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.
Unreliable Memoirs: Unrealiable Memoirs Book 1 by Clive James
$19.99 AUD
Category: Chat10Looks3 Recommendations | Series: Picador Classic | Reading Level: very good
With an introduction by P. J. O'Rourke 'Do not read this book in public. You will risk severe internal injuries from trying to suppress your laughter.' Sunday Times I was born in 1939. The other big event of that year was the outbreak of the Second World War, but for the moment that did not affect me. I ...Show more
Tiny Uncertain Miracles by Michelle Johnston
$24.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction
Miracles are notoriously unreliable. But sometimes, just when they're needed, they turn up - although not always in the form that we expect ... 'A novel luminous with love and hope that will change the way you see the world.' Kathryn Heyman Awkward, hapless Marick is still struggling with the loss o ...Show more
Killing Floor (Jack Reacher #1) by Lee Child
$19.99 AUD
Category: Crime & Mystery | Series: Jack Reacher | Reading Level: very good
"This was the first Jack Reacher novel and with its lean, spare prose it has one of the most intriguing heroes of our times and displays a gift for explosive drama." (Daily Express) Jack Reacher jumps off a bus and walks fourteen miles down a country road into Margrave, Georgia. An arbitrary decision he ...Show more
Cold Comfort Farm: Popular Penguins by Stella Gibbons
$14.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction | Series: Popular Penguins Ser.
A hilarious and merciless parody of rural melodramas and one of the best-loved comic novels of all time, Cold Comfort Farmby Stella Gibbons is beautifully repackaged as part of the Penguin Essentials range.'We are not like other folk, maybe, but there have always been Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm... ...Show more
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
$14.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Non-fiction | Series: Popular Penguins Ser. | Reading Level: very good
My Family and Other Animalsis the bewitching account of a rare and magical childhood on the island of Corfu by treasured British conservationist Gerald Durrell. Escaping the ills of the British climate, the Durrell family - acne-ridden Margo, gun-toting Leslie, bookworm Lawrence and budding naturalist G ...Show more
Vile Bodies: Popular Penguins by Evelyn Waugh
$14.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction | Series: Popular Penguins
In the years following the First World War a new generation emerges, wistful and vulnerable beneath the glitter. The Bright Young Things of twenties Mayfair, with their paradoxical mix of innocence and sophistication, exercise their hedonistic whims and vile bodies in every kind of capricious escapade. ...Show more
Happy Hour by Jacquie Byron
$22.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction
Elizabeth Strout meets Marian Keyes in this wonderful, joyful, funny debut novel from Australian author Jacquie Byron. 'This is really good fun' - Jane Harper 'Thoroughly charming' - R.W.R McDonald, bestselling author of The Nancy's 'Hilarious and poignant' - Mary Moody, bestselling author of Au Revoir ...Show more
The Man with the Silver Saab (#3 Varg) by Alexander McCall Smith
$32.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction | Series: Detective Varg Ser.
Perplexing, unfathomable and perhaps unimportant, the cases that Malmo's Department of Sensitive Crimes take on will test them to their limits. Life - and crime - is not always as it seems for Ulf Varg and the other fearless detectives in Malmo's Department of Sensitive Crimes. There are always surpris ...Show more
All Adults Here by Emma Straub
$22.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction
Astrid Strick has always tried to do her best for her children. Now, they're finally grown up - but you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.Elliot doesn't have any idea who he really is, or how to communicate with his sons. Porter is, finally, pregnant - but feels incapable of rising to the challen ...Show more
Notes from A Small Island by Bill Bryson
$24.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Non-fiction
"In 1995, before leaving his much-loved home in North Yorkshire to move back to the States for a few years with his family, Bill Bryson insisted on taking one last trip around Britain, a sort of valedictory tour of the green and kindly island that had so long been his home. His aim was to take stock of ...Show more
Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls by David Sedaris
$22.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Non-fiction | Reading Level: General Adult
A new collection of essays from the #1 New York Times bestselling author who has been called "the preeminent humorist of his generation" (Entertainment Weekly). From the unique perspective of David Sedaris comes a new collection of essays taking his listeners on a bizarre and stimulating world tour. F ...Show more
Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth
$22.99 AUD
Category: Penguin Spinner Fiction | Series: Vintage Blue
The groundbreaking novel that propelled its author to literary stardom: told in a continuous monologue from patient to psychoanalyst, Philip Roth's masterpiece draws us into the turbulent mind of one lust-ridden young Jewish bachelor named Alexander Portnoy. Portnoy's Complaint n. [after Alexander Portn ...Show more