Garden Spells

Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum-novels are my popcorn for the brains books.

The Pretty Little Liars books are like written crack- not a shred of literary value but enjoyable (in a guilty pleasure sort of way) and incredibly addictive.

Some people find the Shopaholic books light and funny. I suppose they are but by the second book, I mostly just wanted to hit the main character over the head with her shoe and call her a dumbass.

I will think of some better ones..

-Anne of Green Gables
-The Book of Awesome
-Pendragon series - for a somewhat younger set but has good world-building and thus escape-ish. Not comedy though. Can be a bit on the darkish side at times but not overly-so. Sort of in the Harry Potter realm in terms of tone, and target age range (including maturing with each new book).
- now, this is a kids book, but trust me: I Want To Go Home by Gordon Korman is one of the funniest books I've read in my life. The kid has this deadpanned sarcasm and outlook on life at summer camp which is hilarious.

Still thinking...

Once upon a time, I had an apartment fire, and was pretty stressed out about it. Two books were able to transport me somewhere else so I could forget my troubles.

The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle felt familiar, yet new enough that I enjoyed reading it immensely. I'd watched the movie dozens of times as a kid, and meant to pick up the book for ages. I was glad I did, right then.

Onion Girl by Charles de Lint was the second, and it immersed me in an urban fantasy landscape where fairy tale creatures seamlessly blended into a gritty cityscape. My problems felt much smaller next to Jilly Coppercorn's.

Those two authors have become my go-to writers when I need to escape for a while. It helps that they're both wonderful and kind human beings.

The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul by Douglas Adams

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett.

Anything by A. Lee Martinez, but I particularly recommend:

"Too Many Curses"
"A Nameless Witch"
"Monster"

All stand alone books. Definitely not "reality".