# Comfort Books **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 26, 2001, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461 "2001-04-26T23:53:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/1 "2001-04-26T23:53:44Z")
Y’know the (now passe’ but recently hyper-trendy) term “Comfort Food”? It meant “jes’ good eats” or “cookin’ lahk maw useta make”. Essentially: Meatloaf, beef stew, hearty, heavy food that was nice to eat on cold fall evenings. The culinary equivilant of a heavy, fluffy comforter on a cold winter’s morning. There’re books like that. Books that, no matter how often I reread them, leave me feeling better than when I started. Books that _can’t_ be overread. Books that I can _always_ read, regardless of my mood or even my desire to read. I’ve got a bunch of 'em but to list a few, A Wrinkle in Time and A Wind in the Door (and not the sequels) by Madelyne L’engle. The scene with Meg and Meg’s mom and Charles Wallace at the beginning, where they’re having a midnight snack and Mrs Who(?) burst in always…moves…me somehow. It’s a powerful scene. Have Spacesuit, Will Travel (and several other Juvies) by Robert Heinlein] O.Henry stories for the space-age. Hard work, diligence, decency pay off. Plus adventure, excitement, and damned good writing. Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon and Time Pressure by Spider Robinson. Just uplifting to me. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. One of the funniest books ever written The Princess Bride by William Goldman: The “Good Parts” version (IE: I’ve paperclipped the first horrible 40(?) pages that discuss the narrator’s frigid wife and fat kid and horribly self-indulgent '70s “It’s hard to be a star” bullsh\*t. Apparently the narrator’s life doesn’t parallel Goldman’s, but that doesn’t diminish the ugliness. But once the magic starts with “The year that Buttercup was born, the most beautiful woman in the world was a scullery maid named Antoinette.”…) Half Magic by Edward Eager. Another hysterical book-the scene with the cat that can half-talk…bwah-ha-ha! The People Collection by Zenna Henderson…(this one’s _perfect_ for restoring your faith in humanity) Esbe: A Winter’s Tale by Linda Haldeman. Perfect mood-setting book for a cold, snowy night. Beautiful and evocative. Reaper Man by Pratchett…the end bit. After the dance. If you’ve read it, you know the part I mean…don’t spoil it for those lucky few who get to read it for the first time. 🙂 I could go on and on, but how 'bout you, my fellow Dopers? I _know_ I’m not the only one who has ‘comfort’ books. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/2 "2001-04-27T00:06:58Z")
You have two of mine on your list: _The Phantom Tollbooth_ and _Reaper Man_. Actually anything by Pratchett. I’ve been reading them in rotation for years now. I reread Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently books pretty frequently (more so than the Hitchhiker’s Guide series). I’ve also read all the Sherlock Holmes stories many times. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/3 "2001-04-27T00:13:56Z")
_Little Fuzzy_ and _Fuzzy Sapiens_ by H. Beam Piper _Fuzzy Bones_ by William Tuning. _Agent of Change_, _Conflict of Honors_, _Carpe Diem_ and _Plan B_ by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. _Hunter’s Oath_ and _Hunter’s Death_ by Michelle West. Any of Gregory McDonald’s Fletch or Flynn books. ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/4 "2001-04-27T00:25:33Z")
_The Once and Future King_ by T.H. White – especially “The Sword in the Stone,” which has all the magical stuff and none of the depressing stuff. 🙂 _The Tempest_ is uplifting no matter how many times I see or read it. Actually, when in need of comfort reading I’ll usually pull out _Bulfinch’s Mythology_ or something like that (or, when I’m feeling particularly nostalgic, the _D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths._ Yeah, it’s bowdlerized, but I like the pictures. ;)) ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/5 "2001-04-27T02:56:58Z")
My comfort books vary according to what I have on hand, whether I’m in Austin or at my parent’s house in Houston. They include: How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill The Barrytown Trilogy by Roddy Doyle (especially The Snapper and The Van) The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper-Why can’t I ever find a complete set of these anywhere? Dreams Underfoot by Charles DeLint-at least until I loaned it to someone and never saw it again. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris Brain Droppings by George Carlin ---
**Author:** ![Wicked\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/2acd7d/32.png) [@Wicked\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wicked_Blue)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/6 "2001-04-27T03:11:14Z")
My all time favorite comfort book is _Boy’s Life_ by Robert R McCammon. I just finished it again. 🙂 Rose ---
