Today is ‘Blue Monday,’ which is said to be the most depressing day of the year. Christmas is over, January feels like it’s never ending and so some boffins have declared this a very glib day indeed. Of course, I think given what the entire world is going through right now, we can laugh in the face of Blue Monday. You think you’re big and clever, do you? Pfft, we’ve had many a Blue Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday AND Sunday this past year.
If you’re reading this, the chances are you enjoy a good book, so I thought I would recommend a few that have brought a smile to my face in times gone by. They won’t cure the futility a lot of us feeling, but hopefully you can find something that lets your mind refocus for a few hours (and maybe even enjoy a laugh, too?) Good Omens, Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman I have to kick things off with one of my favourite fantasy books! This follows an angel named Aziraphale and a demon named Crowley as they wait for the Antichrist to bring on Armageddon. The Antichrist in question is also an eleven-year-old boy living in an idyllic English village. It may not sound like the chirpiest of plots but in the hands of Pratchett and Gaiman it is a joyous ride from start to finish due to their brilliantly bonkers characters and equally mad plot. It’s an easy read that’s pure escapism (I also recommend the Amazon Prime show after you’ve read the book; it’s genuinely one of the best adaptations I’ve ever seen.) How to Build a Girl, Caitlin Moran This book tells the story of teenager Johanna Morrigan as she navigates growing up and deciding what type of person she wants to be during the early 1990s. She lands herself a job as a writer at a music magazine in London and in her quest to be a grown up starts losing the parts of her that make her so wonderful. I think this a story we can all relate to and I’ve never read a book that handles this topic so accurately or hilariously, particularly for women. The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared, Jonas Jonasson Let’s be honest, with a title like that you know this book is going to be barmy. Once the aforementioned elderly male, Allan Karlsson, escapes from his care home in his slippers he goes on an adventure that sees him travel across Sweden, gathering a band of delinquents along the way. The characters in this book are wonderful caricatures and it also turns out that Allan was part of many of the great moments of the twentieth century, which makes for a really fun read. Daisy Jones and the Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid This isn’t a light-hearted read as it deals with the very serious issue of addiction, however, I’m including it because if that isn’t triggering for you then I think the hedonistic, rock star storylines that litter this book are just the kind of escapism we need right now. The book is written as an exposé on the reasons why the eponymous band split up in the late seventies. Jenkins Reid creates such a vivid world filled with the kind of rock star tantrums, rifts and craziness that have littered tabloid headlines for decades that it’s easy to get lost in it and believe that this is a real band. As someone who truly believes she was born in the wrong decade, it genuinely upsets me that I wasn’t in Daisy Jones and the Six. The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion I read this years ago and the feeling of general loveliness that it gave me has still stuck with me. Don Tillman is a genetics professor and has never gone on a second date; he sees the world differently to most and that’s one of the best things about him. He decides to embark on ‘The Wife Project’ and approaches dating as if it was a science experiment so, as I’m sure you can imagine, there are many funny episodes in this book. He meets Rosie, who is pretty much his opposite in every way (I know, it’s a trope, but go with it) and teaches him that not everything in life needs to be predicated, measured and specific. If you need something uplifting from start to finish, I definitely recommend this.
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