# 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:** 3
**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 28, 2001, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/41 "2001-04-28T01:46:32Z")
> [@](#): > > Fenris > > PS: Where does your sig line come from? It sounds so familiar. Brown? Sheckley? I know it’s not Heinlein. Kuttner? Laumer? Am I even close? Fenris – I’m delighted you like my sig line, and that you suspect those fine gentlemen of writing it. I wrote it myself. ---
**Author:** ![Mauvaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mauvaise/32/11084_2.png) [@Mauvaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mauvaise)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/42 "2001-04-28T03:54:28Z")
I could kick myself for not adding _The Mists of Avalon_ to my list. This book was given to me on my 17th birthday and in the almost 17 years since then I’ve read it numerous times. Truly a magnificent book. I should also be ashamed for leaving off _Alice in Wonderland_ and _Through the Looking Glass_. Hell, I _collect_ Alice stuff and own quite a few different editions of the books. I should also add _Clan of the Cave Bear_ to that list, another book I’ve read more times than I can remember. As long as we can include plays: I love _Hamlet_ and read it every so often. ---
**Author:** ![sk8rixtx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@sk8rixtx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sk8rixtx)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/43 "2001-04-28T04:00:01Z")
I feel like such a dork for saying this, but… **Harry Potter** frickin’ rules!!! This book just makes me feel all warm inside, except when those damn Dursleys make Harry’s life miserable. Oh and Draco Malfoy, don’t get me started on that jerk… ---
**Author:** ![MrVisible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@MrVisible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrVisible)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/44 "2001-04-28T04:50:06Z")
**Fenris** , I think you will be impressed with the Mars series. I’ve read it twice now, and I love the combination of fleshed-out characters allowed to develop over time, and amazingly well-researched technological background. It really takes a new approach to epic fiction. **sk8rixtx** , I’d have to add the Harry Potter books to my list too. Truly one of the best “I’ll just pick this up and read a couple of chapters, no way am I going to finish this tonight… damn, is that the sun coming up?” sort of experiences out there. Great books. I have to add these to my list too… **Edgar Rice Burroughs - _A Princess of Mars_** Pure, happy escapist adventure yarn. I read them all when I was thirteen, and have read them many times since. **Lord Dunsany - _anything_** The best way to be totally transported to another time and place I know of. **Tom Robbins - _Still Life With Woodpecker_** Completely involving, beautifully written, gently surreal, funny as hell, and has some great bomb recipes. ---
**Author:** ![silent\_rob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@silent\_rob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silent_rob)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/45 "2001-04-28T05:07:16Z")
The Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, definitely. The Complete Collection of Robert Burns…heh…makes me smile just remembering a few of his poems. 🙂 Cyrano De Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. When I’m feeling down, I read it and…it helps. Any _Calvin & Hobbes_ collection. There’s a lot of books that I read over again, but I don’t know if I’d call them comfort books. They’re just books that I really enjoy…which I suppose qualifies them. So, also Irvine Welsh books (Trainspotting and many others), Chuck Palahniuk books (Survivor at the top of that list), and The Illuminati! Trilogy. I’d probably add the Preacher TPB’s to that list, too. ---
**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 28, 2001, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/46 "2001-04-28T08:06:21Z")
Where the hell was my head? Lovecraft, Lovecraft, Lovecraft. Can’t believe I didn’t mention him. Truly comfort books. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/47 "2001-04-28T08:08:13Z")
Anyone worried about Edgar Eager, put your fears at rest. His books are still in print. We have a complete collection at my bookstore at the moment (recommended them to a kid today!). My favorite “comfort” books have already been mentioned: the Belgariad/Malloreon by Eddings. They’re totally silly, I know, but I was doing a reread my senior year of college, and I couldn’t stop (I think I ended up reading through them twice…and I had read them a couple times previously!). That was an extremely stressful year, and if I ever had a spare moment, I would pick up my book and completely forget about the crap going on in my life. That escapist mentality comes back to mind every time I look at them on my shelf. If I had been reading something else at the time, I would probably feel that way about it. I sold some of my old fantasy books to my used book store a couple weeks ago, but I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of those. ---
**Author:** ![Alonist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@Alonist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alonist)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/48 "2001-04-28T12:23:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* > \*\*Thank you for the tip. Off to the bookshop for me. \*\* And I’m off to the library to find out just how badly J.Carroll can write. E-mail me, if you like, and we’ll compare notes. Mentioning **Inferno** earlier made me remember a similarly-themed favorite by C.S. Lewis, **The Great Divorce**. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/49 "2001-04-28T15:03:02Z")
The Smiley books of John Le Carre and the Inspector Maigret stories by Georges Simenon.I was in bed with the flu recently and read “Smileys People” for about the seventh time. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2001, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/50 "2001-04-29T00:51:42Z")