**Author:** ![A\_Friend\_of\_the\_Devil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@A\_Friend\_of\_the\_Devil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Friend_of_the_Devil)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/7 "2001-04-27T03:11:39Z")
My own comfort books vary greatly, I have a somewhat bizzare taste… Anything by **Mark Twain**. I highly recommend **The Innocents Abroad** , **Life on the Mississippi** , or any of the collections. Most science fiction by **Isaac Asimov** , although some of it is getting a little dated. **Larry Nivens and Jerry Pournelle** also have a graet collection of books out there - try **Lucifer’s Hammer** , **The Mote in God’s Eye** , and others. **Moby Dick** , by Herman Melville. If you haven’t read this one, you should. A fascinating description of a section of American history that isn’t too familiar with people today. **Catch-22** , by Joseph Heller. Wicked satire that goes way beyond being merely a protest against war. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/8 "2001-04-27T03:23:31Z")
Children’s: _A Little Princess_, _Anne of Green Gables_, _All-of-a-Kind Family_, just about anything by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Adult: _Pride and Prejudice_, _Jane Eyre_, _Great Expectations_. (Victorian novels are so nice to curl up with; serious, yes, but you know nothing _too_ awful is going to happen.) Oh, and a lot of classic mysteries … I tend to work my way through Agatha Christie every three or four years, as soon as I’ve forgotten the endings. ---
**Author:** ![Creaky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@Creaky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creaky)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/9 "2001-04-27T03:45:45Z")
**Fenris!** Omigosh, you are like the first person I ever encountered besides me who ever read _Half Magic_! And yeah, Carrie the half-talking cat is great. Did you ever read the others by Eager: _Magic By the Lake_ and _Knight’s Castle?_ They’re way cool as well! Definitely some of my comfort book choices. Lessee… other comfort books of mine: _Dracula_, Bram Stoker _Huckleberry Finn_, Mark Twain _The Haunting of Hill House_, Shirley Jackson _From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler_, E. L. Konigsburg _Black and Blue Magic_, Zilpha Keatley Snyder _Harriet the Spy_, Louise Fitzhugh _Edie_, Jean Stein ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/10 "2001-04-27T04:13:05Z")
Several of mine parallel **Fenris** ’ choices (no real surprise). Here are a few that I return to again and again: _Godstalk_ by P.C. Hodgell–it’s like visiting with an old, dear friend and hearing about all her adventures since last we met. I’m more than a little in love with Jame…and that’s a dangerous thing. 🙂 _Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon_ by Spider Robinson _Have Spacesuit, Will Travel_, _Red Planet_, and _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_ by Robert Heinlein (the first three novels I ever read) _A Wrinkle in Time_ by Madeline L’Engle–I need a new copy; my bookshelves aren’t complete without it. _Mad Amos_ (the collection of Mad Amos Malone shorts) and the early Flinx books by Alan Dean Foster–they bring back memories of sitting up in the tree branches as a child, reading novels and old dog-eared F&SFs. Peaceful memories. _Bridge of Birds_ by Barry Hughart–no matter tired or glum I may be, Master Li’s schemes always get a smile and a chuckle out of me. ---
**Author:** ![Yersinia\_Pestis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ccd318/32.png) [@Yersinia\_Pestis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yersinia_Pestis)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/11 "2001-04-27T04:32:38Z")
**Bleak House** , by Dickens. ---
**Author:** ![moi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@moi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moi)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/12 "2001-04-27T06:23:57Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by A Friend of the Devil_ > **Larry Nivens and Jerry Pournelle** also have a graet collection of books out there - try **Lucifer’s Hammer** , **The Mote in God’s Eye** , and others. 😃 I’m reading **Mote** right now, for the first time. As for **comfort books** , I’d say that anything by **Nick Bantok** fits this category, as well as **A Weave of Women** by E.M. Broner and **The Dud Avocado** by Elaine Dundy. Big artbooks also bring on a kind of sedate happiness. ---
**Author:** ![Kallessa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7993a0/32.png) [@Kallessa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kallessa)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/13 "2001-04-27T06:37:34Z")
SIight hijack– **ballybay** –_The Dark is Rising_ paperback boxed edition, ISBN 002042565. With that number any bookstore should be able to find it for you. Hardcover matched set is harder to find, unfortunately. **Creaky and Fenris** I am also a fan of the books by Edward Eager, since I discovered them at the library as a child. I recently bought several at a library sale–sad to think they may not be available for new people to check out, but maybe they just got new editions. I re-read _The forgotten Beast of Eld_ by Patricia McKillip when I really want to escape into a book, especially if a good cry is in order. It helps keep my romantic heart hopeful. And I pull down various books by Charles DeLint, in fact, I think I’ll re-read _Trader_ for my next kick around book (I have one, never before read book going(because there are just too many books out there and if I just re-read stuff, I’ll never read them all), and at least one kick around book–the one I pick up when I only has 10 minutes, or if I’m going to a resturant alone. Pratchett is good for light reading, I’m still finding puns or clever jokes that I missed the first time around. And **cher3,** I also re-read the _Dirk Gently_ books more often that _Hitchhiker’s_. Really wish Adams would write another one. ---
