nina Hill as she discovers if real life can ever live up to fiction.

Nina has her life just as she wants it: a job in a bookstore, an excellent trivia team and a cat named Phil. And plenty of time for reading.

So when the father she never knew existed dies, leaving behind innumerable sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews, Nina is horrified. And if that wasn’t enough, Tom, her trivia nemesis, has turned out to be cute, funny and interested in getting to know her.

11. Ex Libris: 100+ Books to Read and Reread by Michiko Kakutani

What are your five-star reads, the books that shaped who you are and how you see the world?

Ex Libris is literary critic Michiko Kakutani’s personal selection of over one hundred works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, sharing passionate essays on why each has had a profound effect on her life.

From Homer’s The Odyssey to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Ex Libris covers a rich and vast range of old and new classics, accompanied by gorgeous illustrations from lettering artist Dana Tanamachi.

12. What Writers Read: 35 Writers on their Favourite Book by Pandora Sykes

What do writers read? In this captivating, beautiful collection curated by the author of How Do We Know If We’re Doing it Right, a host of beloved authors from Elizabeth Strout to Derek Owusu and Ruth Ozeki to Elif Shafak reveal their favourite books.

Available as a gorgeous hardcover, What Writers Read is a stunning book about books and the joy of reading that’s perfect to gift to booklovers.

Still looking for new books to read? For more books to retreat into, complement this with the coziest books to read on a quiet night in.

The post 12 of the best books about books that capture the joy of reading appeared first on Tolstoy Therapy.

Book Review | Synopsis | Similar Books | Excerpt | Buy It

A Psalm for the Wild-Built

A Psalm for the Wild-Built is a true balm for the soul, as comforting and wholesome as any of the personalized tea blends imagined and served with love by Dex, the story’s main character.

URL: https://amzn.to/3giY0En

Author: Becky Chambers

Editor's Rating:
4.5

Is A Psalm for the Wild-Built worth a read?

There’s something so therapeutic about Becky Chambers’ writing. As well as anyone who wants a break, A Psalm for the Wild-Built is the perfect book for anyone feeling lost, directionless, or in need of a big change in life. It’s also full of slice-of-life vibes, if you love that in your reading material.

Synopsis of A Psalm for the Wild-Built

“If we want change, or good fortune, or solace, we have to create it for ourselves.”

A Psalm for the Wild-Built

In A Psalm for the Wild-Built, we enter a utopian future years after the end of the Factory Age, when robots put down their tools and gave up their roles as human servants to disappear into the untouched wilderness. That’s where they’ve remained, far from human life.

In Panga’s main city, we meet Sibling Dex: a non-binary twenty-nine-year-old gardener who has no idea what they want to do with their life. But they do know one thing for sure, that despite the beauty and livability of a metropolis, “sometimes, a person reaches a point in their life when it becomes absolutely essential to get the fuck out of the city”.

And so Sibling Dex leaves their job to become a tea monk, skipping the usual apprenticeship route and opting to learn everything themselves. After a rocky start, Sibling Dex is adored by their customers. Dex listens to their problems, and then serves the perfect cup of tea.

Despite becoming perhaps the best tea monk in Panga, Sibling Dex still feels that this isn’t it. There’s something missing in life. They yearn for wildness and the sound of crickets. And so they cycle their wagon further into the wilderness than definitely advised and take in the freedom and beauty of their new surroundings.

That is, until they’re interrupted by a robot, Mosscap, who has left the wilderness to ask one simple question. What do humans want?It turns out that this is actually an incredibly difficult question, and Dex feels like they absolutely cannot answer it.

What follows is a heartwarming and soul-searching journey of adventure deep into the wild to reach an abandoned hermitage. It’s here that Dex and Mosscap find a deeper bond than they could have imagined, learning more about each other, themselves, and what really leads to a meaningful life than ever would have been possible alone.

An in-depth summary of A Psalm for the Wild-Built (spoilers!)

Books like A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Although there’s sure to be a flurry of Becky Chambers-inspired writers in the next few years, no one really writes quite like she does.

For more books like A Psalm for the Wild-Built, you can’t go wrong with other books by Becky Chambers. The sequel, A Prayer for the Crown Shy, was published in 2022 and is perfect to read next.

You can also escape into Becky Chamber’s Wayfarers series, beginning with The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet.

Book excerpt

Read the first pages of A Psalm for the Wild-Built, or see the book on Amazon.

The post Summary and review: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers appeared first on Tolstoy Therapy.

In this post, I’ve curated some of the best cozy books to enjoy on a quiet night in when all you want to do is retreat into the pages of a good book and de-stress.

