Feel Good Reads
American humourist P.J. O'Rourke once said, "Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it." But sometimes we simply feel like reading something other than all those worthy and impressive literary award winners - something lighter but still well-written, something wonderfully witty which makes us laugh out loud, or maybe just a cracking good adventure. So for all of you who wander in and tell us that you're looking for something different to read, but you don't really know what you want; or who need something for a friend in hospital; or a book to take on holiday; or just something to escape from the grimness of the nightly news - we are delighted to present a new area in our bookshop entitled "Feel-Good Reads."
Titles include both fiction and non-fiction options - beloved classics from P.G. Wodehouse, Barbara Pym, and Nancy Mitford; hilarious travel narratives from Bill Bryson; amusing essays from David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs; modern Australian classics from John Clarke, Shane Maloney, and Thea Astley; plus many more from Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions to Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole series; from Alexander McCall-Smith's warm and witty Scottish tales to Paul Carter's gripping and often hilarious true-life adventures.
We will also be promoting Feel-Good Friday where we will feature a chosen title from these shelves and posting on facebook, twitter and instagram so keep an eye out for your next great read.
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
$19.95 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction | Series: Penguin Essentials
'We are not like other folk, maybe, but there have always been Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm.' Sensible, sophisticated Flora Poste has been expensively educated to do everything but earn a living. When she is orphaned at twenty, she decides her only option is to descend on relatives - the doomed Sta ...Show more
The Department of Sensitive Crimes (#1 Detective Varg) by Alexander McCall Smith
$19.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction | Series: Detective Varg Ser. | Reading Level: near fine
In the Swedish criminal justice system, certain cases are considered especially strange and difficult, in Malm , the dedicated detectives who investigate these crimes are members of an elite squad known as the Sensitive Crimes Division. These are their stories. The first case: the small matter of a ma ...Show more
Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
$22.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction | Series: Virago Modern Classics Ser.
INTRODUCED BY ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH'I'm a huge fan of Barbara Pym' RICHARD OSMANMildred Lathbury is one of those excellent women who are often taken for granted. She is a godsend, 'capable of dealing with most of the stock situations or even the great moments of life - birth, marriage, death, the succe ...Show more
The Tea Ladies of St Jude's Hospital by Joanna Nell
$22.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction
The heartwarming and hilarious new novel by the author of cherished bestsellers, The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village and The Great Escape from Woodlands Nursing HomeThe Marjorie Marshall Memorial Cafeteria has been serving refreshments and raising money at the hospital for over fifty years ...Show more
Best Foot Forward by Adam Hills
$32.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Non-fiction | Reading Level: near fine
*The Sunday Times Bestseller* A hilarious and honest collection of stories, thoughts, and tales of a life in comedy from the presenter of The Last Leg, Adam Hills Adam Hills is one the UK's best-loved comedians. For thirty years he has been performing stand-up, hosting TV shows and winning the hearts of ...Show more
My Daughter's Wedding by Gretel Killeen
$32.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction
Nora Fawn's daughter, Hope, disappeared four years ago. Nora has never known why. Refusing to answer her mother's calls, emails or texts, Hope maintained contact only with her big sister, Joy. Having once considered her mothering to be the greatest achievement of her life, Nora's spent these Hope-less y ...Show more
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
$19.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Non-fiction
Part memoir, part 'missive-from-the-middle', Yes Please is a hilarious collection of stories, thoughts, ideas, haikus and words-to-live-by drawn from the life and mind of acclaimed actress, writer and comedian Amy Poehler. Yes Please finds Amy riffing on everything from sex and love to motherhood, famil ...Show more
The Brush Off by Shane Maloney Michael Robotham
$12.95 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction | Series: Murray Whelan Novels Ser.
Winner, Ned Kelly Award for Crime Fiction, 1996.Murray Whelan, hero of Stiff, is back at his richly futile best in The Brush-Off. When the body of an artist is fished from the moat outside the National Gallery, Murray - political minder, brushed-off lover and art buff on the make - goes looking for the ...Show more
Towards the End of the Morning by Michael Frayn
$19.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction
Michael Frayn's classic novel is set in the crossword and nature notes department of an obscure national newspaper during the declining years of Fleet Street, where John Dyson dreams wistfully of fame and the gentlemanly life - until one day his great chance of glory at last arrives. Michael Frayn is t ...Show more
Various Pets Alive and Dead by Marina Lewycka
$24.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction
Lentils, free love, radical politics and family truths..."Various Pets Alive and Dead" is the wonderfully funny fourth novel from Marina Lewycka, author of the bestselling "A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian". For twenty years Doro and Marcus lived in a commune, convinced lentils and free love wou ...Show more
The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary
$32.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction | Reading Level: 1 Fiction
A quirky love story from a fresh new talent. The MUST READ book for 2019 'The new Jojo Moyes ... This has all the ingredients of Me Before You' COSMOPOLITAN 'Funny and winning ... a Richard Curtis rom-com that also has its feet firmly planted in real life. A real treat' Stylist Tiffy and Leon share a ...Show more
Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson
$19.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction
A BEAUTIFUL NOVEL ABOUT LATE LOVE AND SECOND CHANCES Full of grace and humanity' Sunday Times ************************************************ When Tina Hopgood writes a letter of regret to a man she has never met, she doesn't expect a reply. When Anders Larsen, a lonely museum curator, answers it, neit ...Show more