With social media fragmenting, I’m bringing back my old “You Tell Me” Wednesday discussions to try to get good old fashioned blog conversations going. If you’re reading in a feed reader or via email, please click through to the post to leave a public comment and join the discussion!
Particularly with a plainly unprecedented election season ramping up in the United States, things feel a bit stressful out there in the ole world.
What’s your comfort read when you need a escape from the stresses of life, the universe, and everything?
As you can problem guess from my framing, mine is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. What’s yours?
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Art: Starry Night Over the Rhône by Vincent Van Gogh
Books from my college days are favorites. Lord of the Flies by William Golding is one with another Golding work, Pincher Martin.
The Rose garden by Susanna Kearsley and The Others series by Anne Bishop. I reread them every year
Anything by James Herriot and Max Yoho
The Emily of New Moon trilogy by L.M. Montgomery. Darker than her Anne books and about the struggle and triumphs of writing and publishing. In my twenties and thirties I would reread them every year. Now in my forties I visit them less often, but they will always be in my heart.
Most reliably comforting are my 50s childhood favorites (The Moffats, Dr. Doolittle, the Oz books, Nancy Drew). Next are those detective novels written between the wars (early Agatha Christie and Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy L. Sayers, Josephine Tey). But when all else fails I turn to one of the many Manning Coles books I’ve chased down over the years of prowling the aisles of used book stores. These very funny thrillers take their protagonist, Tommy Hambledon of British Intelligence, all the way from World War I to the 1950s. And now they’re available on Kindle! Granted, in very poor transcriptions, but still.
Lord of the Rings
Also, anything by Terry Pratchett.
All time favorite comfort book: The Shadow of the Wind (by Carlos Ruiz Zafon). Writing of such gorgeous luminescence that each time I read this book, I become so immersed in this magical world that I forget to eat!
I love The Shadow of the Wind! Might have to reread it now. It’s been a while.
For me it’s The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I find it so soothing.
Murakami’s After Dark. have read it no less than 10x at this point.
The Comedians by Graham Greene…the absolute folly of humans.
Mallory Towers by Enid Blyton
Mark Twain – Letters to the Earth or Kate Atkinson- A God in Ruins.
“The Vampire Lestat” by Anne Rice. Even after a dozen+ readings, I still find myself lost in its lush prose and tragic elegance.
The Catcher in the Rye. An eye-rollingly expected answer for an upper-middle-class white kid like me, but I can’t help it. I’ve read it at least once a year since I was like 13. My dad introduced me to the book when he lended me his old paperback with the red cover and gold letters.
that red and gold cover is so iconic!
“Cotillion” by Georgette Heyer; the Tiffany Aching books by Terry Pratchett; GK Chesterton’s Father Brown short stories; Saki’s short stories; “The Best of Myles” by Myles na gCopaleen; and from childhood the C S Lewis Narnia books and “Apple Bough” by Noel Streatfeild.
Jane Austen, especially Pride and Prejudice.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind — This book is so absolutely delicious (not to mention aromatic!) I read it for pure pleasure once a year.
I’m taking a break to reread a Brother Cadfael mystery. A little time in a monastery circa 1138 is the perfect tonic.
His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman… and anything Pooh.
CS Lewis Out of the Silent Planet and That Hideous Strength. (Perelandra not so much–too grim–although many prefer it. I’m just not philosophical I guess. Speaking of philosophy, The Silver Chair is probably my favorite Narnia book–Plato’s myth of the cave, which we did in humanities class. I guess I’m a tad philosophical!)
Great question. Thanks for asking. My “comfort” author is Elizaberg Berg. I re-read her books as a summer time treat.