These books ooze comfort and wholesomeness, offering a balm for the soul in troubled times and a reminder of the beauty and goodness of life.

They’re perfect to read in your favourite cozy place, whether that’s by the fireplace, on the sofa, in bed, or soaking in the bath. Read on to warm your heart and ease your nerves…

The most cozy books to read during a quiet evening at home

1. The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher

The Shell Seekers is one of the most cozy and wholesome books ever written, and it will always make me think of summer on the beach in Cornwall and quaint English villages just like the one I grew up in.

It’s a book that’s touched the hearts of millions of readers worldwide, about one family in Southern England and the passions and heartbreaks that have held them together for three generations.

The world that Rosamunde Pilcher created is so warm, rich, and immersive that you can’t help but tumble into its country lanes, delicate artwork, and family tiffs and quirks. It’s a warm and enduring classic that offers the kind of reading experience that only comes along once in a while.

2. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

Described by Martha Wells as “an optimistic vision of a lush, beautiful world”, Becky Chambers’s delightful Monk and Robot series is full of feel-good vibes and hope for the future.

If you love Studio Ghibli-inspired books, I’d recommend grabbing a copy of the first book in the series, A Psalm for the Wild-Built.

In its unique world where nature is adored and respected, it’s been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness, laid down their tools, wandered together into the wilderness, and faded into myth and urban legend.

But one day, the life of a tea monk is turned upside down by a robot at their door, asking “what do people need?” And that is a very good – and difficult – question. Here’s my review of A Psalm for the Wild-Built.

3. Still Life by Louise Penny

“Peter swept aside Yogi Tea and Harmony Herbal Blend, though he hesitated a second over the chamomile. …. But no. Violent death demanded Earl Grey…”

Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache series oozes cozy fall vibes. The first book in the series, Still Life, is the coziest murder mystery you will probably ever read.

It’s set in October in Quebec with families gathering for Thanksgiving, characters sitting by the fire as night falls, and friends meeting for meals at the local bistro.

At least on the surface, life is incredibly idyllic in the village of Three Pines, but long-buried secrets are starting to reappear. This cozy book is best read with a cup of hot tea and a crumbly pastry.

4. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

The four March sisters couldn’t be more different. But with their father away at war and their mother working to support the family, they have to rely on one another – whether that’s putting on a play, forming a secret society, or accepting and forgiving each other exactly as they are.

As one of the most wholesome comfort reads ever written, Little Women is Louisa May Alcott’s classic story of four sisters: grown-up Meg, tomboyish Jo, timid Beth, and precocious Amy. It’s the perfect book to read or reread on a cozy night in.

5. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Each time I think back to The Ocean at the End of the Lane, I imagine cozy autumn days in rural Sussex in England, which is where I grew up and the book is also set.

This is one of Neil Gaiman’s most delicate yet terrifying books, centered on a mysterious farm at the end of the road, the unremembered past, and children who are wise beyond their years.

6. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

For a warm and cozy hotel feeling, read A Gentleman in Moscow. This bestselling book is a beautifully transporting novel about Count Alexander Rostov, a man who, in 1922, is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal and ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel.

Rostov, who has never worked a day in his life, must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors.

Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery – and towards a far deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.

7. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

In Garden Spells, an enchanting novel that feels like a warm blanket of a book, we meet the Waverley family; curious and endowed with peculiar gifts that make them outsiders in their hometown of Bascom, North Carolina.

Claire Waverley is known for the dishes she makes with her mystical plants—from the nasturtiums that aid in keeping secrets to the pansies that make children thoughtful.

Although Claire’s rebellious sister, Sydney, fled Bascom the moment she could, she now suddenly returns home with a young daughter of her own. In this captivating book, Claire’s quiet life is turned upside down and the sisters are left to deal with their common legacy.

8. A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami

Whenever I think of A Wild Sheep Chase, I think of snowy countryside. Some of that is because I read it on a winter train journey to Chamonix, France, but it’s also because of the book’s setting.

In this trippy and quasi-detective tale that’s a perfect book for winter, we follow an unnamed, chain-smoking narrator to snowy Hokkaido in Japan.

The reason for the narrator’s adventure is to search for a strange sheep with a star-shaped birthmark, accompanied by his girlfriend who possesses magically seductive and supernaturally perceptive ears. (What can I say, it’s a Murakami novel.)

9. The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

The Bookshop on the Corner is a wonderfully cozy book about books. Set in a sweet little Scottish town that you’ll soon want to move to, Nina is a literary matchmaker: a librarian with a gift of finding the perfect book for her readers. However, after losing the job she loves, Nina must make a new life for herself.

