Hijack, but I have to take advantage of this opportunity:
Ukelele Ike, Do you know who authored a collection of food essays a couple of years ago - they were from a column from Esquire or some other equivalent magazine. The guy lived in S. Florida with his wife and the recipes were heavy on food from that area. Any help?
Jess, I also love the Betsy-Tacy books. My dad read them to me when I was a kid, and re-reading them is really comforting on several levels.
One of my all-time favorite comfort books is “A College of Magics” by Caroline Stevermer. It’s a wonderful fanstasy/adventure/alternate history set in early twentieth century Europe. I’ve looked for other books by Stevermer, but have never been able to find any.
Yes! Yes! Yes! I reread this series almost once a year. It’s like visiting with old friends.
I also have to agree with Fenris’ listing of The Princess Bride. I read the book for the first time years before the movie was made and I loved it! Still do.
I have to add James and the Giant Peach, my favourite Dahl book.
And even though I’ve only read it once so far (first time reading it was just a few months ago), I think that Good Omens will be added to this list.
Mmmm…love this thread. My choices:
Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit - Jeanette Winterson
The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje
Possession - A.S Byatt
Oscar & Lucinda - Peter Carey
Macbeth - William Shakespeare (I know, that sounds strange. But I love reading it out loud)
Promises Lovers Make When It Gets Late - Darian Leader
Someone else also mentioned my childhood favourite - Harriet the Spy
I adore Fenris’s book threads, they always make me feel like I’m in the company of such kindred spirits.
Jess’s bookshelf sounds like it must be similar to mine. Here are some of my other favorites:
Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery. I also like the Anne books, but I love Emily more.
Lizard Music by Daniel Pinkwater
Any Star Wars book.
Here Lies the Body or any of the Trick books by Scott Corbett.
The Saturdays , Gone Away Lake or anything else by Elizabeth Enright
This House of Brede by Rumer Godden
Anything by Carol Ryrie Brink
Anything by Betty MacDonald
Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford. I don’t know if this counts as a comfort book, or one of those books one reads when one is miserable, and wants to be more miserable, except in a more dramatic and lofty way.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt.
Betsy-Tacy, as already mentioned, by Maud Hart Lovelace. These books are just delightful. If anyone wants more info about the Betsy-Tacy Society, feel free to email me. The lesser known Maud Hart Lovelace books, Carney’s House Party and Emily of Deep Valley have recently been published in paperback editions, after decades of being out of print.
Always worth it to check out a Fenris thread, though he has indeed named a bunch of mine.
My definition of a comfort book is one in which I can relax, knowing that I can trust the skill of the author, who will give me decent storytelling with interesting twists of plot and insight with prose that does not call too much attention to itself. Humor and excitement are also plusses.
To the long list of Good Stuff (particularly Heinlein)cited above, let me add the works of John D. MacDonald, notably the Travis Magee series.
Spider Robinson has never let me down, and the scene in his latest “Callahan’s Key” where the group visits legendary slip F-18, Bahia Mar is a damn fine tribute to JDM.
Randall Garret’s Lord D’Arcy stuff is wonderful to curl up with- Sherlock Holmes crossed with magic,
For the really postive human values, Zenna Henderson’s tales of The People and the whole of **Edgar Pangborn’s ** works, particularly “Davy”. And Sturgeon.
Lots of Sturgeon, especially “Slow Sculpture” and “Saucer of Lonliness”. Someone once observed that everything he wrote was about love.
When we began our study of Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy, my English professor recommended that we re-read it every ten years, promising that it would be a different book every time, and better for it.
I’ve got one of those re-reads under my belt now, and he’s right so far!
Good news for fans of Jonathan Carroll’s Land of Laughs; it’s out again, this time as a $13.95 trade paperback- I may wait a couple of years and hope to pick it up remaindered. Copies of the original 70’s paperback are going for $50- it’s that good a book, too.
I don’t know how easy it is to get hold of nowadays, but I like Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle’s Inferno, though be warned; its version of Hell is very SF-centric.
So many have already been mentioned. Sturgeon, Heinlein, Spider Robinson, The Phantom Tollbooth, the Dirk Gently series… you people rock. You really do.
My additions…
Ray Bradbury - Dandelion Wine
Whenever I’m in need of a little magic and innocence. And incredible writing, of course.
John Crowley - Little, Big
Whenever I need a lot of magic, delicately told, and a sense of wonder.
Mark Helprin - A Soldier of the Great War
This one comes out when I need to be reminded that life is cyclical, that you ride its waves up and back down, and your life is the sum of all its parts.
I just wish I could find some Enid Blyton in this country.
DAMN! That IS good news! I’ve been wanting to read that fucker for years, but didn’t want to shell out the big bux for a “rare edition” (as I’ve read some of Carroll’s later stuff and hated it).
Thank you for the tip. Off to the bookshop for me.
Another vote for:
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle
and
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Plus some other old favourites:
The NeverEnding Story by Michael Ende
I’ve read this about 18 times, I think. Like the two books above, it’s a work of staggering imagination.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Absolutely beautiful. It always leaves me feeling triumphant, glad to be alive and appreciative of the world I live in. Not necessarily an easy read but always worth it.
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Especially The Voyage of the Dawntreader. I loved these as a kid and I always enjoy going back to them.
The Belgariad by David Eddings
I don’t think I could get through it again, but I read this and the sequel The Malloreon over and over and over during a time when my family was going through some Very Bad Things, and it did a very good job of keeping my happy and sane. Escapism at its finest.
I will read anything by Terry Pratchett, anywhere, any time. One of the few authors that makes me laugh out loud - and I really hope to be Nanny Ogg when I get old.
