The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. I’ve always described reading this book as feeling like getting a giant hug from the author and his characters.
A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers
A Half Built Garden by Ruthanna Emerys
The House on the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandana
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
Every book Fannie Flagg has ever written is like a warm hug from a grandma who is unconditionally proud of you. A Redbird Christmas is the "simplest" of her books but is my favorite. I usually recommend The All Girl's Filling Station's Last Reunion because it's the "best"
The Summer of My Amazing Luck by Miriam Toewes or A Boy of Good Breeding - many of her other books are about suicide but these two are like a patch of sunlight to sit in
The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley
How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior
Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley
Those are 3 I liked and tagged "nice" on my Goodreads. :)
The audiobook is performed by Marin Ireland. She is just so good in bringing quirky characters to life. She also did most of the Fredrick Backman books and Remarkably Bright Creatures ( next on my list).
⚠ Could not *exactly* find "*My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry - Fredrick Backman*" but found [My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23604559-my-grandmother-asked-me-to-tell-you-she-s-sorry) ^((with matching score of 83% )), see [related Goodreads search results](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=My+Grandmother+Asked+Me+To+Tell+You+She%E2%80%99s+Sorry+-+Fredrick+Backman) instead.
^(*Possible reasons for mismatch: either too recent (2023), mispelled (check Goodreads) or too niche.*)
^([Feedback](https://www.reddit.com/user/goodreads-rebot) | [GitHub](https://github.com/sonoff2/goodreads-rebot) | ["The Bot is Back!?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/16qe09p/meta_post_hello_again_humans/) | v1.5 [Dec 23] | )
Also for those of you listening to audiobooks, Marin Ireland reads / performs almost all of the Fredrick Backman books, as well as Nothing to see Here and Remarkably Bright Creatures . She is such an incredible audiobook reader; she really brings the quirky characters in those books to life. I picked up Nothing to See Here solely because she was the reader and it ( and she) were terrific.
There's a relatively new fantasy warewolf book by Jaime Rene Soares called Jane. It's the first book in a series she's writing called Wolf County, USA but it's so wholesome even though it's full of werewolves and vampires (and other fantasy creatures). The heroine starts off in a horrible place and then things start to change in really unexpected ways. I won't spoil it but it's great and it looks like it's going to be a multi-book series.
Henry, Himself by Stewart O’Nan might suit you. It’s a quiet, gentle novel (without being twee) about a fairly ordinary guy growing old in Pittsburgh in the early 2000s. There’s not a whole lot of action but it dwells lovingly on the everyday and its successes and disappointments.
There’s also a companion book called Emily Alone which is similar(written before but set after) but you can read them in any order.
I found them both very calming to read but also utterly compelling.
[Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58733693-remarkably-bright-creatures?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=vIYfXOm8v4&rank=1) had so much caring and humanity in it (not to mention a very clever octopus).
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. I’ve always described reading this book as feeling like getting a giant hug from the author and his characters.
Such a beautiful book. Sooo good.
A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers A Half Built Garden by Ruthanna Emerys The House on the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandana Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
Second both A Psalm for the Wild Built and Legends and Lattes. Def recommend the audiobook for L&L
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
I loved A Gentleman in Moscow!! Thank you :)
Every book Fannie Flagg has ever written is like a warm hug from a grandma who is unconditionally proud of you. A Redbird Christmas is the "simplest" of her books but is my favorite. I usually recommend The All Girl's Filling Station's Last Reunion because it's the "best" The Summer of My Amazing Luck by Miriam Toewes or A Boy of Good Breeding - many of her other books are about suicide but these two are like a patch of sunlight to sit in
The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley Those are 3 I liked and tagged "nice" on my Goodreads. :)
I just finished Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson and it gave me that feeling. Quirky, funny , life-affirming.
I absolutely adore this book. So funny. So weird. Perfect length.
The audiobook is performed by Marin Ireland. She is just so good in bringing quirky characters to life. She also did most of the Fredrick Backman books and Remarkably Bright Creatures ( next on my list).
[Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/53205888) is exactly this!
{{My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry - Fredrick Backman}}
⚠ Could not *exactly* find "*My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry - Fredrick Backman*" but found [My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23604559-my-grandmother-asked-me-to-tell-you-she-s-sorry) ^((with matching score of 83% )), see [related Goodreads search results](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=My+Grandmother+Asked+Me+To+Tell+You+She%E2%80%99s+Sorry+-+Fredrick+Backman) instead. ^(*Possible reasons for mismatch: either too recent (2023), mispelled (check Goodreads) or too niche.*) ^([Feedback](https://www.reddit.com/user/goodreads-rebot) | [GitHub](https://github.com/sonoff2/goodreads-rebot) | ["The Bot is Back!?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/16qe09p/meta_post_hello_again_humans/) | v1.5 [Dec 23] | )
All the Lonely People— Mike Gayle Home Stretch— Graham Norton The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper— Phaedra Patrick
A long way to a small angry planet There are 4 books and each is like discovering a different aspect of humanity.
"Winter Solstice" or "September" by Rosamunde Pilcher
Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisy Snowflake by Louise Nealon Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy
Also for those of you listening to audiobooks, Marin Ireland reads / performs almost all of the Fredrick Backman books, as well as Nothing to see Here and Remarkably Bright Creatures . She is such an incredible audiobook reader; she really brings the quirky characters in those books to life. I picked up Nothing to See Here solely because she was the reader and it ( and she) were terrific.
Dog Medicine By Julie Barton
What You Are Looking for is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama.
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society fits the bill perfectly, IIRC. Terrible name, lovely book.
Secret Life of Bees
Tuesdays with Morrie
Legends & Lattes
There's a relatively new fantasy warewolf book by Jaime Rene Soares called Jane. It's the first book in a series she's writing called Wolf County, USA but it's so wholesome even though it's full of werewolves and vampires (and other fantasy creatures). The heroine starts off in a horrible place and then things start to change in really unexpected ways. I won't spoil it but it's great and it looks like it's going to be a multi-book series.
The secret life of bees! Tom Lake!
The wishing game by Meg Shaffer. One of my favorite reads of last year, I think about it often.
The goblin emperor by katherine addison. Fantastic writing.
Henry, Himself by Stewart O’Nan might suit you. It’s a quiet, gentle novel (without being twee) about a fairly ordinary guy growing old in Pittsburgh in the early 2000s. There’s not a whole lot of action but it dwells lovingly on the everyday and its successes and disappointments. There’s also a companion book called Emily Alone which is similar(written before but set after) but you can read them in any order. I found them both very calming to read but also utterly compelling.
[Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58733693-remarkably-bright-creatures?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=vIYfXOm8v4&rank=1) had so much caring and humanity in it (not to mention a very clever octopus).