books that will make you smile!!

hello everybody today I'm going to be recommending some books that will make you smile it's a crazy time biggest understatement of the century um I'm not even gonna go into everything that is going on because there are so many things but because of that I like to read books sometimes to make me feel happy and to make me feel like I can just escape my reality for a little while I think that's a super valid reason to read just to escape so I have a very eclectic strange pile of books here but these are all books that made me really happy made me smile or made me laugh and I really recommend these books if you yourself are feeling really overwhelmed and just want a way to read something nice just just something nice damn it so in no particular order let's get started let's I don't even know where to begin this really is a very strange pile I'm gonna start with this one the prints and the dressmaker by Jen Wang this is a graphic novel about a dressmaker both of the characters seem to be like 20 years old or something um a dressmaker who gets hired by the Prince of HuR you kind of get this vibe that they're living it probably says it it probably says it Paris Paris the prince of Paris no the prince of France has hired this dressmaker to make him dresses because he dresses in drag and will then go to parties and events dressed in drag and so it's about this really beautiful relationship that builds between these two friends and about identity and it is so touching it's very heartwarming the colors are very comforting and the end is very beautiful okay on to the next one Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard buck I'm telling you this is a weird pile of books but they will make you smile so that's okay Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a book about a seagull whose name is Jonathan Livingston who is a real outcast his seagull community it's a very unique book in that it has a lot of photographs of sea um throughout it it's very beautiful um and it's kind of like a moral tale sort of it's kind of like a fable cuz it is about these seagulls and about being an outcast and and the ending is very heartwarming it is a like it kind of goes through a bit of a sad part but it really lifts into this really beautiful ending and that's just a very beautiful book that I don't see a lot of people talking about all right next up Stardust by Neil Gaiman so I just rewatched the movie first artist like a week ago and it's one of my all-time favorite movies I've probably seen that movie like 20 times and it just really reminded me of how fun the book is the book is a lot less family-friendly than the movie I love the movie but the movie is very much like made for kids and very PG but the book is just like the movie very fun it's very magical mystical quirky weird in the way that Neil Gaiman creates these otherworldly imaginate imaginative like dream escapes you have these two adventurers a star and a young boy with with nothing but a bit of destiny going on this epic quest and meeting all these different people and it's just a lot of fun in that very escapist fantasy way and I think that if you really like the movie you'd be interested to read the book because it has some alterations okay next up this is a very different one nonfiction show your work by Austin Kleon so this is one of those I'm not very good at reading inspirational books but this is one of those inspirational type books that I actually really connected to it is a book about being creative about it's also very beautifully illustrated and designed graphic design is really good and key in this but it's about basically taking yourself seriously as an artist and a person who is creative and sharing your work and feeling like why is it important that I share what I make and and that I make in the first place so if you know throughout this difficult time you found your creativity has fallen away or you feel doubtful about your creativity I think this would be a really good book to to Rhian back um okay what would such a strange publish this book is everyone hanging out without me and other concerns by Mindy Kaling so this book is quite old now when did it come out I mean it's not old it's just not topical especially because she has a newer memoir that's very similar to this one that has come out more recently but this book is very cute if you are the kind of person 2011 wow that's longer ago than I thought um if you're the kind of person who enjoys reading celebrity memoirs and you enjoy reading this kind of light fluffy nonfiction I really recommend this Mindy Kaling is super funny she's really hilarious and this book is really quirky and cute and it's just kind of it made me laugh and it made me smile and that's the whole point of this book recommendation so there you go uh okay let's go to this one the Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern so this one is slightly controversial I think this is the most controversial one on this list in terms of will it make you smile I'm not sure I think it will because it made me smile but it doesn't make me smile in kind of the laughing fun summery way this is a book about in a circus that appears overnight in different towns and so we're in this small town I forgot the name of the town like the the first line of the bio is or the synopsis is the circus arrives without warning so we're in this small town and suddenly the circus arrives and it kind of changes the scope of the town for a while and you're learning about this um you know all the people who work in the circus and stuff it's very magical and mystical similar I guess to start us in that way but it it's so dreamy it is so dreamy it's a little sad it's a little kind of melancholy but in that kind of wistful way that it yes it's a little sad but in a nice way I think also if you're looking for escapism this might be a really beautiful world to escape to okay next up let's go with one that's for sure really happy well controversial the melancholy death of oyster boy and other stories by Tim Burton