something to lift your spirits

[MattK]

Hi! I've been feeling a little down recently and I'm looking for some books to lift my spirits. Any recommendations. I would prefer some British authors but it's not that important. Any topic would do - just something optimistic and/or funny, etc. Thank you for your help.

[Onion Budgie]

Hi Matt,

 

It would help if you could let us know your preferred style of humour: dark, surreal, dry, punny, silly, etc.  We'll be able to give you better recommendations that way.

 

Here are a few to start with anyway:

 

Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (War Memoirs #1) by Spike Milligan.  Surreal and silly, laugh-out-loud funny.

Augustus Carp Esq. by Henry H. Bashford.  Dry, silly, and tongue-in-cheek.

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh.  Drawn in a crude comic style, but very funny and relatable.  (A couple of excellent chapters on depression, btw.)

 

 

[MattK]

1 hour ago, Onion Budgie said:

 

It would help if you could let us know your preferred style of humour: dark, surreal, dry, punny, silly, etc.  We'll be able to give you better recommendations that way.

 

Anything that wouldn't be too difficult to grasp by a non-native speaker. I've read Adolf Hitler and found it quite entertaining, on the other hand, I had some problems with P.G.  Wodehouse;s books. Perhaps you need to be an English person to enjoy his books and understand his sense of humor. I'll try Carp and Brosh. Thanks for your help.

[itsmeagain]

Try Saki.

The collected Saki.

[Bel-ami]

How about H.E. Bates' Larkins family series - a light-hearted look at rural English life in by-gone days. The Darling Buds of May, Oh To Be in England, When The Green Woods Laugh, A Breath of French Air and A Little of What You Fancy. Uplifting and fun.

 

Or maybe try the Mapp & Lucia books by E.F. Benson? Again maybe old-fashioned, but a comedic look at the world, away from the modern pressures of life today.

 

Good luck.

[MattK]

Once again thank you all for your recommendations. On Wednesday I'm going to my local library which has a large collection of English books and I hope they will have some of the books you mentioned. If not, I'll try to buy some e-books on Amazon.