Determined and ready for a new start, Nina moves to a sleepy village where she buys a van and transforms it into a mobile bookshop. She drives her bookmobile from neighborhood to neighborhood, changing one life after another with the power of storytelling.

Nina discovers there’s plenty of adventure, magic, and soul in a place that’s beginning to feel like home… a place where she just might be able to write her own happy ending.

10. The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller

This full-hearted novel is a cozy book about Olivia Rawlings, a big-city pastry chef extraordinaire who discovers the true meaning of home when she escapes from the city to the most comforting place she can think of – the idyllic town of Guthrie, Vermont.

This is meant to be just a short getaway, until Margaret Hurley, the cantankerous owner of the Sugar Maple Inn, offers Livvy a job. Broke and not sure what else to do next, Livvy accepts – and realises that the most unexpected twists and turns in life can be the best things to happen to you.

So, which cozy book will you read next? Take your pick and treat yourself to a warm cup of tea, a cozy blanket, and freedom from notifications and distractions for some relaxing time to unwind.

For more cozy books, you might also like my favourite books for winter, wholesome books, and feel-good books.

The post 10 of the best cozy books to snuggle up with on a quiet night in appeared first on Tolstoy Therapy.

What makes for good winter reading? In an article for The Guardian back in 2011, the booksellers Waterstones asked authors, “What’s your favourite fireside read, the book you go back to every winter?”

Ali Smith chose Tove Jansson’s The Summer Book (“a piece of light: what better to keep you warm through the darker months?”), Jonathan Coe selected Sherlock Holmes – one of my own choices in this post – while Jacqueline Wilson chose Jane Eyre as a winter classic.

For me, it’s all to do with what goes with hot drinks, warm blankets, and a comfy sofa. On this list, I’ve included a few of my favourite cozy books set in winter to retreat into.

Sometimes a long book – with a hefty list of characters and an inner universe that’s hard to leave – is the ideal companion to while away the hours with. At other times, a wholesome or mood-boosting novel is a welcome antidote to the chilly weather outside.

Whatever your mood and literary appetite, here are a few of the best fiction and non-fiction winter books to get you thinking about winter reading plans, from classic novels to fantasy stories…

The best books to read in winter (with a blanket and hot chocolate)

1. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

This bestselling debut by Eowyn Ivey oozes winter. Set on a 1920s homestead in remote Alaska, a couple’s lives are changed forever by the arrival of a wild and secretive young girl on their snowy doorstep.

This girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods; she hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness.

In this beautiful and violent place, however, things are rarely as they appear. The Snow Child is one of my favourite novels set in winter.

2. Beartown by Fredrik Backman

Now an HBO Original Series, Beartown is about a small forest town with a big dream. By the lake in Beartown, there’s an old ice rink where the town’s junior hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals – which they actually have a shot of winning.

But unexpectedly, the match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatised and a town in turmoil. It’s an engrossing book about community, loyalty, and the responsibilities of friendship that’s perfect to read in winter.

3. A Quiet Life by Ethan Joella

Set in a close-knit Pennsylvania suburb in the grip of winter, A Quiet Life follows three people grappling with loss and finding a tender wisdom in their grief.

This new book for 2022 is a beautifully crafted and profoundly moving novel that’s infused with hope, celebrating humanity in the midst of uncertainty.

4. The Secret History by Donna Tartt

“The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation”… reading these opening lines is enough to make me firmly consider a reread of The Secret History.

The Secret History is an excellent novel to spark a hunger for classics and mystery-solving over the winter months. That said, Donna Tartt’s 2015 book, The Goldfinch, is also a fantastically immersive monument of a novel to enjoy in wintertime.

5. Animal Life by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir

In the days leading up to Christmas, Dómhildur – the daughter of a long line of midwives – delivers her 1,922nd baby.

As a terrible storm races towards Reykjavík, Dómhildur discovers decades of letters and manuscripts hidden amongst her grandaunt’s clutter, uncovering strange and beautiful reflections on birth, death, and human nature.

With her singular warmth and humor, in Animal Life Ólafsdóttir gives us a beguiling novel that comes direct from the depths of an Icelandic winter, full of hope for spring.

6. The Year of Living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country by Helen Russell

Before moving to Denmark, I didn’t realise how central hygge really is to Danish culture. You hear it everywhere: a place is hygge, it’s hyggelig to meet someone or do something, a scary or uncomfortable situation is uhyggelig.

The Year of Living Danishly is one of my favourite books about how the Danes live (and cope with winter), even if The Little Book of Hygge makes for a more beautiful addition to your bookshelf.

7. The Woods in Winter by Stella Gibbons

…for the first time in her life, she was living as she had always unknowingly wanted to live: in freedom and solitude, with an animal for close companion. Her new life had acted upon her like a strong and delicious drug.

