book recommendations for paranoiac

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i want something reassuring and warm with a happy ending that's not just lite/fluff for my paranoid friend who's going thru tuff times right now. women protagonists a plus! 'nihilism' strictly forbidden, no creepiness.
she wants something that will make her happy. think: the movie aladdin, apple juice, houses full of people

― jeremy jordan (cruisy), Thursday, 5 February 2004 15:11 (twenty-two years ago)

marianne keyes' books always make me happy if i'm feeling down, but they are pretty trashy so if you don't want lite/fluff, then maybe this is not the place to look.

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Thursday, 5 February 2004 15:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Richard Brautigan? No there's always a sadness to his stories.
Arthur Bradford's Dogwalking is an excellent collection of short stories, but some of them might be considered creepy, but I think they're very sweet.

― Huckadelphia (Horace Mann), Thursday, 5 February 2004 15:18 (twenty-two years ago)

She should try Leonora Carrington, a surrealist writer. Light-hearted and funny surrealist fairytales, with many female protagonists. Carrington's own story of her escape from madness - Down Below - is pretty good, too.

― Kerry (dymaxia), Thursday, 5 February 2004 15:36 (twenty-two years ago)

If it's a large book, make sure you cut some eye-holes in it before you give it to her.

― jazz odysseus, Thursday, 5 February 2004 18:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Search : anything by Fannie Flag. "Fried Green Tomatoes" was her commercial breakthrough, but she has a few others. The writing (or storytelling, I should say) is actually quite good...

― andy, Thursday, 5 February 2004 18:15 (twenty-two years ago)

ah. then Philip K Dick would probably NOT be a good idea here...

― Kingfish Funyun (Kingfish), Thursday, 5 February 2004 18:15 (twenty-two years ago)

DO NOT SEARCH:
Narapoia -- a SF short by Alan Nelson

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 5 February 2004 18:29 (twenty-two years ago)

"Northanger Abbey" by Jane Austen - light, short, sweet, funny and female.

― Markelby (Mark C), Thursday, 5 February 2004 18:40 (twenty-two years ago)

http://ilx.wh3rd.net/newquestions.php?board=54

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 5 February 2004 18:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Anne Tyler would be a good choice. More bittersweet than completely happy, but 'Ladder of Years' and 'Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant' are mostly fairly cheerful

― Joe Kay (feethurt), Thursday, 5 February 2004 18:46 (twenty-two years ago)

I was wondering about this last year when I had to read all horribly depressing books for English so my mom bought me Wind, Sand, and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. It's really beautiful and inspiring and not at all fluffy. (Your friend may end up deciding to be a pilot for a week, but still.)

Also The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth is the funniest book I've read in years. It's historical fiction or something and it's really long and really excellent and you can't NOT be cheered up by it.

― Maria (Maria), Thursday, 5 February 2004 19:50 (twenty-two years ago)

God, I can't think of anything at all except for Oscar Wilde's chidren's stories, and they're pretty sad really. Sherlock Holmes for pure escapism? I never read happy books ):

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 5 February 2004 19:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Moo. Mins. (but maybe not the last book)

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 5 February 2004 19:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Wait - Ant & Bee Go Shopping

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 5 February 2004 20:01 (twenty-two years ago)

hmm. what about "The Kid" by Dan Savage? it's about his(& his partner's) efforts to adopt a kid, and has some massively funny parts.

― Kingfish Funyun (Kingfish), Thursday, 5 February 2004 20:07 (twenty-two years ago)

the secret service by wendy walker

― michael bott, Thursday, 5 February 2004 23:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Wodehouse is nice for anti-paranoia, lots of chuckles and no unpleasant surprises.

― Pious Twin (abennett), Friday, 6 February 2004 06:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Tom Robbins would be great if she's not put off by flagrant sexuality. I'd recommend Even Cowgirls Get the Blues probably...female protagonist, humor, empowerment themes, whooping cranes, happy ending, etc.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 6 February 2004 15:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Kind of title that makes me post 'Kafka' or 'Graham Greene'.

― Enrique (Enrique), Friday, 6 February 2004 15:33 (twenty-two years ago)

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