Feel Good Friday - What book makes you feel good?

[James O_Connor]

Happy Friday Community!!

I don’t know about you but for me it’s been a looooooong week, so I’m very ready for the Feel Good Friday vibes!

Last weekend it was Father's Day here in Australia, and after a great breakfast at a local cafe, we went to one of my happy places: an independent book shop. There’s something about wandering around the shelves of books that fills me with happy hormones - I think it’s a combination of that new book smell, the excitement of finding something new to read, and the wonder at all the stories and knowledge stored in these little packages of printed paper.

Even though I already have a huge pile of books at home to get through, I ended up buying another new book. I personally blame the author Ryan Holiday - he says "I promised myself a long time ago that if I saw a book that interested me I’d never let time or money or anything else prevent me from having it,” and I’ve very much fallen into the same way of thinking, which has led to finding some of my absolute favourite books.

I’m generally more of a non-fiction reader, and top of my faves list is 21 Questions for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari which I return to regularly. But when I just want to escape the real world, I can’t go past Stephen King - there are many nights when I’ve stayed up into the wee small hours with one of his books saying to myself “just one more page...just one more page…”

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Do you have a favourite book which has made a huge impression on you, or that you return to again and again? Or a favourite author who you can never get enough of? 

[Amanda Barber]

Thank you so much for posting this week's Feel Good Friday, @James O_Connor - this has been SUCH a long week for me, too!

I'm mostly into fiction. Some recent reads I really enjoyed were Demon Copperhead, The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife, The Book of Lost Names, and Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books. 

Not sure if this has been updated, but I feel like it's been trending even further down: Roughly a quarter of American adults (23%) say they haven’t read a book in whole or in part in the past year, whether in print, electronic or audio form, according to a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults conducted Jan. 25-Feb. 8, 2021. Source. 

[Amanda Barber]

Oh, and happy belated Father's Day, @James O_Connor 🤗

[James O_Connor]

Thanks @Amanda Barber! 😊

Those books look really interesting! I'll check them out, thanks!

That's a depressing statistic and looking around it seems to be a widespread issue - reading rates in Australia are going the same way. Hopefully we can turn it around though. My daughter absolutely loves books and spends most of her time swapping books with all her friends who love reading too, so there's hope for the future!

[Anahit Sukiasyan]

I really connected with what you wrote, @James O_Connor! I also have a big bookshelf at home that I keep adding to, and I’m a huge book lover. I even run a small book club community where we regularly meet up to discuss different authors and their works, so I was especially excited to see this topic, thank you for sharing it!

Just like you, I never hold myself back from buying a new book that catches my eye, I tell myself it’s always a good investment. 😊 My all-time favorite author is Erich Maria Remarque, and his books Three Comrades and All Quiet on the Western Front have left a lasting impression on me.

Books really are one of the best “happy places,” whether it’s in a cozy bookshop or right at home surrounded by shelves of stories.

[James O_Connor]

That's so great to hear @Anahit Sukiasyan! I love the fact that you run a book club - I've always wanted to join one but I tend to have several books on the go at any one time so it sometimes takes me a while to finish a book.

All Quiet on the Western Front has been on my list of books to read forever - it sounds like I might have to move it to the top of the list! Thanks for the recommendation. I discovered some regular second-hand book sales in my area a few years back so I always get along to those and come home with piles of books!

[Anahit Sukiasyan]

I totally get that, @James O_Connorhaving multiple books on the go at once is a challenge I can relate to! I think that’s part of the fun though, always having a few worlds to dive into.

All Quiet on the Western Front is definitely worth moving up the list, I hope you enjoy it when you get to it! Those second-hand book sales also sound amazing!

[Barbara Szczesniak]

Thanks for this post, @James O_Connor. I also am an avid reader and read every single day. I guess those statistics may be true, but I can't relate. Even when I lived by myself in another country, I always told people that I was never lonely—whenever I open a book, I am surrounded by people, some of whom may become friends I hate to say goodbye to at the end.

One of my favorite books is A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, along with the other books in the series. I first read this when I was 7 or 8, and I have bought the books twice and read the series at least 7 times over the years. These characters are definitely old friends that I like to revisit.

[James O_Connor]

I can definitely relate to that feeling @Barbara Szczesniak - when I moved from the UK to Australia I came with a small pile of books and that was all I needed! Having both new and familiar worlds to explore or return to really helped me ease into a new life.

I've heard a lot of good things about A Wrinkle in Time and I'm always looking for new books to read together with my daughter, so I'll grab a copy! Thanks for the recommendation.

[Katherine Jones]

I work from home, and my office is set up in my 'reading room', which is literally wall to wall books.  When I was younger I used to  to re-read "Jane Eyre" on the regular because of the strength and perseverance of her character.  I've always thought she was the first feminist.  I'm currently in the middle of "Station Eleven", and just recently purchased "It's The End of the World As We Know It", a large collection of short stories all based on Stephen King's "The Stand".   I've only read the first story, so far, and hope to really get into it this weekend.  

[James O_Connor]

My home office is where all my books live too @Katherine Jones, although I can't quite claim wall-to-wall. I have a floor to ceiling bookshelf behind me that always gets comments from people on video chats - most don't believe it's real.

I hadn't heard of that short story collection, thanks Katherine - I'll track it down! It will be interesting to see what other authors can do with that world and its characters.