In this funny and poignant story for winter, Ivy Gower, a curmudgeonly middle-aged woman with witchy talents, inherits a rural cottage in Buckinghamshire and takes up residence near the tiny village of Little Warby.

Having settled in with a rescued dog and a pet pigeon, she manages, despite her anti-social instincts, to have surprising effects on her new neighbours. The Woods in Winter is a gorgeous tale of the challenges and freedoms of old age and solitude.

8. The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way by Gabriella Bennett

For a cozy non-fiction book to read in December, I love this little book about the art of coorie, Scotland’s answer to hygge to cope with long dark winters.

It’s the perfect book to snuggle up for winter with and immerse yourself in the joys and simple pleasures of Scottish winters.

9. Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May

At some stages in life, we’re full of energy, ideas, and motivation. Other times, what we need most is rest, patience, and self-love.

Wintering is Katherine May’s bestselling memoir and guide to the power of rest and retreat in difficult times.

If you’re struggling with low energy, depression, or feeling lost, this is the ideal book to read in winter (or any other time of year).

10. Dubliners by James Joyce

The final words of “The Dead”, the last story in Dubliners, James Joyce’s short story collection, epitomise winter reading for me. They’re simply magical.

If I were to start my journey into Joyce’s fiction once more, it would be cold outside, I’d have a lot of time to spare, and I’d have an open mind. And perhaps a measure of whisky on hand.

11. Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher

This year, snuggle up with one of the coziest books to read in December, especially in the lead up to Christmas.

In Winter Solstice, the rippling effects of a tragedy bring five characters together in a large, neglected estate house near the Scottish fishing town of Creagan for the shortest day of the year.

It’s a slice-of-life book about love, loyalty, and rebirth, without much drama or being overwhelmingly sickly sweet. I read it recently and know I’ll be rereading it in winters to come.

12. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Folk tales, snow-capped forests, and magic in the depths of winter at the edge of the Russian wilderness…

The Bear and the Nightingale is one of the best novels to read in winter, especially in the restful days around Christmas.

As her beloved village’s defenses weaken and evil creeps nearer, young Vasilisa must call upon dangerous gifts she has long concealed to protect her family and community from the threats she thought only existed in her nurse’s most frightening tales.

13. The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

As Sherlock Holmes himself would probably encourage as the weather gets chilly, dedicate a few hours to getting as comfortable as possible, putting your feet up, and solving some peculiar crimes.

I think Holmes and Watson are the perfect companions for warm winter reading inside from the cold.

This Barnes and Noble hardcover is my favourite edition of The Complete Sherlock Holmes, as well as the perfect easy-read classic book to read in winter.

14. Northern Lights by Philip Pullman

My reading of His Dark Materials series as a child was very much like my Harry Potter and Chronicles of Narnia reading experiences: magical, warming, and otherworldly.

In my rereads as an adult I’ve picked up on a lot I missed as a child – and it’s definitely not a lighthearted, superficial read.

That said, with its polar bears, aurora, and snow leopards, it’s still the perfect book to read in winter.

15. A Winter Book: Selected Stories by Tove Jansson

Following the success and blissful reading of The Summer Book, A Winter Book features thirteen winter stories from Tove Jansson’s first book for adults, The Sculptor’s Daughter, plus seven of the beloved Finnish writer’s most cherished later stories.

Philip Pullman describes Tove Jansson’s writing here as: “as smooth and odd and beautiful as sea-worn driftwood…” It’s the perfect collection to retreat into in winter.

What books will you read this winter? For more of the best winter books, head over to my collection of the best cozy books to read on a quiet night in, or my list of the best Christmas books to get you in the festive spirit.

The post 15 of the best books to read on cozy winter days appeared first on Tolstoy Therapy.

“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! — When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.”

I’ve written before about the best feel-good classic novels of all time, but that leaves so many uplifting books that have been published more recently.

For this post, I thought about my favourite feel-good novels (and some memoirs) from the last few years. Some books are lighthearted and funny, others are wholesome comfort reads.

Here’s my selection of the best feel-good books to lift your spirits when you’re feeling low, remind you of the good in the world, and bring a smile to your face.

The best feel-good books for happy reading

1. A Place Like Home by Rosamunde Pilcher

If you’re looking for a feel-good cozy book, start with Rosamunde Pilcher’s writing. She’s best known for the timeless classic The Shell Seekers, but this heartwarming collection of short stories (published in 2021) also offers a perfect slice of romance, warmth, passion, and indulgence.

