"When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." -C. S. Lewis

Exactly. Said it better than I could have.

There's a societal view that play is for kids. We need more adults playing! Play is so important for mental health and building social bonds.

It's a shame some adults only play when there's the "excuse" of playing with children. Even worse are parents who won't play with their own kids.

I think "fun books" fall prey to the same cultural bias.

It wasn't a literary novel which inspired my post. Reading not an "approved" hobby? I suppose they wouldn't approve of Oscar Wilde or even Jane Austen then.

All of this about a "certain demographic in the US" feels very culture war and it's drive towards the negative so I'd best stay schtum rather than walk into one of those.

Christianity has that element (from Greek philosophy) and because of it, much of western culture. I think we'd do well to collectively re-focus on sharing happy things. Would change our societies for the better. We can still be serious when needed; we'd have more energy for it if we stopped wearing ourselves out on stressful "entertainment".

In that vein, here's my current feel better go-to, Paolo Nutini's Pencil Full of Lead :) https://piped.adminforge.de/watch?v=fR2j2eTfbKo

I got myself onto the city library system's e-book app specifically to read Becky Chambers (city closed our local branch so getting and returning physical books is difficult for me). There is no Becky Chambers on that app, nor anything else I searched for. Which is how I ended up with the one I found such a depressing slog.

Not sure it really is easier to make people feel something good. Live music can really do that. Comedic opera thrives on it. Chinese and Korean dramas can dive deep into grief but also soar with joy.

Perhaps it's more that when we've put unnecessarily put ourselves through something difficult, we're inclined to justify it by according it more significance? Not sure, thinking out loud here.

Why though? Maybe it's more conditioning than anything inherent? That we're fully capable of relating deeply to joy as well. Happiness can be shallow but doesn't have to be, like when we open ourselves to love and a relationship. Why do we tend to not see that as having depth as well?

Romance isn't exactly a respected genre. Misogyny has a lot to do with that but the genre's tendency towards formulaic tropes doesn't help.
And before you get to the Happily Ever After? It has to be a rocky road, with a break-up. It's almost like the HEA has to be earned through pain.