Read this, Marie Kondo: 30 books guaranteed to spark joy
What makes a book spark joy? The empress of tidying, Marie Kondo, sparked controversy earlier this year when her thoughts on book collections, first laid out in her 2014 bestseller, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying, appeared again in her new Netflix show, Tidying with Marie Kondo. Kondo has said that, for her, 30 books is the ideal amount to have in her personal library but that this might vary for other people.
With the dark days of winter still dragging on, and the uncertainties of Brexit over the horizon, sparking joy is something we can all do with. A quick poll made it clear that what sparks joy for one person (Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes) is too sad for someone else, who would rather leaf through a cookbook filled with stories (Midnight Chicken by Ella Risbridger).
So for simplicity’s sake, this list consists of books that will leave you feeling better than when you found them. Many come from wider series – they may not always be the first instalments but are each guaranteed to be excellent joy-givers. And if you aren’t convinced, it’s worth taking your own books out again, and touching each one to see what feeling it gives you. You might be surprised.
1. The Code of the Woosters by PG Wodehouse
The whole of this list could be Wodehouse – or Pratchett, or Heyer, etc etc – but with that very much not being part of the plan, this delicious novel will have to serve as the perfect book. Ostensibly based around Aunt Dahlia’s lust for a particular silver cow creamer, it takes in mismatched love affairs, blackmail, and the devilish Roderick Spode, leader of the fascist “Black shorts” (“By the time Spode formed his association, there were no shirts left.”)
2. The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer
Any thoughts of Regency women being relegated to fluttering fan-wavers is thrown out within the first chapter of this delightful romp, as Lady Ombersley is asked to watch over her brother’s “little Sophy” and marry her off. “Little Sophy” surprises the house, and society, by being extremely tall, confident, outgoing and entirely capable of organising her own business – and those of the household in which she has landed.
3. Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
As traumatic as it is to only choose one Pratchett, this first entry in his Guards sub-series encompasses everything that is brilliant about his writing: terrific characterisation and plotting, a completely believable world, and new details that come up with each re-reading. Thirty years after it was published, the story of dwarves, dragons and good police work remains fresh, sharp, and incredibly funny.
4. Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
The story of three unrelated orphan girls who are collected by an elderly adventurer as babies, brought to London, and raised – when said adventurer, Great Uncle Matthew, disappears off again – in a small family as the Fossil children remains utterly delightful. The girls’ talent on the stage helps to keep the household from ruin, and allows them to grow up and find their paths in life, with help from an assortment of magnificently haughty teachers en route. The BBC’s superb 1975 adaptation starring Joanna David and Angela Thorne lives on on YouTube.
5. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 ¾ by Sue Townsend
It’s a draw between Mole and Molesworth for most entertaining school boy (honourable mention to Richmal Crompton’s William Brown0, but Townsend’s gorgeously self-involved poet and aspiring lover just pips it. His achingly slow march towards adulthood and self-awareness, coupled with his oblivious records of what his friends and family are up to, is a treat.
6. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
What did we do to be blessed by David Sedaris? This impeccably-observed collection of essays from 2000 covers the humourist’s upbringing in North Carolina and working in New York, and his move to France with his partner Hugh. One essay focuses on Hugh’s more glamorous upbringing in Africa, which Sedaris almost envies compared to his own, but the delight the reader gets from vignettes such as guitar lessons and aspirations to performance art mean it’s quite entertaining enough. There is a very particular type of Sedaris joy, and this book is smothered in it.
7. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Bryson’s observations about Britain gave us years’ worth of preening, but this, written after his return to New Hampshire, is somewhat unforgiveable even better. His cheery decision to hike the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail with an estranged school friend, an overweight alcoholic who is even less prepared for the endeavour than he, will make any Bank Holiday walk feel like a stroll.
8. Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day by Winifred Watson
Reluctant governess Guinevere Pettigrew is on the brink of destitution when an error in the employment office sends her to the boudoir of Miss LaFosse, rather than to another screaming nursery. This snappy, scrumptious story is a miracle of plot and pacing, and Miss Pettigrew’s 24 hours with Miss LaFosse and her dubious friends brings her back to life and even brings her a beau.
9. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
You think a book can’t possibly be as good as the hype, and then it is. Honeyman’s miraculously good debut novel brings one of modern literature’s truly great characters, with some extremely strong backing. Eleanor Oliphant is a peculiar recluse who drinks through the weekend in order to blot out time alone, and to get through phone calls with her estranged mother. When she is reluctantly drawn into friendship with a work colleague, her life expands, and she blossoms accordingly.
10. The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy set in an alternative universe where people’s souls manifest as animal daemons is one of the most magical and absorbing series of recent times. This middle instalment is where it lifts off into something truly special. In our world, young Will Parry is caring for his ill mother when he accidentally kills an intruder, and discovers a portal to another universe where he meets Lyra Belacqua and her daemon, and joins her on a quest to find a mysterious knife.
11. How To Eat by Nigella Lawson
Reading a cookbook is a very particular sort of pleasure, and Lawson’s comfortable talents make reading How To Eat like walking into the arms of a beaming friend. Years before she was “Nigella”, she was a longstanding restaurant critic, and a journalist, and both her affinity for food and talent for words combine to glorious ends in this guide to identifying good food, and cooking it. It is simply delicious in every way, as is…
12. The Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater
Slater’s Kitchen Diaries series is the perfect counterpart to Lawson’s books, combining food you want to eat, and feel you can cook, with stories that bring the thrill of eating to life in the most thrillingly wholesome fashion. Taking you through a year of what he has cooked and eaten, this is a splendid companion to eating seasonally, and doing so with hundreds of appealing recipes.
13. Pistache by Sebastian Faulks
A collection of Faulks’ peerless parodies from his time on Radio 4’s The Write Stuff, Pistache is as gurgle-inducing as it is merciless. Thus, Kingsley Amis is reimagined using a female narrator; we are all relieved Martin Amis wasn’t in charge of Hogwarts, and American Psycho is given a Jane Austen twist. Dan Brown visiting a cash machine is a particular delight.
14. Rivals by Jilly Cooper
Before turning her hand to novels, Cooper was a journalist and newspaper columnist, and her eye for character and a witty line is as enjoyable as her plots. Her favourite of her novels, Rivals ostensibly focuses on a TV consortium takeover in the West Country, but her characters have far more romancing, cadding and joking to do in between times. For a shorter injection of joy, try one of her romances: Harriet or Imogen are both delightful.
15. Wonder by RJ Palacio
Young Auggie is about to start mainstream school after years of home schooling, and operations that have done little to help his appearance which, we are told, is monstrous. Told from the viewpoints of Auggie’s friends, his sister and Auggie himself, this lovely story is a perceptive novel about kindness and self-respect that leaves you feeling quietly ready to be a better person.
16. Peaches for Monsieur Le Cure by Joanne Harris
The third in Harris’s much-admired Chocolate series (another, The Strawberry Thief, comes out this year) takes the fear of outsiders that was felt in her first book, and sharpens it into racism. A gripping story with a triumphant pay-off, and Harris’s descriptions of Vianne Rocher’s ways with people, chocolate and witchiness are as comforting as they are evocative.
17. Matilda by Roald Dahl
Now a long-running – excellent – musical in London’s West End, Matilda still thrives best in book form. The unbearable cruelty of adults strikes a chord with small children, who are dealing with their own various injustices, but the support of Miss Honey, and Matilda’s own cunning and creativity, teach valuable lessons that continue to be inspiring – even if you don’t possess telepathic powers.
18. The Life Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo
Alright, she tells you that if her book doesn’t spark joy after using it that you should get rid of it! But this warm, calm and deeply competent woman manages something truly extraordinary in getting the reader to examine their possessions, life and brain, and make sure that all three are in sync. Plus, there is something incredibly satisfying about her methods of folding.
19. Love and Rockets by Los Bros Hernandez
This delightful series of stories about a Latin-American community combines magic and mundanity in equal parts. As much fun as the sci-fi and wrestling elements are (and believe me, they are), it’s the love affair between best friends Maggie and Hopey that keeps you coming back for more. This collection is the perfect introduction to the fresh and delightful world drawn up by Gilbert, Jaime and Mario Hernandez.
