I received a request for this list a long time ago, and kind of put it off, at a loss for what to include. But one of my New Year’s Reading Resolutions was to make sure I posted a Feature Shelf every month, so here we are.

Oh, and some business: If you would like to request your own Feature Shelf, hit me up in the comments here, or on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Snapchat (thebooksupplier). Making reading lists makes me happy.

The requester of this month’s Feature Shelf, @theartdive, wanted books that were happy and possibly along the lines of The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, so that’s where we’re going to start.

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabriel Zevin – About a bookseller, A. J. Fikry, whose bookstore has fallen on hard times. When a mysterious package arrives at the bookstore, his uninteresting life becomes a little more interesting.

I haven’t read that one, but in keeping with what @theartdive asked for, here are some other books that I’d qualify as happy.

While My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger has a bit of romance in it, the love that really comes through in this novel is the love between brothers, even a new brother who joins the family when T.J. and Augie (who are play-brothers) are freshmen in high school, what they consider their most excellent year. This story is told in alternating perspectives – class assignments, emails, etc. – that paint an amusing picture of growing up, as well as explores what it means to be family.

The next one is one I read last year and fell in love with. It’s partially because I have a thing for choir in all its forms (which is maybe why I like Pitch Perfect). While the story has some conflict in it, I wouldn’t exactly call it a heavy read.

Noteworthy by Riley Redgate is a choir-nut’s dream book. Jordan Sun is a junior at a private performing arts school. She’s on the theater track, but unfortunately her vocal range keeps her from performing lead roles (she’s an Alto 2). When a mass email goes out to the entire school indicating that the Sharpshooters, an elite, all-male a capella group, is looking for a new tenor, Jordan decides that she’s going to audition in her most convincing drag.

As I mentioned, I was a little stuck when making this list. So I went to the English teachers on the Internet, and they helped me out a little bit. So here’s our last recommendation:

Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer is set post WWII when writer Julie Ashton is trying to figure out what she’s going to write next. When Julie receives a letter from a man in a place called Guernsey (who found her name in another book) Julie’s adventure, as it were, begins. She and the man exchange letters, and she is drawn into the world of Guernsey, eventually setting off for there.

An aside: I’ve read a couple of synopses of this book now, and I can’t figure out where potatoes come in.

@theartidive, I hope you found something on this list that might strike your fancy. Until next time, happy reading, and don’t forget to be awesome.