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.
State of the Union: A Marriage in Ten Parts by Nick Hornby
$19.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction
*THE SIDE-SPLITTING NEW COMIC SHORT FROM ONE OF BRITAIN'S BEST-LOVED WRITERS, SOON TO BE A MAJOR BBC TV SERIES*______________________________ Each week, Tom and Louise meet for a quick drink in the pub before they go to meet their marriage counsellor. Married for years and with two children, a recent i ...Show more
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis, Kingsley Amis
$19.99 AUD
Category: Penguin Spinner Fiction | Series: Penguin Essentials
'His mouth had been used as a latrine by some small creature of the night, and then as a mausoleum. During the night, too, he'd somehow been on a cross-country run and then been expertly beaten up by secret police. He felt bad'. Jix Dixon has a terrible job at a second-rate university. His life is full ...Show more
At Freddie's by Penelope Fitzgerald
$24.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction
From the Booker Prize-winner of 'Offshore' comes this entertaining tale of a chaotic stage school and its singular headmistress. With a new introduction by Simon Callow. It is the 1960s, in London's West End, and Freddie is the formidable proprietress of the Temple Stage School. Of unknown age and prove ...Show more
Ordinary People by Diana Evans
$19.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction | Reading Level: very good
One of The Millions' "Most Anticipated" Books of 2018 Evoking the sharp insight of Little Fires Everywhere and the sweep of NW, an incisive portrait of the bliss and torment of domestic love. Hailed as "one of the most thrilling writers at work today" (Huffington Post), Diana Evans reaches new heights w ...Show more
Kaddish.com by Nathan Englander
$29.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction | Reading Level: near fine
The Pulitzer finalist delivers his best work yet--a brilliant, streamlined comic novel, reminiscent of early Philip Roth and of his own most masterful stories, about a son's failure to say Kaddish for his father. Larry is an atheist in a family of orthodox Memphis Jews. When his father dies, it is his r ...Show more
Better Luck Next Time by Kate Hilton
$29.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction
A brilliant generational family comedy for fans of Curtis Sittenfeld and Nora Ephron, and television's This Is Us, Offspring and Parenthood. An iconic feminist leader, elderly, powerful and respected, is mother to three adult daughters in various stages of self-destruction. Their whole life they've bee ...Show more
The Book of Hidden Wonders by Polly Crosby
$32.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction
'Evocative and enchanting - a future classic and a star in the making' Veronica Henry 'Exquisitely written, stunning, totally unique. Everyone needs to read this' Jessica Ryn 'Magical, beautifully written, evocative, and mysterious, stitched through with a dark thread I wasn't expecting - a wonderful bo ...Show more
Three Women and a Boat by Anne Youngson
$29.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction
A hugely charming, genuinely uplifting story that shows it's never too late for new adventures and unexpected friendship - for fans of HAROLD FRY, DEAR MRS BIRD and THE LIBRARIAN. Meet Eve, who has departed from her thirty-year career to become a Free Spirit; Sally, who has waved goodbye to her indiffer ...Show more
How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran
$22.99 AUD
Category: Penguin Spinner Fiction
Soon to be a major film starring Ladybird's Beanie Feldstein as Johanna Morrigan and Game of Thrones's Alfie Allen as John Kite The phenomenal Number One Sunday Times Bestseller in hardback and now Number One in paperback! My name's Johanna Morrigan. I'm fourteen, and I've just decided to kill myself. ...Show more
The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien
$22.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction | Series: Harper Perennial Modern Classics Ser. | Reading Level: Adult
The Third Policeman is Flann O'Brien's brilliantly dark comic novel about the nature of time, death, and existence. Told by a narrator who has committed a botched robbery and brutal murder, the novel follows him and his adventures in a two-dimensional police station where, through the theories of the sc ...Show more
Everybody Died, So I Got a Dog by Emily Dean
$22.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Non-fiction
The funny, heart-breaking story of love, family and overwhelming loss which led one woman to find hope and healing in the dog she always wanted. 'We would never be a dog family. People with dogs represented every aspect of domesticity that seemed right and functional. We represented everything about fa ...Show more
The Adults by Caroline Hulse
$29.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction
A couple, now separated. Their daughter. Their new partners. One epic Christmas vacation. What could go wrong? This razor-sharp novel puts a darkly comic twist on seasonal favorites like Love Actually and The Holiday. Meet The Adults. Claire and Matt are no longer together but decide that it would be ...Show more