**Author:** ![Lux\_Fiat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lux\_Fiat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lux_Fiat)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/14 "2001-04-27T07:32:24Z")
My all-time comfort book is the _Illuminatus!_ trilogy. Other’n that, we have Zelazny’s _Amber_ series, and PREACHER by Ennis and Dillon, TRANSMETROPOLITAN by Ellis and Robertson, THE AUTHORITY by Ellis and Hitch, FINDER by McNeil, and INVISIBLES by Morrison. What can I say? Good comics put me at ease. ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/15 "2001-04-27T09:24:57Z")
Both the **Hitchhiker’s** series (excepting the final one), and the two **Dirk Gently** adventures. On the more poetic side, Kahlil Gibran’s **The Prophet** and T.S. Eliot’s **Four Quartets** , _especially_ **Little Gidding** , the last few lines of which never fail to send a shiver through my spine. Daniel Pinkwater’s **Yobgorgle: Mystery Monster of Lake Ontario**. Pages are dog-eared and yellowed, a favorite since I was a kid. Singular essay: Edward Abbey’s **Coda: Cape Solitude** which ends the collection **Abbey’s Road**. Robert Pirsig’s **Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance** and, to a lesser extent, **Lila**. The **Tao Te Ching**. On the comic book/graphic novel front, I keep going back to Frank Miller & Geoff Darrow’s **Hard Boiled**. ---
**Author:** ![Primaflora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Primaflora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primaflora)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/16 "2001-04-27T09:53:26Z")
Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles. Despite my user name, I’m less thrilled with the House of Niccolo. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/17 "2001-04-27T11:56:59Z")
Katisha: > [@](#): > > The Once and Future King by T.H. White – especially “The Sword in the Stone,” which has all the magical stuff and none of the depressing stuff. Do you know that **The Sword in the Stone** was published first, and as a separate book? When T.H. White incorporated it into **The Once and Future King** he cut out a _lot_ and changed a lot. If you haven’t read the uncut version, go to a library and read it! I also recommend the “fifth book” of TOAFT, published separately as **The Book of Merlin**. As for my “comfort books” – which I interpret as books I can yank down and just dip into, a lot of them have been listed: Sherlock Holmes (by Doyle, of course, but also a lot of imitators) Heinlein “juveniles” and non-juves. Heck, I’ve justfinished re-reading “Puppet Masters”, which I didn’t intend to read – I just picked it up and got hooked. Early Frederick Forsyth Thrillers – **Day of the Jackal** , **The Odessa File** , **The Devil’s Alternative** **The Lord of the Rings** C.S. Forester books, especially Horatio Hornblower novels Dave Barry books Mark Twain (except Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn) Cecil, of course, and Berga Evans books, and William Poundstone, and the like. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/18 "2001-04-27T12:20:03Z")
I flee to children’s books when I’m in need of comfort. Especially: The Little House series The Betsy-Tacy books Anne of Green Gables Daddy-Long-Legs anything by Noel Streatfeild anything by Rumer Godden anything by Edward Eager (YES!) anything by E. Nesbit ---
**Author:** ![Lyllyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@Lyllyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lyllyan)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/19 "2001-04-27T13:00:08Z")
Either the Diana Gabaldon _Outlander_ series or Robert Jordan’s _Wheel of Time_ series. I have multiple copies of all the above mentioned. Some for the car, some for the bedroom, some in the living room etc… ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/20 "2001-04-27T13:17:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lux Fiat \* > \*\*Good comics put me at ease. \*\* I’m with you there. I got back from a late shift at the Food Co-op at 11:30 last night, made a stiff drink and my solitary supper, and pulled out R. Crumb/Aline Kominsky’s COMPLETE DIRTY LAUNDRY COMICS. “Ha ha…the poor swine! Lookit how MISERABLE he is!” Great schadenfreude reading. M.F.K. Fisher’s or John Thorne’s foodie essays. More nourishing than actual food sometimes. Another late-night favorite is the huge PENGUIN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORROR AND THE SUPERNATURAL, which is fun on its own and also steers one to more primary reading/viewing pleasure. “Hey, I haven’t wached SECONDS for years! And it’s time to re-read E.F. Benson and Maurice Level!” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461.md?page=2)