15 Apr Feel-Good Reads
Need a Pick-Me-Up? Feeling stressed from being stuck at home? Looking for something to put a smile on your face? May I recommend checking out Fannie Flagg’s feel-good books on Libby?
Fannie Flagg’s Books 
You may not recognize the name Fannie Flagg right away, but you probably do know her most famous work: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. Known for witty dialogue and compelling characters, Flagg’s books have a way of drawing you in and making you relate to her characters and stories regardless of whether you are young or old, come from a big city or the country, or what side of the political spectrum you fall under.
Libby has several of her works for you to check out in both eBook and audiobook formats. These two are my favorites:
The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion
Flagg deftly weaves two stories together. One takes place in 1940s Wisconsin where four sisters run a filling station while the men are off to war. Then the sisters hear about the military’s need for female pilots to fly planes to bases for the soldiers. Doing their parts for the war effort, the sisters embark on adventures they never thought possible. The second story takes place in 2005. Sookie Earle, who has just married off the last of her daughters, is looking forward to enjoying some relaxing time with her husband. But then she receives a package full of items about four sisters who were war-time heroes lost to history. This leads Sookie to uncover not just a piece of history, but also a long-unsolved mystery involving a plane crash and a disappearance. I found myself so pulled into the mystery that I couldn’t put down this book, reading it in one day!
The Whole Town’s Talking
This beautiful and original story follows the lives and loves in the small town of Elmwood Springs, Missouri. We start with town founder Lordor Nordstrom and his mail-order-bride Katrina, and their adventures creating the lively town. They are joined by a cast of colorful characters that includes their neighbors and descendants. I was so taken by this story because of all of the unique and memorable characters. Many times a book with a large cast will run into the problem of having only a few stand-out characters, with the rest either fading into the background or being completely flat characters that you can’t differentiate between. That is not the case this time. Every character felt like a real person. In fact, I was so interested in reading about them and learning about their lives, it felt like this was my own family. And I grinned from ear to ear after finishing it. This is the fourth book in Flagg’s Elmwood Springs series, but you don’t have to read the books in order. This book stands on its own.
Feel-Good Books
We all need a pick-me-up every now and then. This series of Feel-Good reads will help you discover fun authors whose books we hope will leave you just a little bit happier after you finish reading them. This is the first in a series of Reader’s Advisory suggestions. Watch for more of Lauren’s Feel Good Author Suggestions.
Lauren McPike is the Cataloger at PGTPL and also a voracious reader. One of her favorite things to do is recommend books to people. You can find more of her book and author suggestions on PGTPL’s podcast or you can email her through the library’s May We Suggest page to get a customized list of recommendations from her or any of the other staff members featured on the page.
