In search of novels where some clarity and activity win a better day

August 12, 2024 10:20 AM

I just finished Cold Comfort Farm, which fit the bill and gave me a boost to go and get a few odds and ends done which had been needing done for a great while. Acknowledging that Cold Comfort’s protagonist Flora Poste would likely be insufferable in real life, I found the novel a tonic to the sense of order, so to speak. (I am searching for fiction, not self help, so e.g. Make your Bed is not quite the thing). Can my esteemed fellow readers recommend more in this vein?
posted by aesop to Media & Arts (17 answers total)

I haven't read Cold Comfort Farm so I'm not 100% sure what that vibe is, but I got a similar feeling of confident self assurance when I read Convenience Store Woman.

The protag spends her life chasing what other people have decided would be normal for her, but it doesn't ever fit. Being herself makes others upset, and she only hurts herself trying to smooth that over. When she finally accepts that she is who she is, underachieving loner weirdo and all, she finally finds peace. And for her, peace is the bland comfort and order of a convenience store. (And that's okay!)
posted by phunniemee at 10:37 AM on August 12 [3 favorites]

Pollyanna....who is NOT always happy in the book
posted by brujita at 11:31 AM on August 12 [4 favorites]

I don't know if this is too far outside the vein of what you're looking for, but The Martian is about someone who's very good at tackling problems dealing with a very serious problem in a step-by-step way.
posted by cider at 11:41 AM on August 12 [4 favorites]

but The Martian is about someone who's very good at tackling problems dealing with a very serious problem in a step-by-step way.

AAAH REMINDER OF MY FAVORITE MOTIVATIONAL PHRASE

So, in The Martian (book and movie both) Commander Jessica Chastain tells her team to work the problem. You may recognize this phrase from the movie Apollo 13, where my gut tells me Weir got it from just like I did (but maybe NASA peeps also say this in real life idk).

I love "work the problem" and use it constantly in my real life. Every problem is fixable. Problem too big? Just break it up into smaller problems and work through solving those one at a time. I find this immensely comforting.

I'd probably say I'm better at problem solving than I am at doing any other thing in my life, and it might sound dramatic but I fully credit the "work the problem" attitude with maintaining that ability.
posted by phunniemee at 11:57 AM on August 12 [7 favorites]

I haven't read Cold Comfort Farm so I'm not 100% sure what that vibe is

In CCF, a resourceful and energetic British woman goes to stay with dysfunctional shambling relatives on their shambling dysfunctional farm and, with her outside perspective, initiative, and energy, winds up briskly fixing everyone's lives/whipping everyone into shape.

Another example that comes to mind is Mary Poppins, though that's the movie version - I don't remember if she's quite the same in the book.
posted by trig at 12:17 PM on August 12 [2 favorites]

You can also think of it as 'no-nonsense modern approach defeats pining swampy Gothicness', which reminds me of Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost (story, not novel, and alas possessed of somewhat maudlin ending. But very fun and funny.)
posted by trig at 12:22 PM on August 12 [3 favorites]

I know for sure that Mary Poppins is kind of meaner in the book.

Georgette Heyer's The Grand Sophie has a heroine that sweeps in and betters peoples lives. It's a very fun book, but CW for antisemitism in a passage with a pawnbroker.
posted by PussKillian at 12:32 PM on August 12 [3 favorites]

Diary of A French Herb Garden isn't fiction but it's not a self-help book either. It's a memoir of the time the author spent in France and restored a garden. I read it long ago and think of it often as inspiration when I work in my own garden. In fact your question has prompted me to order a copy to keep for myself!
posted by dawkins_7 at 2:48 PM on August 12 [1 favorite]

The Secret Garden (another garden book!) might fit the bill, though the improver of things needs some improvement herself.
posted by praemunire at 3:53 PM on August 12 [3 favorites]

I think you definitely should check out The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery - by the author of Anne of Green Gables but this is an adult novel, about a timid heroine who sweeps away all the restraining scolds of her life after being told she has only a short while to live. She shakes up the town and her disapproving stodgy relatives, starting with throwing a jar of potpourri out the window. It's not so much about tidiness but about taking effort to make a meaningful life you enjoy, without letting others pull you down.
posted by lizard music at 4:51 PM on August 12 [5 favorites]

In the Amelia Peabody mystery series by Elizabeth Peters the late Victorian/Edwardian heroine is middle aged, immensely energetic, and prone to solving crimes and managing excavations with brisk no-nonsense confidence bordering on hubris. They are often very funny. They have the bonus of being written by an actual Egyptologist so the settings are, well, not really realistic but at least well-researched. *Crocodile on the Sandbank* is the first one but I think the series doesn't quite hit its stride till the 2nd.

The heroine of *Legally Blonde* also pretty much does this to everyone.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 5:19 PM on August 12 [1 favorite]

I think you would like The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim (or just plain Elizabeth if you find an old edition). It isn't one person fixing everything, but 4 people really turn their lonely lives around and absolutely flower after a trip they take together to a gorgeous house in Italy.
posted by JanetLand at 5:29 PM on August 12 [2 favorites]

Oh, I had another idea -- try browsing at Persephone Books. They have very good plot summaries and something might click for you.
posted by JanetLand at 5:34 PM on August 12 [2 favorites]

Cat Pictures Please by Naomi Kritzer, and The Year Without Sunshine by Naomi Kritzer. (Both short stories, but still excellent.)

Also, POSSIBLY The Little Lady Agency, although I enjoyed it more than Kirkus did.
posted by kristi at 6:49 PM on August 12 [1 favorite]

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries - without spoiling anything, one of the main characters has a gift for sprucing up any place to make it feel homey and wonderful, from an abandoned cabin to a rustic rundown inn. It's a recurring character trait/theme of the book.
posted by lizard music at 6:57 PM on August 12 [1 favorite]

I think you would really enjoy Susan Juby’s Mindful of Murder. The main character, Helen, is a former Buddhist nun turned butler. She is calm, competent, and compassionate, and she is very good at managing situations, turning chaos into order, and encouraging others to be their best selves. There is also a sequel, A Meditation on Murder.

Juby has also written a modern Cold Comfort Farm called The Woefield Poultry Collective (US title: Home to Woefield). It’s about a young American woman named Prudence who suddenly inherits a farm in rural Canada and happily moves there with dreams of becoming a farmer and selling produce at the farmers’ market. In reality it turns out the farm is pretty decrepit, so she sets about gathering a band of local misfits to help her get the farm into shape. It’s quite a sweet book about found family.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 7:38 PM on August 12 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: This is great, thank you so much for these. I have a bunch of library holds doing their thing now. Appreciate you all!
posted by aesop at 12:48 PM on August 13 [1 favorite]