Sarah Maine, bestselling author of Beyond the Wild River shared, “An antidote to challenging times, this set of stories from a much-loved author has a comforting, nostalgic feel – cosy and reassuring – with Rosamunde Pilcher’s signature insight into domestic hopes and yearnings, taking us into a gentler world.”

2. The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller

This full-hearted novel is an easygoing read about Olivia Rawlings, a big-city pastry chef extraordinaire who discovers the true meaning of home when she escapes from the city to the most comforting place she can think of – the idyllic town of Guthrie, Vermont.

This is meant to be just a short getaway, until Margaret Hurley, the cantankerous owner of the Sugar Maple Inn, offers Livvy a job. Broke and not sure what else to do next, Livvy accepts – and realises that the most unexpected twists and turns in life can be the best things to happen to you.

3. The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett is one of the very best authors for feel-good reading. In a thread about the funniest books, one Reddit user recommended: “Anything from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. I must have re-read some of his books 5 times and yet I still find something new that makes me laugh out loud each time.”

Here’s a useful reading order guide for the Discworld novels to make it easier to jump into the books. The Colour of Magic is a great place to start immersing yourself in the Discworld – a magical world not totally unlike our own, somewhere between thought and reality.

4. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

An instant bestseller for 2022, this feel-good book about an unlikely friendship between a widow and a giant Pacific octopus is perfect for fans of books like A Man Named Ove.

After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, ever since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

It’s here at the aquarium that Tova meets curmudgeonly Marcellus, an octopus who knows more than anyone can imagine… and deduces exactly what happened on the night that Tova’s son disappeared. Now he needs to put his intelligence to use and figure out how to show Tova the truth before it’s too late.

5. The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

One of the true masterpieces of Japanese fiction, Yoko Ogawa turns mathematics into an elegant art in this beautiful, unpretentious and clever novel.

Each morning, the Professor and the Housekeeper are introduced to one another. Although the Professor’s mind is alive with mathematical equations, his short-term memory is a mere eighty minutes after a car accident threatened his life and ended his academic career some years ago.

With the clever maths riddles he devises – based on the Housekeeper’s birthday, her shoe size, or other little details – the two are brought together in a beautifully geeky classic love story that forms a bond deeper than memory.

6. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

Described by Martha Wells as “an optimistic vision of a lush, beautiful world”, Hugo Award-winner Becky Chambers’s delightful Monk and Robot series gives us hope for the future (which, quite frankly, a lot of us could do with).

If you love Studio Ghibli-inspired books, I’d recommend grabbing a copy of A Psalm for the Wild-Built. In its unique world, it’s been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness, laid down their tools, wandered together into the wilderness, and faded into myth and urban legend.

But one day, the life of a tea monk is turned upside down by a robot at their door. And most problematically, the robot wants an answer to the question of “what do people need?”

7. The Penguin Lessons by Tom Michell

Tom Michell is in his twenties, free as a bird, and seeking adventure in South America around his teaching position in a prestigious Argentine boarding school.

What happens next is a little less ordinary: he rescues a penguin from an oil slick, and the penguin (who is soon named Juan Salvador) refuses to leave his side…. and returns back to school with him. It’s a delightfully uplifting and lighthearted memoir.

8. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

I read The Rosie Project all the way back in 2013 after it was published, and I still have such fond memories of this clever, warm, and delightfully weird love story.

Don Tillman is a brilliant yet completely socially inept professor of genetics who’s decided it’s time he found a wife. So he designs the Wife Project to find his ideal candidate, starting with a sixteen-page survey to filter out the drinkers, the smokers, and the late arrivers.

Unfortunately, Rosie Jarman drinks, smokes, and arrives late. She should be immediately disqualified as a candidate. And yet, somehow, Don is swept into the whirlwind that is Rosie as they collaborate on her own project to find her biological father.

9. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

As one of the most popular feel-good books of all time, this beautifully silly classic follows the galactic (mis)adventures of Arthur Dent, beginning one Thursday lunchtime when the Earth gets unexpectedly demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass.

10. All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot

In my selection of the best feel-good classic books, I knew I had to include All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot. The Yorkshire vet’s memoirs have entranced generations of animal lovers since they were published, and they’re just as heartwarming today.

In this sequel, it’s wartime and James is training as an RAF pilot in bustling London. He’s far from the rolling hills, moody cattle, and curmudgeonly farmers of his day job as a vet in the Yorkshire Dales. He misses his dog, but most of all he misses his wife, Helen, who’s pregnant with their first child.

The questions of whether he’ll go to war and when he’ll get home are serious, but with its reflections of the land he loves and of friends old and new, this wonderfully cozy book is charming, uplifting, and characteristically funny.

