Within a few days of each other, a few colleagues shared similar versions of this sentiment: They were looking for something to read that was not full of trauma. I get it.

Sometimes, you want to explore whatever it is that's making things feel darker, whether it's a string of subzero days or the state of the world, but sometimes you just need to escape. That's where those colleagues are at the moment, and where we are today with ideas for things to read and stream that supply pure, unfiltered joy:

Books

Ferris, Kate DiCamillo

Honestly, any DiCamillo book is a joy machine, from her debut, "Because of Winn-Dixie," up to last year's "The Hotel Balzaar." But "Ferris" (also from 2024) is my pick for her sweetest, tenderest work, in part because it's light on conflict and heavy on a big-hearted family. Whether it's the title character's bonds with her grandmother, a teacher or her best pal, "Ferris" is a lovefest — which makes sense, since the writer said it was the love story she craved in the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

I'll Take It, Paul Rudnick

Here's what you need to know: A man, his mom and his beloved aunts embark on a road trip to look at New England fall colors but their real destination is an L.L. Bean outlet store, at which they have planned an elaborate and spectacularly wrong-headed heist. The fun of the 1989 book is — of course — the ride, during which the family members bicker, bond and compare thoughts on knitwear.

Meaty, Samantha Irby

There is some trauma in Irby's 2012 essay collection, which covers health issues and bad sex. But her unfailing wit and emphasis on the lessons she has learned keep things light. I can't think of another contemporary essayist who is as laugh-out-loud funny.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Winifred Watson

This one's a two-fer because the 2008 movie (starring Frances McDormand and Amy Adams) is just as good as the 1938 novel on which it's based. It's sort of a "Mary Poppins" for grownups about an impoverished woman who stumbles into a job as a socialite's assistant and promptly improves the lives of everyone she encounters. Including herself.

Orbital, Samantha Harvey

The current Booker Prize winner (it beat Percival Everett's enthralling "James") is all about shimmering prose and people living in harmony. "Orbital" is set during a day on the International Space Station, although "day" is a hazy concept there, since they speed through 15 dawns in 24 hours. Harvey's sparkling prose describes our beautiful, border-less planet as it appears to the six astronauts, who are trained to lean into kindness and tolerance.

Movies

Didi

If you're the sort of person who fumes about these things, one of the biggest shames of the current Oscar season is the lack of love for Joan Chen's gentle, empathetic performance in this coming-of-age comedy/drama. Come for the title character, an adolescent boy who's learning about friendship, family and betrayal. Stay for his moving, though tested, bond with his awe-inspiring mom (Chen).

Paddington 2

Not to slight "Paddington," which is delightful, but the sequel is even better because it ventures beyond what must be the tenderest, most loving family in the world (led by parents played by Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins) and the marmalade-snarfing bear who brightens the days of everyone he meets. It's also a musical, with Hugh Grant hilariously sending up his own stuffed-shirt image as a singing, dancing pile of evil.

The Palm Beach Story

Possibly the funniest movie ever made, it's a fizzy romantic comedy from their golden age (1942) that spotlights married-then-divorced-but-still-in-love Claudette Colbert and Joel McCrea. That would be enough for most movies, but "Palm Beach" also includes a hilarious cast of supporting weirdos, including possible lovers played by Rudy Vallee and Mary Astor, as well as a side-splitting mini-farce set in a train car, where the inebriated members of a hunting club forget they're not in a meadow, surrounded by quail.

The Straight Story

I rewatched this gentle drama from 1999 a couple of weeks ago and, when I wasn't bawling my eyes out at the tenderness and decency on display, couldn't stop thinking, "This is the movie everyone needs right now." Directed by the late David Lynch, with a supporting cast that includes Twin Cities theater faves Sally Wingert and Tracey Maloney, it's based on the true story of a small-town Iowan (Richard Farnsworth, peerless) who drives his lawn mower to Wisconsin for a visit with his estranged brother.

Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Literally any feature or short film featuring the mild-mannered Brit and his brilliant dog companion would work here, including current Oscar nominee "Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl." All of the films in this sweet, stop-motion-animated series affirm the importance of finding the person (or canine) who understands you best. In "Were-Rabbit," from 2005, you get that and a canny spoof of classic horror movie tropes, insight into English garden competitions and a wickedly good vocal performance from Ralph Fiennes as the village villain.