so this is a collection of poetry with some accompanying illustrations by Tim Burton's the director of you know Edward Scissorhands and it is so funny like this is one of the funniest it's gruesome it's gruesome I will say that like this is one of my favorite ones it is called the boy with nails in his eyes the boy with nails in his eyes put up his aluminum tree it looked pretty strange because he couldn't really see like it's gruesome in the Tim Burton way that everything kind of makes is kind of spooky and messed up but it's funny there there that kind of wry me Limerick style poem and the illustrations that accompany them are all very grotesque and McCobb but if that's the kind of thing that you find funny or can find funny I really recommend this one because it will definitely make you chuckle okay and then in a very similar vein is lovesick by Jesse cave so this is more of a it took a happy version I mean can could it be more contrasting it's like a happy version of the same sort of thing so Jesse cave was the actress who was laughing dear brown in the Harry Potter movies and so she does these doodles and she posts them on Instagram too so you could check out her Instagram and see if you like that style and if you find them funny and if so I really recommend her book but yeah she does these doodles that are kind of like hashtag relevant or they're really really funny they're really funny they're very heartwarming they're sometimes a little depressing in that self-deprecating way where you're kind of like looking at your flaws and finding them a little hilarious when you try to be objective about them so this is a really funny cute funny little one I do recommend that a lot okay now let's do this one grapefruit by yoko ono it's really i think this is the strangest list of books i've ever recommended in my life but this is a really interesting book this it's the subtext is a book of instruction and drawings by Yoko Ono introduction by John Lennon that's cool so I actually haven't read this cover to cover I've more flipped through it and just read random things it looks like poetry but what it is is these instructions this was kind of like a long going project that Yoko Ono has where she gives you instructions and there so there's I hate dust jackets they're so provocative and they are full of so much whimsy and like childlike wonder that they do make you smile and they make you think and they make you stop and just take a deep breath let me try and find a good one this one is called cloud peace imagine the clouds dripping dig a hole in your garden to put them in or this one is clock peace make all the clocks in the world fast by two seconds without letting anyone know about it son peace watch the Sun until it becomes square map peace draw a map to get lost there all these kind of their instructions on things to do and either you can just read them and imagine yourself doing them and what that would actually look like or you can try and do them it's it's it's a weird fun kind of exercise to imagine these shadow piece put your shadows together until they become one cut piece throw it off a high building like it's just really imaginative and it a city piece step in all the puddles in the city I just really love this this concept and it's a lot of fun so I think this one will make you smile and then okay the next four books that I have for you are four of my favorite books of all time these are books that I really recommend all for very different reasons but let's start here sheets by Brenna thumblr I've talked a lot about this book on my channels I absolutely adore this this is another graphic novel it's about a girl mom named Marjorie whose mother has passed away and is now trying to run her family's launderette to the best of her ability is it only a Canadians I call it a launderette oh right laundromat it says laundromat okay at the same time there's this ghost named Wendell who I'm obsessed with he's my best friend and um Wendell has passed away and he's living in the land of the ghosts and he comes and he finds her laundromat because he's a sheet he's a ghost in like sheets go to the laundromat and he sees over feets there um and it's this it's this really touching story of these two characters who are very lost and are feeling very invisible and how their friendship makes them feel seen and it's very touching the illustrations will make you smile because it's just so beautiful Wendell especially will really make you smile because he's such a sweet boy um but yeah there's it's just one of the most beautiful things I've ever read and I super recommend it okay then I have this book called 15 by Beverly Cleary I show it sideways because it doesn't have its dust jacket this is I don't recommend this book very often because I don't really know exactly who would like it but I had to put it in this video because this this book makes me smile so so much so this book was published in 1956 it's uh it's beautiful it's the story of a girl who's 15 years old in the 50s and it's like her first boyfriend this story is so pure it's so innocent like the climactic scene is like when she goes to a Chinese restaurant or when she's not too sure if that boy actually likes her or not it's like that kind of it's so sickly sweet that I know a lot of people might not like it but there are some of you out there who are looking for that retro fun just super sweet story if you've seen the movie flipped which I don't know that how many people that have seen it but if you've seen flipped and you liked it I love that movie it's so so sweet if you like that this book you have to check it out 15 by Beverly Cleary okay I've got two more for you let's go to George Orwell my man so this is keep the aspidistra flying by George Orwell George well as my favorite author I'm absolutely obsessed with the guy um my favorite book by him oh look a bookmark oh what a beautiful bookmark um my absolute favorite book by him is animal farm animal farm is not the book to read if you want to smile neither is 1984 avoid them right now but there is always