11. The No. 1 One Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

In a Reddit thread about the best feel-good books, user bprflip shares: “When someone asks for a male-author-who-can-actually-write-a-female-lead, this book lands. It’s about someone getting by and making the world better, in incremental yet personal ways”.

If you enjoy following the investigations of Precious Ramotswe, Botswana’s premier lady detective, you’re in luck: this is the first in a series of twenty-three books by Alexander McCall Smith.

12. Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

I included TJ Klune’s most popular book, The House in the Cerulean Sea, in my list of the most wholesome books. This more recent release is a warm hug of a book for troubled times, perfect for fans of the feel-good hit A Man Called Ove or NBC’s The Good Place.

Wallace spends his life at the office, working and correcting colleagues. Then a reaper collects him, and he’s dead. Even after death, he refuses to make time for fun and friends, but as he drinks tea and eats scones with Hugo, the owner of an unusual tea shop, he wonders if he should do things differently.

With just one week until he must pass through the door to the other side, Wallace sets about living a lifetime the right way.

13. Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

Okay, so bear with me. This cozy feel-good book is about an Orc Warrior who opens a coffee shop. It’s a fun, incredibly lighthearted, and comfy read about following your dreams into new and unfamiliar places. It’s slice-of-life meets modern fantasy, and that turns out to be delightful.

Genevieve Gornichec, author of The Witch’s Heart, writes: “Take a break from epic battles and saving the world. Legends & Lattes is a low-stakes fantasy that delivers exactly what’s advertised: a wholesome, cozy novel that feels like a warm hug. This is my new comfort read.”

14. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Though Enzo cannot speak, he understands everything that happens around him as he bears witness to the story of his human family, observes how they nearly fall apart, and manages to bring them back together.

With humour and heartwarming dedication, and despite what he sees as his own limitations as a dog, Enzo comes through heroically to preserve the Swift family in this wholesome feel-good book.

15. The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman

From the bestselling author of The Bookish Life of Nina Hill, The Garden of Small Beginnings manages to be funny and heartwarming but also thoughtful and poignant.

As an intimate journey of a young mother moving on from grief, this quirky novel unlocks the door to Lilian Girvan’s life as an illustrator, parent, sister, budding gardener, and widow as she puts the pieces of her life back together.

The post 15 of the best feel-good books to brighten your day appeared first on Tolstoy Therapy.

To offer a nudge in the right direction, I’ve been thinking of some of the most heartwarming books to help you step away from the anxieties of the world and enjoy some time for self-care, lighthearted writing, and uplifting stories.

Which of these wholesome books have you already read, and which ones can you add to your reading list?

Wholesome books to warm your heart and soothe your soul

1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Pick up this classic and remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German occupation that’s written with warmth and humour as a series of letters. It’s such a wholesome and uplifting celebration of the written word and human connection.

2. The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse by Charlie Mackesy

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” asked the mole. “Kind,” said the boy. In this beautifully illustrated and comforting story, Charlie Mackesy weaves the tale of a curious boy, a greedy mole, a wary fox, and a wise horse. These characters find themselves together traversing uncertain ground while sharing their greatest fears and biggest discoveries about vulnerability, kindness, hope, friendship, and love.

I loved listening to the audiobook adaptation that’s read by the author and accompanied by music from Max Richter and Isobel Waller-Bridge as well as soothing wildlife sounds from rural England.

3. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

The four March sisters couldn’t be more different. But with their father away at war, and their mother working to support the family, they have to rely on one another – whether that’s putting on a play, forming a secret society, or accepting and forgiving each other exactly as they are.

Retreat into Louisa May Alcott’s classic wholesome story of four sisters: grown-up Meg, tomboyish Jo, timid Beth, and precocious Amy. For more like this, you might like my list of the best feel-good classics.

4. How to Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals by Sy Montgomery

I adore this book, and it’s one of my top recommendations here on Tolstoy Therapy. How to Be a Good Creature is author Sy Montgomery’s memoir of her life with animals, complete with stunning illustrations and life lessons.

In this welcome reminder of the beauty of life, Montgomery beautifully shares the bond she has grown with pigs, dogs, and even an octopus during her life so far – as well as the plethora of ways they have helped her to be a good creature, too.

5. The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin

Seventeen-year-old Lenni Pettersson lives on the Terminal Ward at the Glasgow Princess Royal Hospital, which at first seems like an unlikely setting for a heartwarming book. But although Lenni has been told she’s dying, she still has plenty of living to do.

At the hospital’s arts and crafts class, she meets the magnificent Margot, an 83-year-old, purple-pajama-wearing, fruitcake-eating rebel, who transforms Lenni in ways she never imagined. This book is a wholesome, brave testament to the power of living each day to the fullest and letting others into our heart.