Theodore Sturgeon has become my comfort read. Heck, he demands re-reading, I think. A BB buddy recently sent me a mint condition hardcover of More Than Human to replace my PB that was falling apart. I’m still looking for Some of Your Blood. You Jonathan Carroll fans might like William Browning Spencer too. Except he seems to have stopped writing. Anyone know what’s up with that? Thanks for the tip on Land of Laughs! (Off to Amazon, tra la tra la.) Carroll’s recent Heidelberg Cylinder was good too. The book was overpriced, considering the publisher messed up and doubled up on some of the pages. But I guess that’s better than leaving them out. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Anti\_Pro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Anti\_Pro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anti_Pro)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2001, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/51 "2001-04-29T03:30:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fretful Porpentine \* > \*\* > 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.) \*\* A Porpentine after my own heart! I absolutely love ‘Pride & Prejudice’. I know it sounds corny, but the Bible is my best comfort food, followed by almost anything by Jane Austen, except ‘Mansfield’ I didn’t care for that. ‘Up the Down Staircase’ ‘Many a Green Isle’ ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2001, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/52 "2001-04-29T03:48:44Z")
Many of my favorite authors have already been mentioned multiple times, but here’s another vote for Spider Robinson and RAH. And one author who was mentioned just once early in the thread, H. Beam Piper. I have ALL of his works that I know about.(I wanna be a Paratimer!) ---
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2001, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/53 "2001-04-29T05:07:34Z")
Yet another vote for **The Princess Bride** and anything by Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. **The Neverending Story** by Michael Ende is kind of a no-brainer choice for me (it even inspired my username). I’ve read it a minimum of 25 times, and it never gets old. Strangely enough, there’s a non-fiction book that falls into the category of “comfort book” for me Scott Turow, the guy who wrote **Presumed Innocent** , also wrote a darned good non-fiction book about his experiences as a first-year law student. It’s called **One L** , and I enjoyed it tremendously, even though I’ve never been interested in entering the law profession. I must have read it at least four times during my graduate school days, since I found it therapeutic to read about someone having a more stressful time than myself. I think I’ve read that one at least ten times. ---
**Author:** ![Alonist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@Alonist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alonist)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2001, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/54 "2001-04-29T10:17:16Z")
Try searching at [Abebooks](http://dogbert.abebooks.com/abe/BookSearch). They list several copies of the novel at reasonable prices. (I read _Some of Your Blood_ as a short story, and had no idea he had expanded it into a novel.) John Brunner’s publisher for _The Shockwave Rider_ decided that two similarly-named characters were the same person, changed one of the names, and published the novel that way. They protested that Brunner was often sloppy about names in his manuscripts. ---
**Author:** ![Alonist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@Alonist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alonist)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2001, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/55 "2001-04-29T10:29:57Z")
That last post of mine was of course a reply to Auntie Pam at the end of Page 1- I somehow missed Page 2. So, let’s see- oh, yes, George McDonald Frazer’s stories about Dand McNeill and his Highland regiment- Common Reader has collected them (with a new introduction by Frazer) as **MacAuslan Entire** , McAuslan being the proverbial world’s dirtiest soldier, who figures prominently or in the background in most of the stories. They were originally published in three volumes: **The General Danced at Dawn** , **MacAuslan in the Rough** , and **The Sheik and the Dustbin**. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2001, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/56 "2001-04-29T19:59:14Z")
_Tales of the City_ by Armistead Maupin and the five boks in the series that follow it. ---
**Author:** ![Orual](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orual](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orual)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2001, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/57 "2001-04-29T20:47:05Z")
_The Last Unicorn_:Peter S. Beagle What’s this? Why, I’m reading it even as I type! _The Prydain Chronicles (The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer, and The High King)_: Lloyd Alexander Fabulously cool story, and Eilonwy is one of my favorite characters in all literature. _Neverwhere_: Neil Gaiman OK, so I’m in love with the Marquis de Carabas, so what? _Good Omens_: Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman To be read whenever one is disgusted with humanity. Also it’s f\*ckin hilarious. And of course, _The Lord of the Rings, the Princess Bride_, and _The Chronicles of Narnia_, which have all already been mentioned _ad infinitum_. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2001, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/58 "2001-04-29T21:05:32Z")
_The Princess Bride_ by William Goldman Any books of Susie Bright essays The Straight Dope books ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/59 "2001-04-30T00:24:56Z")
Well, there are two classes for me. Comfort books, ones which I read when I am genuinely upset that cheer me up, ar truly what you mean by comfort books, and book I just love and will read over and over again. Comfort books: **Blue Castle** by L.M. Mongomery. Goodness, I love that book. Only for use when I’m really upset. **Anne of Green Gables** by the same. Only up to House of Dreams, the rest when she’s grown up depress me. I also have to hide those in my room, people make fun of me for reading them so often. Ones I read often: The Avalon series by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Especially **Forest House** **Song of Troy** by Colleen McCullough **Clan of the Cave Bear** series by Jean M. Auel. Dave Barry, Cecil Adams, Agatha Christie… Ohh, Gordon Korman’s up there. It’s a wonder I ever read anything new, eh? ---
**Author:** ![DynoSaur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DynoSaur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DynoSaur)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461/60 "2001-04-30T08:12:21Z")
**The Princess Bride** is a definite. Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams rule. **Good Omens** by Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Lyrics by F. Mercury. And some more Gaiman: **Neverwhere** has been mentioned, but I don’t think **Stardust** or **Smoke and Mirrors** have. At the very least you have to pick up the latter to read “We Can Get Them For You Wholesale”. Spider Robinson and the good people of **Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon** are always good relief… I have shelves more, but that’s quite enough, I think. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-books/63461.md?page=4)