I can also always sink into Shogun - I get entirely wrapped up in a foreign culture and another time. I’m always surprised by Toranaga’s cunning, revealed at the end of the book - even though I’ve read it over and over, and the same thing happens each time.
I’m a Heinlein fan, too - my personal favorite is The Number of the Beast, or anything with an appearance by Lazarus Long.
I’ve read (and enjoyed thoroughly) The Book of Merlin, but not the uncut Sword in the Stone (though I did know it was published first). I’ll have to look for it.
And of course I have to kick myself for leaving The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings off my list… :eek:
I agree with the Belgariad and Mallorean series by David Eddings, I’ve read them both probably 4-6 times each. I also like the Ruby Knight series and its sequel, too, but have only read them once (so far.)
Actually, my list is too long to put here, but a few are:
Little Women
Anything by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (especially her St. Germain Series)
Alice in Wonderland
But my all-time favorite comfort book (and I re-read it at least once every year) is Betty Smith’s “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”. If you haven’t read it, you should!!!
Cal’s completely correct, the uncut Sword in the Stone is far better. The problem is that (if I recall correctly) the cut version has also been published as a stand-alone. There’s an easy trick to telling the two apart: in chapter 6, Wart or Kay shoots an arrow into the woods and a crow(?) grabs it. Kay says that the crow was a witch. End of chapter. In the “uncut” version, Kay and Wart follow the crow who turns out to be Madame Mim, who has an edible house. There’s also a bit about a magician’s duel where Hecate is the umpire. There’s more changes between the two volumes, but a quick glance at the end of chapter 6 will let you sort 'em out. (My version of the uncut edition has a Disney cover)
Also the second and third sections of the The Once and Future King (“The Ill-Made Knight” and “The Queen of Air and Darkness”) have also been published seperately and there’s been some editing of them for the collected volume as well, but I’ve never once seen the standalones of them, so I have no idea how extensive the changes were. The fourth section (“Candle in the Wind”) was original to The Once and Future King
Y’know what’s odd: I’ve never read the whole Once and Future King. I’ve got a copy and I can’t count the number of times I’ve read Sword, but I’ve never continued; I take it it’s worth reading?
Fenris
PS: Alonist, that’s great news. I’ve got a copy of Land of Laughs, but refuse to loan it anymore (I’ve loaned several copies, they never come back!). Land of Laughs is probably my favorite Carroll, followed by Sleeping in Flames or A Child Across the Sky. I didn’t care much for his new one (The Wooden Sea.)
Fenris:
Yes, the complete Once nd Future King is well worth reading. I’ve read it a few times. God knows how they got the musical Camelot out of it.
I’m a BIG fan of King Arthur – I’ve read the classic texts, but I don’t recommend most of them for the nonfanatic. Besides TOAFK, recommend John Steinbeck’s ersio (yes, that John Steinbeck), which is both surprsingly good and scandalously underappreciated. Thomas Berger’s Arthur Rex is a hoot – unexpurgated Arthur as if told by an arrogant noble. And Pepper Mill wouldn’t forgive me if I didn’t mention The Mists of Avalon. And although it’s [ireally* noncanonical, I love A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. As implied in my above post, IT’S one of my “comfort books”.
fretful porpentine, you have restored me. i thought i was the only person in the world to read all of a kind family. i love those books.
i keep night probe, treasure, and sahara, by clive cussler in my backpack just in case.
if i need cheering i reach for my calvin and hobbs books.
the alienist by caleb carr, can make me forget i’m in this century, if i need an escape.
Yeah. The weird thing, though, is that even though I know it’s a dreadful adaptation of The Once and Future King, I still like Camelot. Maybe because I was familiar with it before I ever read TOAFK…plus it has good songs. 
Also must second the recommendation for Connecticut Yankee, which is great, if quite disturbing. (I know quite a few people who hate it.)
Oh, and thanks for reminding me of the Steinbeck version – that’s going on the list of Stuff To Purchase With My Birthday Money now, assuming I can find it at the bookstore. I’m also a big Arthur buff.
Cal
Thanks for the info:
I’m just finishing a Spider Robinson marathon (one book to go) and I’ve promised myself that I’d try Kim Stanley (no relation) Robinson’s Red/Green/Blue Mars stuff (I don’t expect to like it, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by stuff I didn’t expect to like before), plus I want to read Tigana by Kay(e?)and Armageddon Rag by Martin. Now you, a poster who’s taste I trust tremendously, recommends a book that keeps getting shoved down to the middle of my “To be read” heap by more immediate stuff…you’re not making my life less complicated, man! 
I’ll move it way up on my list and read it this time!
I’ve never heard of the Steinbeck book (“ersio”? I assume that’s a typo. Amazon lists a book called Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights which, I assume is what you meant). Anyway, it sounds good, but the Arthur Rex sounds better. I’ve never heard of it, either but I’ll be looking it up ASAP. I’ve got a copy of Mists of Avalon but I got it at the end of a Bradley marathon and had burned out on her badly. I’m just now to the point (maybe 8 years later?) that I can read her stuff again.
It’s funny: when I was in high school, I remember getting very indignant over Twain. Both Yankee and The Diary of Adam and Eve really, really irritated me. I mean, he was MOCKING knighthood! He was MOCKING God!. To paraphrase (I think) Twain: It’s amazing how, as I grow older, Twain grows wiser. By the way: you’ve read his speech “Some Thoughts on the Science of Onanism”, haven’t you? Hysterical stuff!
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?
Mine would be any by Heinlein, especially The Door into Summer and Glory Road. I like Niven’s Known Space stories too.
But my all time favorite comfort book would be The Wind in the Willows.