I was in the middle of Lucifer’s Hammer by Niven and Pournelle, and just got to the part where the comet hits, and everybody’s dying.
You may not be suprised to hear that I didn’t pick it up again after Tuesday.
Instead, I went upstairs and took down Job: A Comedy of Justice. It’s another book about the end of the world, but it’s a million times more cuddly. Graham is one of Heinleins more ingratiating narrators, and reading Heinlein’s style is like sitting in Grandpa’s lap for me. (Stop right there! No dirty old man comments 'bout my grandpa allowed.)
The theme of the book is that love conquers all, through disasters and earthquakes, from High Heaven and in the very bowels of Hell, and that’s what I need to read right now.
Are you reading anything special to get you through, or are there certain tomes you always turn to in times of crisis?
First one to pipe up with Nostradamus gets a poke in the snout!
I’ve been considering recommending Lucifer’s Hammer on Fenris’ recommend me a book thread, but decided they aren’t in the mood for that type of joke.
You know the very final chapter? That always puts me in tears. Yes, I’m considering therapy.
I usually hit Heinlein pretty hard when depressed; Friday, Job, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, some of his kids stuff, like Red Planet and, err, somebody or the other of Mars. Time enough for Love, if things get really desperate.
Right now, I’m reading Watership down. Yes, heroic rabits are cheering me up.
I’m not trying to stifle discussion by posting this link. Here’s an earlier list of Comfort Books that has many good recommendations that’ll be a nice compliment to the ones that’ll be posted here.
For me, I’m gonna curl up with Zenna Henderson’s People stories. To use the description from NESFA’s page:
The Faraway Tree series. The writing is uninspiring, but my imagination has always filled in the gaps. [sub]Plus, I love sniggering at all the Dick and Fanny references.[/sub]
I like to go back and re-read novels that re-tell a fairy tale. Eleanor Farjeon’s “The Glass Slipper” is one I really like. (NOT Sherri Tepper’s “Beauty” ::shudder: I also just read an absolutely awesome retelling of Sleeping Beauty that was published recently, but can’t come up with the name of the book nor the author.
If you liked that, hunt down Beauty annd Rose Daughter, both retellings of Beauty and the Beast by the same author, writen 20 years apart. Deerskin is another Robin McKinnley retelling, though somewhat darker.
Hey, Fenris, I looked up “The People” at Amazon, and the customer comments are a little creepy. “Have you met The People?” Eep! Sounds like a cult or something! I can just see some wide-eyed waif asking me this while trying to had me a pamphlet. Might check it out if I get the chance though.
I liked “Beauty,” actually.
I’ll read cheesy romance novels by Jude Deveraux, LaVyrle Spencer and Judy Garwood, and then the Kirov Trilogy by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. And of course, books from my vast collection of Star Wars novels.
There are probably two books and one group of books that I’ll pick up and either read all of or part of: Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
Any Calvin & Hobbes collection by Bill Watterson
I’ve been reading Les Miserables this past week. An intricate, wordy nineteenth-century novel always helps me escape.
I have moved Farnham’s Freehold and Footfall to my nightstand for re-reading in the near future. I always get a thrill from the description of the lift-off of the Orion ship against the invaders. I need revenge fantasies right now, where the good guys win because they are smarter and better than the attackers
I feel vaguely guilty for having been enjoying some Dale Brown and Michael Demercurio techno-war stories over the past six months. This is not how things were supposed to happen. They didn’t play fair.
I also just read an absolutely awesome retelling of Sleeping Beauty that was published recently, but can’t come up with the name of the book nor the author.
Might check it out if I get the chance though.