Good reads for sensitive and fragile lady

I am interested in suggestions for my mother, she is in her 60s, has been sick for a long time; she loves to read but gets upset with war, violence, children abuse, suicide and sickness in books. It is really hard for me to find a book that doesn't contain some degree of these topics!!! Can you help?

This might be entirely inappropriate.
After My dad died, i went through a phase of only reading "nice" books. No angst, no unhappy endings, nothing threatening. I'd retreated from the world to a safe place, where all would be well. In life that was my bed, in reading that was romances.
Amanda Quick was my choice of reading. Might something in the romance area, like maybe Heyer or similar, be worth a look? I'm not suggesting Mills & Boon, make it historical romance, rather than pure romance!

I will start looking Heyer's books straight away; I am going to the library tomorrow and I will be able to get some books for her. Thanks for the tip.

How about the Father Tim books by Jan Karon? The first one is At Home in Mitford. Mitford is a small town in the South and Father Tim is a minister in his 60s. There are a lot of fun characters and it's a heartwarming series.

And some others to look at:

A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
Christy by Catherine Marshall
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Love Comes Softly by Janette Oke
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winfred Watson
Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer
The Honk and Holler Opening Soon by Billie Letts
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

D. E. Stevenson’s books are quiet and non-stressful.

Maeve Binchy's books may be good. There's conflict and social shenanigans, but everything turns out well in the end.

A lot of the older "beach read" type books are good. Elizabeth Cadell wrote a whole slew of them. Kind of formulaic, but set in interesting locations and they all have happy endings and very little to stress about getting there.

Second D.E. Stevenson Miss Buncle's Book and Miss Buncle Married are both light fun.

Give her a real treat with The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim and Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner. Both are well-written, charming and shock-free and deservedly classics of their kind.

Thanks everyone! wonderful suggestions, very happy with all of them.

She didn't read Father Tim or Jan Karon's books. This is a good start, thanks so much for the list.

I agree, beach read book make easy no stress reading, that's exactly what she needs; you know after a few months picking books for my mom, I run out of ideas; i ended up realizing that there is a certain degree of violence in most books, so my options are limited-even if I know there are so many marvelous books, i had to refrain to suggest it to her, because of this.

Thanks!

I will definitely give it a try. Thanks for your suggestion.

There are all some awesome ideas here. I am going to check out some of those recommendations myself. Thank you!

And for even more titles, do check out some of the discussions in a group devoted to older fiction:
http://www.librarything.com/groups/tatteredbutstilllove
which I think will happily satisfy all of your qualifications.
All of us there seem to appreciate the kinder, gentler story.

How does she feel about children's books? The Penderwicks series by Jeanne Birdsall are gentle reads. I think they will become classics.

I concur with the recommendation(s) for Georgette Heyer, D E Stevenson, Jan Karon and Elizabeth Cadell.

Miss Read writes gentle stories of village life.

I find the Irish Country series by Patrick Taylor to scratch a similar itch as the James Herriott books. They both deal with illness, though, since the main characters are doctors and veternarians, respectively.

A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg is on my TBR list. Need to see if the library has it.

Is the one murder of an unlikeable person in a cozy mystery too much for her right now? If not, I have recommendations for cozy mysteries.

Please do report back here any books that work for her. 1) so we can make more recommendations 2) So we can go find the books ourselves!

Finding books that lack the elements your mother deplores are something of a "thing" with me. Most of us have good and bad in our makeups and most of us have good and bad things that happen to us. Why do so many works of fiction focus on the bad? If you are going to be biased, why not be biased in a positive direction? *** climbs down off soapbox ***

Amen, Sistah!

Speaking of Fannie Flagg, I always thought Welcome to the World, Baby Girl was charming too.

What about Chicken Soup's book selections?

Some titles are lively and motivating to read.Real life experiences that boost that there are many hopes and miracles happening in one's lifetime.

Hope is within your life.

Cheer her up, and have her friends visiting her and "cheering" her up. This is a good therapy. The surroundings with people moving around are good atmosphere to enjoy. This is beneficical besides reading books.

Short stories of humor and hope/motivation,poetry/poems and short jokes/quotations-motivating types will most likely able to cheer up her. Give a try. Most fiction are sad and violent.

The Kitchen Madonna by Rumer Godden.

Some of her other books have distressing themes, but this one is just heartwarming. - hearthlit

Most of the editions are also beautiful. Hmm, time for a re-read, I think.