Books That Make Me Smile

Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is Books Guaranteed to Put a Smile on Your Face. That's a nice happy topic for this godawful time of life in the world. Let's see what I  can find.

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman - All of these books are super sweet and adorable. It's like reading the sweetest, most wholesome teen love story, but gay. Like, it's just amazing.

The Guncle by Steven Rowley - I giggled all the way through this one. Patrick is absolutely hilarious. When you think of a washed-up (oh, excuse me, retired) TV actor who is living in a palace in Palm Springs being bitter about losing the love of his life, but with a sense of humor, this is Patrick. His sister-in-law dies and his brother asks him to take his kids while he goes to rehab. He has no idea how to handle kids, especially not ones grieving the loss of their mother. But he does it with style.

The House In the Cerulean Sea by T. J. Klune - Obviously this will be on the list. The kids are such kids! They may be scary and have ridiculous magical powers, but they are still kids and they still need boundaries and love. Linus starts out as a regular company man and learns that he too needs boundaries and love.

Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson - Really any of Lawson's books can be here. I like to listen to her books on audio because she reads them herself, which just adds so much. I have gotten stares from people in other cars, because I am sitting alone in my car laughing hysterically. The conversations she has with her husband are just... I played one story for my husband and he was ready to nominate the guy for sainthood.

Mimi Lee Reads Between the Lines by Jennifer J. Chow - The cats in this book are the smile-makers. The first book in the series is also smile-worthy. Marshmallow is the main cat and he talks to his owner. He sounds just exactly like you would expect a cat to sound. He is sassy and sarcastic, but also really wants to be loved.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells - Ok. You wouldn't think this sci-fi novella about a security bot who has hacked his own governor module would be funny, but it is. It really is. Murderbot is so done with following orders and dealing with humans. He prefers to watch soap operas all day.

Chicken Thoughts by Sarah Wymer - This book is pretty funny, even though I don't know that much about pet birds. But the reason it really makes me smile is because it was written by one of my favorite shelvers from back in the day. She went to Stanford for college and now lives in the Dallas area and does computery stuff, but also published these comics about birds online. Last year, she got a collection published! I'm so proud.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert - This is a romance which is of course supposed to make you smile, but aside from the witty banter and the happily ever after, I really appreciate the disability representation that is all over this book. Chloe is a larger black woman who has fibromyalgia. As a larger woman with fibromyalgia, I appreciate how well her disability was portrayed. Just magnificent. I felt so seen.

Lumberjanes by Noelle Stevenson - This graphic novel series stars a group of girls at summer camp. They are all kinds and colors. One is even a trans girl. The camp is... different. In each volume, the girls have to handle some paranormal disturbance of one kind or another. Yeti are near neighbors. Some mermaids live in the lake. It's just a good time all around.

So Many Books, So Little Time by Sara Nelson - I have read this book countless times. Nelson gave herself a project to read a book a week and write about it. This book has 26 of those books. I read it when it first came out and Nelson was the editor in chief at Publisher's Weekly. Then she went to O Magazine to be the book editor. Now she is the editorial director at Amazon.

There are 10 books that made me smile. What books make you smile?