time for George Orwell and keep the aspidistra flying is really interesting but also quite funny actually that reminds me gosh I'm gonna double rockem's recommend this book - god bless you mr. rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut jr. look at how this this is just a disaster don't let's not talk about that so this go back to this one keep the Oxford SR flying is about this man who doesn't want to make money anymore he believes that money is the worst that our lives have been ruined by money by the constant pursuit of money and so he's like you know what screw it I'm not gonna participate in this whole capitalist thing anymore and it's kind of about how that doesn't work because I'm sorry but we live in capitalism so you gotta make some money and it's funny because you kind of see how it just kind of fails but it's also heartwarming and will make you smile because it's funny but also because it has a positive ending which is rare for my men or well so I really recommend this one it's very thought-provoking if you're looking for something that will make you smile and make you think and isn't just like really light and silly this one but then this one there I actually think of these definitely in the same category I guess because they're both about money and maybe because they're both blue but god bless mr. rose water is about our main man Elliot I think that's his name right yes Elliot rosewater and he is super rich because of inheritance his family has just always been very not always but has for many generations been very very wealthy because of a giant corporation company type thing when is this book was published the book takes place in the 60s this book 1936 it was first published so a long time ago but anyway this book is about this guy who's fabulously rich and he realizes something that no one else in his family has ever realized and it's that they should be using their money to help but the problem is he doesn't know how to do that he doesn't know what to do with his money in to make it like actually affect other people positively and there's so much discourse going on right now about the concept of billionaires like everyone talking about Jeff besos he could be saving the world and instead he's not and should billionaires exist and is there such thing as too much money so if you're interested in thinking about money and and how money has worked throughout human history these are two books that I'd really recommend checking out and this one is so funny I like really laughed a lot I actually made a podcast episode all about this so I'll link that down below if you want to know more about that boy but both of these are really interesting quite funny in it so in a satirical way okay in my last book I can't believe Rend in here but this is one of my favorite books I absolutely adore this book but I recognize it's not for everyone but a fly on the wall by E Lockhart so II look her better known for we were Liars and what's the name of that Frankie Lando Banks book she's got like quite a few books that have done really well I wish that this one had blown up in the same way that the other ones had I randomly found this book you know like a chapters or something once and I bought it probably just because it was pink and I was young and this book to me is the funniest why a book out there and I've had some friends read it and they like reply to me and they're like oh my god Ariel I'm so glad you made me read that that was so funny and then I've had other friends read it and they're like it was funny but like not hilarious so obviously comedy is just up to the beholder everyone has a different taste and style of it but this book to me is hilarious it's about this girl who it's a it is an adaptation of Kafka's metamorphosis it's about a girl who one day she's at high school if she feels really left of like boys like she's like what her boys I wish that I could be a fly on the wall of the boys locker room to kind of get what the heck they're talking about all the time and the next issue wakes up and she is she's a fly in her high school and she's observing men in in the locker room and it's weird it's super weird and it's very bizarre and strange in a similar way to like you know it's weird to in metamorphosis when the main character wakes up as a giant cockroach it's weird to wake up as a fly but it's also about this character this main character her name is Gretchen she goes to this art school and so she's kind of learning about herself and her art and like trying to understand other people's perspectives and changing from being kind of a snotty mean person to someone who recognizes that everyone is living their own battles it's very interesting and it's very funny in my opinion so gosh okay we did it these are all the books I recommend that you read if you want to smile I mean I guess I don't recommend you don't have to read all of them in order to smile but maybe one of these oh but maybe one of these will help you smile during these dangerously dark times so I can't balance that for much longer I really hope that you guys enjoyed this video I would love to hear if you're thinking about picking up any of these books or if you have a book to recommend me and everyone else watching this video for a book that will make a smile I think we all need it right now if you're interested in getting one of these books I'll have an affiliate link down below if you use it you pay the same amount of money but then I get a little support for my channel I also really want to thank my patrons for supporting my channel and everything I do especially during kovat it's amazing to have you guys so if you'd like to consider becoming a patron oh boo I'll link that down below too so thank you so much for watching and I hope that the rest of your day is okay bye

Channel: Ariel Bissett

Views: 84,796

Rating: 4.969615 out of 5

Keywords: arielbissett, ariel, bissett, books, book, book review, booktube, ariel bissett

Id: Arvd_O_cabk

Length: 19min 36sec (1176 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 08 2020