Comforts

[primroseburrows]

ari_o asks a wonderful question about our comfort books, books we read when we're needy. I'm shamelessly gacking it for my own curiosity.

So...what are your comfort books? Y'know, the ones you turn to when you're sick, or tired, or depressed, or stressed out,or just want to bury yourself in something that's not directly connected to your life? Those ones, those books that never cease to comfort.

Comments

[starflowers.livejournal.com]

My comfort books include:

At Swim, Two Boys
Rainbow Boys
ANNND *coughs* Kiss of the Highlander. Which is a cheesy romance. *cuddles it* but I love it.
Oh and Lamb by Christopher Moore. Best Book Ever.

[robinhoo.livejournal.com]

Oh, God, yes, Lamb is fantastic! I laughed like crazy, but I also thought, 'Hey, this guy might really be on to something here....' Highly recommended.

I'd have to say my 'comfort books' are kind of weird and diverse. At the top of the list, above all else, is Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot. Also on the list are:
2. Dracula, by Bram Stoker
3. Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
4. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller
5. The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis

You'll note that the 'comfort books' list doesn't necessarily match up perfectly with the 'favourite books' list, which is curious to me. Note the marked absence of LotR, for instance, and Catcher in the Rye, and lots of others. Can't explain it. Maybe those are just more think-y books for me. Oh, but I have to note that Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything Is Illuminated -- which recently soared its way up the 'favourite books' chart, is also steadily making progress into the top 5 'comfort books' too. So beautiful and haunting and wonderful.... And by a Princeton boy, no less.... *sends schnoogles to J. S. Foer*

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Probably #1 is The Dark is Rising. I don't usually re-read things, but I do this. Right now I'm re-reading it chapter by chapter each night. ::sigh:: Will.

Also maybe something by Saki. LOTR is another thing I've read more often but it's more of an effort.:-)

Oh and, um, I guess I might also include Secret Origins of the DC Superheroes. It's all wrinkly and warped from reading it in the bathtub when I was a kid. And also just looking at any page of Richard Scarry's Big Red Schoolhouse will fill me with delight.

Incidentally, I recently bought a friend of mine a book she mentioned was her comfort book when she was little. Turns out she'd never actually owned a copy and it was so the best present because it was just as good as she remembered. Plus it's a great book--a little golden book called Mister Dog.

[peacey.livejournal.com]

1. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. My favorite book of all time. It instantly gets me giggling and snorting and will turn any gray day bright.

2. LA Confidential & White Jazz by James Ellroy. Incredibly irresistible hard boiled dectective novels that immerse you in a world where people have much worse problems than you do.

3. The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe. A great novel that showcases my heroes, Alan Shepard in particular.

4. Any compilation of the old cartoon strip, "Bloom County". The best comic strip this side of "Peanuts", it never fails to make me smile.

5. Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom. Truly inspirational.

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

*coughs* Bran!
In re comfort books: anything by Anthony Trollope. God, I love that man.

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

I've read At Swim, but not Rainbow Boys. I own Lamb, but I haven't read it yet. Never heard of the other one. :)

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

*makes note*

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

5. Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom. Truly inspirational

I need to read this, as everyone keeps saying I should.

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

You've read the Dark Tower so far, yes? And Salem's Lot? Sooo, whaddya think? Er. Without giving much away. *g* Unless you haven't read it, then, um.

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

Probably #1 is The Dark is Rising. This is on my list to read. I used to have it, somewhere, but I can't find it. *sigh* I may have to go get the whole darn series again, eventually.

[songdog.livejournal.com]

Contact by Carl Sagan
Pretty much anything by Carl Sagan
Hyperspace by Michio Kaku (especially chapter 13)
The Abyss by Orson Scott Card (I was disappointed to see his recent homophobic, anti gay marriage articles.)
The Old Patagonian Express by Paul Theroux
Several books by Richard Feynman, especially "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!"

[nmalfoy.livejournal.com]

A Wrinkle in Time
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N.I.M.H.
The Phantom Tollbooth
HP and the Sorcerer's Stone
Christine (Stephen King)
Any one of the Incarnations of Immortality series (Piers Anthony)
Any of the Harper Hall novels by Anne McCaffrey
Crystal Singer (Anne McCaffrey again)
The Eyes of the Dragon (Stephen King writes a fairy tale)
The Green Mile, Stephen King

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

The Old Patagonian Express by Paul Theroux

*adds to list*

[ex-mommybir.livejournal.com]

In This House of Brede.
The Shining
Julian of Norwich (for times of *really* low spirits)
Deidre Bair's biography of Anais Nin, lately--open it anywhere, fall in
Oh, there must be more, but I can't think. I love fiction.

[quiridion.livejournal.com]

My comfort book is 'To Kill a Mockingbird' 'cos it has everything: humour, drama, pathos etc. It is just brilliant. I think it is the best book ever and I love it. I laugh out loud and cry like a baby every time I read this book. <33333333

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

Believe it or not, I have never read The Shining. I have no idea why. I think I keep seeing the Kubrick thing when I think of picking it up. It'll happen, though, hopefully.

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

I read that in High School. I remember liking it. Hmm...

[ex-mommybir.livejournal.com]

There is no comparison between Kubrick's film and the novel. They are not even telling the same story, IMO. Read the book. You love Stevie--I think The Shining is one of his best works.

[robinhoo.livejournal.com]

Oh, woman, you must read the whole Dark Is Rising sequence. I have a mad, screaming fic-crush on Will Stanton.

Although to save my life I can't read the last one. Maybe it's just that I can't bring myself to admit that it's the end....