20. The Princess Bride by William Goldman
This could have been eclipsed by the success of the much-loved film adaptation, but Goldman’s witty, thoughtful and riotous adventure, as Princess Buttercup and her estranged lover are reunited, is easily as splendid within the pages. "I've gotten more responses on The Princess Bride than on everything else I've done put together,” Goldman said. “Something in The Princess Bride affects people."
21. Bossypants by Tina Fey
This comic not-really-a-memoir from the 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live writer reached a vast audience when one essay, ‘A Mother’s Prayer for Her Daughter’ went viral. The wider book is simply superb, filled with spiky, witty details about wrangling America’s biggest comedy shows, and dealing with comedians and executives who wish that women would just be “cute”. "Some people say, 'Never let them see you cry,'” says Fey. “I say, if you’re so mad you could just cry, then cry. It terrifies everyone." An inspiring guide to using humour to make a difference.
22. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The answer to life, a paranoid android, and why one should always travel with a towel – Adams’s “trilogy in five parts” left so many cultural touchstones behind that it’s easy to forget what a incredibly clever joy it is. A book that stemmed from a radio series, and subsequently spawned a TV series, more radio, and a film, this guide as novel enjoys a life of its own.
23. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Adapted into a mawkish cinematic hit, Green’s book has far more wit and flair than ever made it onto the screen. “Cancer kids” Hazel and Augustus slowly fall in love after meeting at a support group, and deal with wanting to lead normal, and deeply sarcastic, lives while living with extreme illness. Green writes teenagers beautifully and thoughtfully, and the power of this book lies in his characters rather than the circumstances in which they find themselves.
24. H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald
A memoir of MacDonald dealing with the recent death of her father by disappearing into training a new goshawk, this exquisite book shines with beauty and offers a fascinating history of The Sword in the Stone writer TH White, whose experience with birds parallels MacDonald’s own in a horrifying fashion.
25. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling
Still squarely a children’s adventure, rather than the more grown-up fare of the later, darker (and brick-sized) books, Chamber of Secrets is a joy from the moment Dobby the house elf smashes a pudding, and Harry and Ron miss their train and drive to school in a flying Ford Anglia.
26. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
An epic on an epic scale, once you commit to Marquez’s magical realism and Macondo, the village in the middle of nowhere that never seems to age, you are drawn into one of the most beguiling stories of all time. In Macondo, Marquez invents his own Eden, and people who are infinitely more accepting of genuine magic than they are technological advancement. Rather like the village, it’s possible to read half this book and feel as though no time has passed at all.
27. Collected Poems by John Donne
There is something wholly renewing about Donne’s poetic rants about women who won’t sleep with him, women who will, and his battles with God – and it does a body good to remember that people weren’t cherubically perfect before 1800.
28. The Complete Short Stories by Katherine Mansfield
Even if you believe (wrongly) that you loathe short stories, Mansfield’s collection will soon correct you. The New Zealand author moved to England to study, became friends with DH Lawrence and Virginia Woolf, and travelled around Europe, taking in scandal and disinheritance along the way. Her stories sparkle, every word in the right place, and a perfect examination of psychology and heartache that leaves you determined to live that bit more.
29. Ma’am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret by Craig Brown
This crisp, almost unbearably funny stride through the life of Princess Margaret (“a nightclub burlesque of her sister”) by Private Eye diarist Brown is the tonic for all that ails you. Part biography and exploration of letters to, from and about her, and part the parodic fantasy that Brown does so expertly in his diary pages, Ma’am Darling manages to be both experiment and a exploration of a life that was equal parts tragic, famous, and monumentally rude.
30. Stories for Christmas by Alison Uttley
The Little Grey Rabbit author sprinkled her magic over the countryside in this glorious collection of wintry stories of small children and even smaller animals, that make wonderful reading at any time of year when the evenings are cold and dark, and it feels as though joy will never return. "[My characters] aren't made up,” she said. “They are real. I don't sit down to write a story, they come.”
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