As Library Possum's unofficial assistant, I help O Furry One choose his book pick of the week. With the holiday season here, he thought it best that we don't put up depressing or serious readings about people getting murdered, divorced, or committed to insane asylums.
No problem, so I thought. I'll just go to the shelves and find some uplifting books with good old fashioned happy endings. What surprised me was just how few feel good books there really are nowadays. If you want some books that won't drag you down, you have to look to classics like Pride and Prejudice or travel books on countries that are economically sound and without political strife.
What happened? How did we get all the doom and gloom books? They say literature and the arts are a reflection of the world we live in, and if that's the case, we live in a pretty bleak world at the moment.
But what about the Great Depression? The world was pretty bleak then, but literature and movies were happy, filled with plenty of song and dance numbers to help people take a break from their troubles and lift up their spirits. Do people who feel down today want to feel even more down reading serious books? In my very humble opinion, I think we need more happy, uplifting books.
So, looking on the positive side of things, Library Possum has chosen for this week J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, a book about an orphaned boy abused by his aunt and uncle and hunted down by an evil wizard who wants to kill him. Well, at least it has a happy ending.
Do you know of any feel good books? Share them with the rest of us!
Thinking of happy books on the perch.
Interesting! Things that make you go "hmmmm".
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