6. Phosphorescence: On Awe, Wonder & Things That Sustain You When the World Goes Dark by Julia Baird

How do we move forward with life when everything has changed? As Julia Baird explores, when we appreciate just how fragile and fleeting our most treasured feelings can be, it’s possible to access a hidden strength, resilience, and light – or our own source of phosphorescence – that can sustain us in this unpredictable world.

Julia Baird’s intimate study of the phenomenon of phosphorescence is full of wisdom and joy, offering an uplifting and heartwarming roadmap for rediscovering our inner light after the darkest of times. 

7. The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

“It’ll leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy” says Reddit user cargogal20 about The House in the Cerulean Sea. There’s no drama in this uplifting feel-good book (or modern fairytale) about forty-year-old Linus Baker and the orphanage of six dangerous children he’s put in charge of under a highly classified assignment.

8. The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

In The Travelling Cat Chronicles, author Hiro Arikawa gives voice to Nana the cat and his owner, Satoru, as they take to the road to visit three of Satoru’s longtime friends. However, the plan turns out to be different than Nana was led to expect. Along the way – and as the seasons and scenery change as they make their way across Japan – they will learn the true meaning of love, courage, and gratitude.

This gem of a book with Studio Ghibli vibes works its way into your heart as a heartwarming and life-affirming celebration of how the smallest things can provide the greatest joy.

9. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

“Mma Ramotswe had a detective agency in Africa, at the foot of the Kgale Hill. These were its assets: a tiny white van, two desks, two chairs, a telephone, and an old typewriter. There was a teapot, in which Mma Ramotswe – the only lady private detective in Botswana – brewed redbush tea. And three mugs – one for herself, one for her secretary, and one for the client. What else does a detective agency really need?”

Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series is one of the best comfort reads to enjoy again and again. If you’ve got a problem that no one else can help you with, then pay a visit to Precious Ramotswe, Botswana’s only – and finest – female private detective…

10. Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury

This is one of the best “hug in a book” choices for when the world is unpredictable and anxiety-inducing. Dandelion Wine is Ray Bradbury’s fictionalized memoir that harks back to an idyllic small-town summer of 1928, told through the eyes of the colourful characters who inhabit it.

Other wholesome books you might like:

• A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
• Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
• The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• The Penguin Lessons by Tom Michell
• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
• All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot

For more wholesome books, also retreat into these cottagecore books to imagine a simple, cozy life in nature, the most uplifting feel-good books to brighten your day, and the most beautifully written books of all time.

The post 10 of the most wholesome comfort reads for a hug from a book appeared first on Tolstoy Therapy.

After contemplating my favourites, I’ve compiled a list of recommendations to prove that happy and uplifting books don’t necessarily need to be modern and recently published.

But firstly, what even is a classic book? Let’s take a quick look inside Italo Calvino’s 1991 book Why Read the Classics?, in which he outlines fourteen definitions of a “classic”. These include:

6. A classic is a book which has never exhausted all it has to say to its readers.

10. A classic is the term given to any book which comes to represent the whole universe, a book on a par with ancient talismans.

11. ‘Your’ classic is a book to which you cannot remain indifferent, and which helps you define yourself in relation or even in opposition to it.

My classics may well be different from your classics, but at the very least, I hope this list can inspire you to find a few mood-boosting books of your own.

From Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to Kenneth Grahame and Elizabeth von Arnim, these are the classic feel-good books that bring a smile to my face, help me breathe a little deeper, and let me indulge in some lighthearted relaxation.

Which ones have you already read, and which ones can you add to your to-read list?

If you like these books and want to find some more recent feel-good book recommendations too, check out my list of the 10 most uplifting feel-good books to brighten your day.

The best feel-good classic novels of all time

1. Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee

What a book this is. Cider with Rosie is the classic evocative tale of an idyllic childhood in the English countryside, conjuring up evocative memories of life in a remote Cotswold village among the fields, woods, and characters of the place before industrialisation and with the backdrop of war.

“So with the family gone, Mother lived as she wished … Slowly, snugly, she grew into her background, warm on her grassy bank, poking and peering among the flowery bushes, dishevelled and bright as they. Serenely unkempt were those final years, free from conflict, doubt or dismay, while she reverted gently to a rustic simplicity as a moss-rose reverts to a wild one.”

Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee

2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

I can’t read Pride and Prejudice without feeling a little better about myself and the world. I know exactly what’s going to happen, but I still fall in love with the plot more every time. Fall into the world of the Bennett, Darcy, and Bingley families for dancing, ribbons, romance, and horseback rides at dawn.

I love this beautiful hardcover special edition by Fingerprint Publishing that also includes stunning endpapers.

