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Feel-good books / comfort reads
20
items My go-to when life’s a bit much. Warm, kind books where things turn out alright in the end, even if they make you cry on the way.
Sections
3
My favourite 5
Top Series
Main List
My favourite 5
My favourite 5: Feel-good / comfort reads
★★★★★ (5/5) — Ages 12+
Four sisters grow up together through hardship, ambition and love in Civil War-era Massachusetts.
A book that rewards rereading at every age — it changes as you do.
Four sisters grow up together through hardship, ambition and love in Civil War-era Massachusetts.
A book that rewards rereading at every age — it changes as you do.
Little Women - by Louisa May Alcott
★★★★★ (5/5) — Ages 16+
A grumpy widower's rigid routine is upended by the chaotic family who just moved in next door.
Starts prickly, ends with you properly crying happy tears.
A grumpy widower's rigid routine is upended by the chaotic family who just moved in next door.
Starts prickly, ends with you properly crying happy tears.
A Man Called Ove - by Fredrik Backman
★★★★★ (5/5) — Ages 16+
A rigidly routine-bound woman's isolated life is disrupted when she helps a stranger in trouble.
Funny and quietly devastating in equal measure — a book people don't stop recommending.
A rigidly routine-bound woman's isolated life is disrupted when she helps a stranger in trouble.
Funny and quietly devastating in equal measure — a book people don't stop recommending.
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine - by Gail Honeyman
★★★★★ (5/5) — Ages 13+
A sharp-tongued young woman and a proud, wealthy landowner slowly realise they misjudged each other.
Witty and warm two centuries on — still the gold standard of a comfort classic.
A sharp-tongued young woman and a proud, wealthy landowner slowly realise they misjudged each other.
Witty and warm two centuries on — still the gold standard of a comfort classic.
Pride and Prejudice - by Jane Austen
Top Series
Top Series: Feel-good / comfort reads
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
Four unlikely friends in a retirement village meet weekly to solve cold cases — until a real, current murder lands on their doorstep. The series follows them through multiple cosy, twisty mysteries.
Warm, funny and gentle despite the murders — one of the most purely comforting series on the shelf.
Four unlikely friends in a retirement village meet weekly to solve cold cases — until a real, current murder lands on their doorstep. The series follows them through multiple cosy, twisty mysteries.
Warm, funny and gentle despite the murders — one of the most purely comforting series on the shelf.
The Thursday Murder Club series - by Richard Osman
Main List
Main List: Feel-good / comfort reads
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
A botched bank robbery turns into an accidental hostage situation full of oddly lovable strangers.
Funny, tender, and somehow about grief and hope at the same time.
A botched bank robbery turns into an accidental hostage situation full of oddly lovable strangers.
Funny, tender, and somehow about grief and hope at the same time.
Anxious People - by Fredrik Backman
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 14+
A retired orc mercenary opens a coffee shop in a town that's never seen one before.
Low stakes, high comfort — cozy fantasy at its most soothing.
A retired orc mercenary opens a coffee shop in a town that's never seen one before.
Low stakes, high comfort — cozy fantasy at its most soothing.
Legends & Lattes - by Travis Baldree
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
A socially awkward genetics professor designs a scientific questionnaire to find the perfect wife.
Laugh-out-loud funny, and secretly one of the sweetest romances in the genre.
A socially awkward genetics professor designs a scientific questionnaire to find the perfect wife.
Laugh-out-loud funny, and secretly one of the sweetest romances in the genre.
The Rosie Project - by Graeme Simsion
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 15+
An abandoned girl raises herself alone in the marshes of North Carolina.
Lyrical enough to feel like comfort reading even with a murder mystery running through it.
An abandoned girl raises herself alone in the marshes of North Carolina.
Lyrical enough to feel like comfort reading even with a murder mystery running through it.
Where the Crawdads Sing - by Delia Owens
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 14+
A New York writer and a London bookseller build a twenty-year friendship entirely through letters.
Short, charming, and genuinely restorative — a love letter to books themselves.
A New York writer and a London bookseller build a twenty-year friendship entirely through letters.
Short, charming, and genuinely restorative — a love letter to books themselves.
84, Charing Cross Road - by Helene Hanff
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 13+
A working-class girl in early-1900s Brooklyn holds onto hope and books through a hard childhood.
Tender and rooted, not sentimental — comfort earned rather than handed over.
A working-class girl in early-1900s Brooklyn holds onto hope and books through a hard childhood.
Tender and rooted, not sentimental — comfort earned rather than handed over.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - by Betty Smith
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 16+
A mysterious woman opens a chocolate shop in a strict French village right before Lent.
Sensory and cosy, with just enough bite to keep the sweetness from being cloying.
A mysterious woman opens a chocolate shop in a strict French village right before Lent.
Sensory and cosy, with just enough bite to keep the sweetness from being cloying.
Chocolat - by Joanne Harris
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 16+
A retired army major in an English village finds unexpected companionship with the widowed local shopkeeper.
Gentle, funny, and quietly moving — comfort reading for grown-ups.
A retired army major in an English village finds unexpected companionship with the widowed local shopkeeper.
Gentle, funny, and quietly moving — comfort reading for grown-ups.
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - by Helen Simonson
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 14+
Botswana's first female private detective solves gentle mysteries with warmth and common sense.
Cosy in the best sense — kind-hearted mysteries with nothing genuinely frightening in them.
Botswana's first female private detective solves gentle mysteries with warmth and common sense.
Cosy in the best sense — kind-hearted mysteries with nothing genuinely frightening in them.
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - by Alexander McCall Smith
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 14+
A London writer corresponds with residents of Guernsey about the book club they formed during the German occupation.
Told entirely in letters, and somehow both funny and moving at once.
A London writer corresponds with residents of Guernsey about the book club they formed during the German occupation.
Told entirely in letters, and somehow both funny and moving at once.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
A retired man sets off to walk the length of England to save an old friend, with nothing but the clothes he's wearing.
Gentle and unexpectedly moving — a quiet story about second chances.
A retired man sets off to walk the length of England to save an old friend, with nothing but the clothes he's wearing.
Gentle and unexpectedly moving — a quiet story about second chances.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - by Rachel Joyce
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 16+
A woman who has never fit in finds genuine purpose and peace working in a convenience store.
Odd, funny, and strangely comforting — a love letter to finding your own version of normal.
A woman who has never fit in finds genuine purpose and peace working in a convenience store.
Odd, funny, and strangely comforting — a love letter to finding your own version of normal.
Convenience Store Woman - by Sayaka Murata
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
A grieving, cynical bookshop owner's life is turned around when a baby is mysteriously left in his store.
Warm without being saccharine — a genuine favourite among people who love books about books.
A grieving, cynical bookshop owner's life is turned around when a baby is mysteriously left in his store.
Warm without being saccharine — a genuine favourite among people who love books about books.
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry - by Gabrielle Zevin
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
A rigid, socially awkward woman in her sixties takes a job coaching a chaotic children's football team in a run-down town.
Funny and tender in exactly the way Backman does best.
A rigid, socially awkward woman in her sixties takes a job coaching a chaotic children's football team in a run-down town.
Funny and tender in exactly the way Backman does best.
Britt-Marie Was Here - by Fredrik Backman
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 16+
A woman who's just lost her job turns a battered old van into a travelling bookshop in the Scottish countryside.
Cosy, hopeful, and a genuine comfort-read staple in the genre.
A woman who's just lost her job turns a battered old van into a travelling bookshop in the Scottish countryside.
Cosy, hopeful, and a genuine comfort-read staple in the genre.
The Bookshop on the Corner - by Jenny Colgan