6 Lovable Curmudgeons to Warm Your Heart

Olive Kitteridge is a Pulitzer Prize-winning curmudgeon. This novel is told through 13 interconnected stories that are deeply empathetic to the small town characters and their big time woes and hopes and fears and experiences.

Oprah’s revamped book club picked “Olive, Again” (the sequel to the above novel by Elizabeth Strout) as the November 2019 read. Everyone’s favorite curmudgeonly character continues to keep it real and relatable in this follow-up. “I love [Olive] because she’s so 100% authentically herself,” Winfrey said on “CBS This Morning.”

This book follows an extraordinary protagonist as she slowly breaks through social fears to find her own happy ending. Witty and delightful, this novel hits home for anyone who’s ever felt even a little out of place.

It’s reasonable that Will Traynor is so grumpy — he was on top of the world before getting into a terrible accident. But still. That’s what makes his gruffness so endearing. If you need a cathartic cry or a touching reminder of what makes life worth living, look no further than Jojo Moyes’ massive hit.

Again, it’s totally understandable that there are multiple curmudgeons in “The Hunger Games” (notably, Katniss and her mentor, Haymitch); it’s a series about kids being forced to kill other kids, after all. Who wouldn’t have a sucky attitude when put in those circumstances? Still, Katniss and Haymitch are so lovable, lots of people are willing to throw themselves in harm’s way for them (particularly precious Peeta).