Angst Aversion

[Parakeet]

Hello, I'm new here and looking for some recommendations.

Now, I'm looking for something fairly specific and unusual; namely, happy literature. And for that I have a few criteria:

1) Can't have angst, suffering, depression, etc. Naturally, there must be some conflict so the story isn't boring, but the absolute bare minimum of negative emotion/drama. The tone has to be upbeat.

2) Setting must be "interesting". By interesting, I mean one that makes me want to live there, or at least vacation there. Nothing rural, agrarian, inner city, or war-torn please. Otherwise, anything goes; speculative fiction preferable though.

3) Preferably not comedy or satire. Comedy hopefully is a strong theme, but not the books main focus.

4) Emotions should not be the primary focus. Stuff like romance can occur, but should be a sub-plot.

5) Shouldn't be a "thought-provoking" book. Not that I'm looking for mindless entertainment, not at all, but I'm not looking for philosophical literature. I've done enough introspection for now

6) Should be "mature", as in characters act as rational adults, and it deals with sophisticated concepts; basically, created for an adult audience.


tl;dr Books that make you go not :sad: while you read.

Thanks in advance :flowers:

 

[Eva]

Hi. Welcome to the site. I'll start by answering your question with a question: Can you give us some examples of books you read and liked that fit the above description?

 

[Parakeet]

Well, the reason I'm asking for recs is that finding good, upbeat literature is quite difficult :sad:

Off the top of my head I can think of only one right now that I read recently that would sort of work: Thank You for Smoking

Mostly books just come of as decent to me. Read once and forget.

And one more it help align my tastes; the book I hated the most was Catcher in the Rye. I despised Holden. On second thought, it's probably tied with Kafka's Metamorphosis, also for hating the main character.