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.
The Queen and I by Sue Townsend
$19.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction
In the not-too-distant future, a radical government has come to power in Great Britain and the Royal family has been moved...to a housing estate in Leicester. For the first time, the Royals have to live as ordinary people and they find the experience baffling and frightening, but ultimately enriching. S ...Show more
The Fix by Nick Earls
$19.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction
In need of some quick cash when he returns to Brisbane after years in London, Josh whores himself to his brother's PR firm and inadvertently becomes part of 'the fix'. Josh went to London with investigative journalism on his mind, but he carved out a reputation as a fixer instead and mastered the art of ...Show more
Time of Love and Tartan (44 Scotland Street #12) by Alexander McCall Smith
$19.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction | Series: 44 Scotland Street Ser.
The latest installment of Alexander McCall Smith's perennially popular and irresistibly charming 44 Scotland Street series. When Pat accepts her narcissistic ex-boyfriend Bruce's invitation for coffee, she has no idea of the complications in her romantic and professional life that will follow. Meanw ...Show more
Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
$24.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Non-fiction | Series: Film Tie-in S.
In this unforgettable, and by turns hilarious and harrowing memoir, Augusten Burroughs recounts the bizarre events of his childhood. After his parents' divorce, his mother, a delusional poet, left him in the care of her psychiatrist, a man who might have benefited from a little therapy himself.Suddenly, ...Show more
The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle by Sophie Green
$29.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction | Reading Level: 1 Fiction
In a seaside suburb of Australia, housewife Theresa Howard takes up swimming. She wants to get fit, and she also wants a few precious minutes to herself. So at sunrise each day she strikes out past the waves. From the same beach, the widowed Marie swims. With her husband gone, bathing is the one consta ...Show more
Star-Crossed by Minnie Darke
$19.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction
In this sparkling romantic comedy, a young journalist tampers with her magazine's horoscopes to win her friend's heart - and sets in motion an unpredictable and often hilarious ripple effect . . .When Justine Carmichael (Sagittarius, aspiring journalist and sceptic) bumps into her old friend Nick Jordan ...Show more
Just Like You by Nick Hornby
$32.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction | Reading Level: very good
'Hornby is the poet of the everyday' Observer The person you are with is just like you: same background, same age, same interests. The perfect match. And it is a disaster. Then, when and where you least expect it, you meet someone new. You seem to have nothing in common and yet, somehow, it feels totall ...Show more
Great Escape from Woodlands Nursing Home by Joanna Nell
$32.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction
The joyous, charming and utterly irresistible new novel from the author of mega-bestseller The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village At nearly ninety, retired nature writer Hattie Bloom prefers the company of birds to people, but when a fall lands her in a nursing home she struggles to cope with ...Show more
Dear Girls - Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets and Advice for Living Your Best Life by Ali Wong
$22.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Non-fiction
In her hit Netflix comedy special Baby Cobra, an eight-month pregnant Ali Wong resonated so strongly that she even became a popular Halloween costume. Wong told the world her remarkably unfiltered thoughts on marriage, sex, Asian culture, working women, and why you never see new mum comics on stage but ...Show more
The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Club by Sophie Green
$19.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction
You are warmly invited to . . . The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book ClubSunday 25th June 1978, 10 o'clockRSVP to Sybil Baxter - ask the operator for 'Fairvale'~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 'Brimming with atmosphere and warmth' Jenny Ashcroft, author of Island in the East'An absolute gem of a novel' Bette ...Show more
The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin
$32.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction
An extraordinary friendship. A lifetime of stories. Their last one begins here. 'Full of wisdom and kindness. It is just the kind of book I adore' JOANNA CANNON 'Touching and honest and funny. I completely and wholeheartedly fell for Lenni and Margot' NINA POTTELL Life is short - no one knows that bette ...Show more
Lovebirds by Amanda Hampson
$32.99 AUD
Category: Feel Good Fiction
Not all marriages end in happily ever after... In their youth, lovebirds Elizabeth and Ray had to fight to be together. Their future was full of promise and, blessed with children and careers, their happiness complete. But a twist of fate changed their lives forever. Now in her sixties, Elizabeth is d ...Show more