Comfort Reading

Having had a couple of visits to the hospital of late I've been in sore need of comfort reading. I fell back on Winnie the Pooh and Hazel Holt's Mrs Malory mysteries, which were perfect for what I needed. (I took a Sarah Caudwell mystery with me and literally couldn't read it.)

My online friend, Bobby Lee Eason, recently addressed comfort reading in a Trollope group post and gave us a link to India Knight's Posterous where she recently compiled a wonderful list. I know it's wonderful although I haven't read about half the books because I have read the other half and they would be on my list too. She says one important characteristic of a comfort read is the amount of tweeness. Too much and it pushes the book over the edge, not enough and it isn't sufficiently comfortable.

Here's her Ultimate List:

• The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford (start there and read them all) 
• Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson 
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 
• I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith 
• The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield
• Persuasion by Jane Austen
• Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamund Lehmann 
• Dusty Answer by Rosamund Lehmann 
• Anything by Georgette Heyer - maybe start with The Grand Sophy
• Excellent Women by Barbara Pym (and everything else she ever wrote) 
• The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy 
• Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson 
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë 
• Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (also Nightingale Wood by the same author, which I didn't know but am now seeking out) 
• The Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard (bliss, plus there are tons of them) 
• The Scotland Street books by Alexander McCall Smith 
• Forever Amber by Kathleen Windsor 
• Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild 
• Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell 
• Travels with my Aunt by Graham Greene 
• Hens Dancing by Raffaella Barker 
• The Tales of the City series by Armistead Maupin 
• What Ho, Jeeves, Code of the Woosters and Uncle Fred in the Springtime by PG Wodehouse (but any, really) 
• The Mapp and Lucia books by EF Benson 
• Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier 
• Frenchman's Creek by Daphne Du Maurier 
• Mariana by Monica Dickens 
• The L-shaped Room by Lynn Reid Banks 
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer 
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett 
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott 
• The Towers of Trebizond by Rose Macaulay 
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë 
• Angry Housewives Eating Bonbons by Lorna Handvik 
• The Miss Marple books by Agatha Christie 
• Riders and Rivals by Jilly Cooper (also the 'name' books - Bella, Imogen etc) 
• 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff 
• The Jackson Brodie books by Kate Atkinson 
• Heartburn by Nora Ephron
• The Lord Peter Wimsey books by Dorothy L Sayers 
• The Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith 
• The Molesworth books by Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle 
• Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (not sure about including this. Not what you'd call a *cuddly* book)
• A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth 
• The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton 
• Not That Sort of Girl by Mary Wesley 
• Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder 
• The Darling Buds of May books by H.E. Bates (these also work marvellously if you're feeling fat - bonus)

Comments

[Fay]

A Suitable Boy has been on my shelf for an age. Why, why, why am I so attracted to these long books? That one runs to almost 1500 pages. These doorstops may be good reads, but they do slow down the rate of blogging.

[Pam]

I've read many of these but there are a couple I'm not familiar with so I'll be looking into those. I love book lists! Sorry to hear you've been spending time in the hospital and hope things are better now.

[Mary Ronan Drew]

Fay, Like you I find myself attracted to BIG books. Also sets of novels that go together, like Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time.

Nan, I haven't read quite a few of these titles. I'm looking forward to some new authors and works soon.

I'm home from the hospital, the pneumonia is gone, along with the other problems, and I'm feeling very well. Thanks for asking.

[Kimberly]

Mary: perfect timing. On January 3rd my job of 26 years ended (my boss retired). January 4 I had shoulder surgery--dominant shoulder, of course. First of February I start a new job. Comfort reading is a must!

I've read many of these and am looking forward to selecting a few more.

Just started the new bio about Jeane Kirkpatrick and although it is very good, I think I will put it aside for one from the above list.

Glad you are doing better, Mary.

[Mary Ronan Drew]

Oh, Kimberly! So many changes at the same time. I hope some of these titles give you the smile and warmth you need from your reading right now.

[Karen]

Sorry to hear you've been under the weather again, Mary. And I would tend to agree that Madame Bovary is not "comfort reading." (!) Great literature, yes, comforting, no. : )

[Mary Ronan Drew]

No, Mrs Bovary is not easy reading. But so many of the other titles are a delight. The Rosamund Lehman books and I Capture the Castle. I'd add any book at all by D E Stevenson.. She wrote about 40 of them and each is more charming than the last.

[Karen]

Agreed -- I ADORE "Miss Buncle's Book" and in fact re-read it over Christmas when I had a case of the holiday blues. Worked like a tonic!

[Mary Ronan Drew]

I just finished reading the third "Miss Buncle" book, The Two Mrs Abbotts. It's just as delightful as the other two.

[Thomas at My Porch]

There are so many on your list that I love that I am going to keep the list bookmarked as reference for finding other books I might like.

[Mary Ronan Drew]

Doesn't Angry Housewives Eating Bonbons sound delightful!