# What are your read-for-comfort books? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 15, 2005, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-read-for-comfort-books/321723 "2005-09-15T03:42:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-read-for-comfort-books/321723/41 "2005-09-16T13:55:27Z")
_The Consolation of Philosophy_ by Boethius _City of Illusions_ by Ursula LeGuin _The Odes_ of Horace Seneca’s _On the Shortness of Life_ _Buddha_ by Karen Armstrong ---
**Author:** ![manx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@manx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manx)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-read-for-comfort-books/321723/42 "2005-09-16T14:12:26Z")
_Good Omens_, any Dicworld novel or selected bits from LotR. Every time I move I seem to wind up reading _Watership Down_. I own almost all of tamora Pierce’s books, so they’re nice for a quick YA-fantasy kick. _Winnie the Pooh_ makes me happy, _The House at Pooh Corner_ makes me cry. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![manx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@manx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manx)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-read-for-comfort-books/321723/43 "2005-09-16T14:16:11Z")
Um, that would be a _Discworld_ novel. But you guys already knew that, right? ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-read-for-comfort-books/321723/44 "2005-09-16T14:39:41Z")
Anything by Daphne DuMaurier. (Remind me sometime to start a thread on enduring non-masterpieces. DuMaurier has written a bunch – not immortal prose, but compelling, readable stories.) ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-read-for-comfort-books/321723/45 "2005-09-16T15:46:50Z")
Kurt Vonnegut’s small anthology, _Welcome To The Monkey House_, espeically the stories, “Who Am I This Time?”, “The Foster Portfolio”, and “Miss Temptation”. _The Chronicles of Narnia_ (excepting _The Last Battle_). Heinlein’s _The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress_. _The Annotated Sherlock Homes_. Highsmith’s _The Cry of the Owl_ and _The Talented Mr. Ripley_. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-read-for-comfort-books/321723/46 "2005-09-16T16:07:41Z")
> [@Smokinjbc](#): > > An old standby would be anything written by Taylor Caldwell - she wrote interesting stories, often historical with this kind of moral light on things. Her book, _Melissa_ is one of my favorite’s. > > . A CALDWELLITE!!! I got into her back into my Birch days (she was actually one of us) in the late 1970s-early 1980s- I remember when bookstores would have entire racks of her stuff & now only CAPTAINS & THE KINGS and her reincarnation book with Jess Stearn are still in print. My absolute favorite is DEAR AND GLORIOUS PHYSICIAN, with CAPTAINS AND THE KINGS & BRIGHT FLOWS THE RIVER next. I did not like I, JUDAS which was in her religiously-agnostic/NewAge phase. presenting JC as just a master metaphysician. But I see in BRIGHT and ANSWER AS A MAN a return to her Christian faith, tho not as hardcore Catholic as in her 1950s writings. Never read MELISSA tho. My own list- Taylor’s DEAR & GLORIOUS PHYSICIAN Lewis’s NARNIA, THE GREAT DIVORCE Ayn Rand’s ATLAS SHRUGGED Bram Stoker’s DRACULA Walker Percy’s LOVE IN THE RUINS, THE SECOND COMING ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-read-for-comfort-books/321723/47 "2005-09-16T17:06:18Z")
_Scaramouche_ and especially _Captain Blood_ by Raphael Sabatini. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-read-for-comfort-books/321723/48 "2005-09-16T17:16:06Z")
Anything by Diana Wynne Jones, Daniel Pinkwater (esp. the Snarkout Boys books), or Jane Austen. Or Connie Willis’ _To say nothing of the dog_. I’m another Anne Shirley fan, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-read-for-comfort-books/321723.md?page=2)