“I am the happiest creature in the world. Perhaps other people have said so before, but not one with such justice. I am happier even than Jane; she only smiles, I laugh.”

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

3. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

Elizabeth von Arnim often features in my bibliotherapy recommendations, and for good reason. The Enchanted April is her uplifting story of a group of London women who find each other—and the castle of their dreams—through a classified ad in a London newspaper one rainy February afternoon.

As this wholesome comfort read continues, these four women escape the miserable English weather for an Italian castle covered in wisteria, where they rediscover their true natures and their joy.

“All the radiance of April in Italy lay gathered together at her feet. The sun poured in on her. The sea lay asleep in it, hardly stirring. Across the bay the lovely mountains, exquisitely different in color, were asleep too in the light; and underneath her window, at the bottom of the flower-starred grass slope from which the wall of castle rose up, was a great cypress, cutting through the delicate blues and violets and rose-colors of the mountains and the sea like a great black sword.

She stared. Such beauty; and she there to see it. Such beauty; and she alive to feel it. Her face was bathed in light.”

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

4. Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome

I stumbled upon a copy of Three Men in a Boat by chance when I was in my teens, reading it with no idea of what to expect. But it’s such a wonderful feel-good novel to escape into for a weekend.

Martyrs to hypochondria and general seediness, J. and his friends George and Harris decide that a jaunt up the Thames is just what they need. But when they set off, they can hardly predict the troubles that lie ahead with tow-ropes, unreliable weather forecasts, and tins of pineapple chunks – not to mention the devastation left in the wake of J.’s small fox-terrier Montmorency.

“Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need – a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing. ”

Three Men in a Boat

5. The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Lift your mood and take some time to unwind with your pick of the four novels and fifty-six short stories about everyone’s favourite consulting detective.

6. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Leafing through the beautifully illustrated pages of The Wind in the Willows is a trip back to childhood for me. As one of the most charming pieces of English literature, let the book’s endearing protagonists – Mole, Mr. Toad, Badger, and Ratty – enchant you, no matter your age.

7. All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot

“James Herriot has been my comfort author for my whole life, everything is so cozy, warm, and light”, writes yeetcapsule on Reddit. Meet the world’s most beloved veterinarian – and his menagerie of heartwarming, funny, and tragic animal patients – as he takes up his calling and discovers the realities of veterinary practice in rural Yorkshire.

“At times it seemed unfair that I should be paid for my work; for driving out in the early morning with the fields glittering under the first pale sunshine and the wisps of mist still hanging on the high tops.”

All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot

8. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Tolkien’s universe isn’t always light-hearted and fun, but it’s always magical. If I need a break or change of scenery, reading the first lines of The Hobbit is always a good idea.

“Where there’s life there’s hope.”

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

9. The BFG by Roald Dahl

How can you read Roald Dahl and not feel a little brighter and happier? I wasn’t sure whether to keep it on this list of classic literature, but for me, at least, it’s a classic (and Roald Dahl had such a huge influence on children’s literature.)

10. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Reddit user Jon-Umber describes Anne of Green Gables as “a relentlessly optimistic novel full of uplifting moments.” This feel-good classic follows Anne Shirley, a precocious Canadian orphan, who’s adopted by a brother and sister who soon change their mind about sending her back.

This much-loved classic explores all the vulnerability, expectations, and dreams of a child growing up, finding a place she can belong, and stepping into herself.

“Dear old world’, she murmured, ‘you are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you.”

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

You might also like:

• 10 of the most uplifting feel-good books to brighten your day
• The most wholesome comfort reads for a hug from a book

The post 10 of the best feel-good classic books to lift your mood appeared first on Tolstoy Therapy.

Sydney Smith, wit and provider of good advice.

Judging by the advice listed (which includes feel-good fiction, blazing fires, and not planning further than dinner time – my favourite), Smith clearly had a knack for cheering up a friend, and his advice hasn’t lost much value since.

The letter begins, “Dear Lady Georgiana, Nobody has suffered more from low spirits than I have done—so I feel for you.”

To further my fondness for Sydney Smith, he also wrote beautifully about the virtues of tea and coffee in his memoirs (1855):

“Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea? how did it exist? I am glad I was not born -before tea. I can drink any quantity when I have not tasted wine; otherwise I am haunted by blue-devils by day, and dragons by night. If you want to improve your understanding, drink coffee. Sir James Mackintosh used to say, he believed the difference between one man and another was produced by the quantity of coffee he drank.” (A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith. London: Forgotten Books, 2013. p. 436)

If you have the wonderful Lists of Note collection, be sure to find a Post-it note to mark the page (it’s List 079).

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