(no subject)

[shadowkat]

Playing online while watching tv again...at the moment a "Grey's Anatomy" re-run. Grey's is my comfort show.

I have all sorts of cultural things that comfort me and to be honest they are more satisfying to rely on than well, food and alcohol, although I do that too - more than I should. In that category *cough*chocolat*cough* comes to mind.

Some comfort books past and present include - the Spenser novels by Robert Parker (who I almost got a chance to see in person, but passed on it - have learned from experience that I prefer not to meet favorite writers and actors in person), Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels - which got me through the period of time around 9/11 (I read her novels like crazy on the trains and idiotically sent a fan letter about it to her site, which I wish I hadn't. Some people have foot in mouth disease, I have email in mouth disease.), Jim Butcher's Dresden series, Charlain Harris' Southern Vampire series, The Harry Potter novels, the PG Wodehouse Jeeves and Wooster books, the Lymond Chronicles, and Elizabeth Peter's "Vicky Bliss" mysteries are all examples of some of my comfort reads. Also the X-men comic books. These characters speak to me, their situations, their pain, their struggle. I think the reason I adore the X-men is it is a series of comic books about characters who are misunderstood, exiled, and considered outcasts. The books are about prejudice, discrimination, intolerance, and the struggle against such things. They are about keeping one's dignity and integrity in the face of intolerance and in front of bullies. They are also about the feeling of being cast-out, different. The books I've listed above all have that in common - that idea of being uncomfortable in one's skin. Of feeling like an outsider. Of struggling to fit in. Of being different. Each of the leads is someone who is operating outside societal structure, who likes structure, but at the same time questions it, can't quite handle authority yet desires authority.
In short - the characters speak to me. Also each of the books I've listed above have very strong no-nonsense women in them - women who are not damsels, yet still feminine. Who can be the hero in their own right.

Comfort reads I define as books that do not require much thought. They don't make you bleed. They don't hurt. They won't change your mind or flip you upside down. Although that can happen. They aren't listed as "great literature" and more often than not, someone out there will tease or give you a disapproving nod for choosing to read them. They aren't in short on that academic reading list you'd get from your college professor. These are books you can more or less just emotionally fall into. The world surrounds you. You love the characters. And you do not, I repeat, do not want to come up for air. You just want to stay in this character's world for as long as possible. Curl up in it in front of a hot fire, with a mug of hot coco in your hand, while you just fall into the words. More often than not it is not the writing that makes me feel this way but the characters the writer has created, their inter-relationships, dialogue, etc.

Comfort tv shows are similar.

It's sort of like a scrumptuous dessert for the brain. Except you can eat it again and again without gaining weight or getting sick.

Anywho here's a meme:

What are your comfort reads?

Why?

Comments

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

I find myself re-reading the Brother Cadfael stories by Ellis Peters, the later novels of Dick Francis and the WW1 series by both Jaqueline Winspear and Anne Perry. I think in all cases it comes down to putting myself in the place of a person who is trying to make the best life they can during times of enormous political or personal crisis. And taking comfort in the fact that they do rise above the squalor and try to make not only their own lives but the lives of their friends a better place, if only for a day.
And like you most of these have strong female characters who speak to me.

[wisewoman.livejournal.com]

Well, for a while there my comfort books were The Cat Who... series, but then I read them all. Wow, talk about comfort! Also Anne Perry, I guess. Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series with Claire and Jamie. Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, although I've had the last book for years now and haven't read it. John Sandford's Prey series, but again, I just read all 16 of them in a row.

Now I'm starting on the Dresden Files, so they'll be my new comfort books, I hope.

;o)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Haven't tried the Outlander series - time travel books bug me, because they never quite know how to deal with the fact that if you travel back in time you will screw up your own future. I've read quite a few, but am bugged by that small detail. The ones I thought dealt with it the best, made that detail the main focus of the book or film.

That said, had another friend rec the book, a friend who does not like romance novels and did not realize it was a romance novel until halfway through the book. She also doesn't like fantasy. The fact she liked it, makes me curious. Just wish it wasn't such a big book. Big books are hard to cart around NYC.

I've read a little Ann Perry. Not a lot.

Dresden is a total comfort read for me - I always want more afterwards. And can't wait for the next one. Also they come out faster than the Harry Potter books do and there's more of them.

[wisewoman.livejournal.com]

IIRC, Outlander itself isn't that big a book, although the ones that follow it certainly are. Dragonfly in Amber is quite hefty.

I forgot to mention Harry Potter--I love them too, of course. I'll be sorry when it's over.

;o)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I guess it depends on what you consider big. I picked up the Diana Gabaldon Outlander today, and that baby has 850 pages. Granted it you are used to George RR MArtin, that's nothing. But I like my books a tad leaner. Half of that is padding and completely unnecessary.

[wisewoman.livejournal.com]

OMG! That's definitely not the original novel! Was it The Outlander Companion, maybe? I know there's something like that out there as well. The original novel would have been, maybe 300 pages? Probably more like 250. I think I've still got it around here somewhere, I'll check. It was less than 1/2 the size of the sequel, Dragonfly in Amber.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

No, it's definitely the original novel according to the volumn I hold in my hand.
Copyrighted in 1991. Written by Diana Gabaldon. 850 pages - and it is a regular size paperback.
And the title is "Outlander".

Could you be confusing this with something else?

[wisewoman.livejournal.com]

Okay, I just went and found my old copy of Outlander, published in 1991, and I haven't looked at it since then. You might be right...my copy is in hardcover and it's a small book, maybe an inch thick, but when I opened it I found the paper is very thin, the font very small, and it does have 620 pages. If they reprinted it and used a heavier stock, or a larger font, it could go to 800 pages I guess, and be a thicker volume.

Weird.

;o)

;o)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

It's small print and thin pages - but also the same paperback size as a Dresden paperback or any of the others on the market. Paperbacks due tend to have more pages than hard back novels - particularly normal size paperbacks. Large size or more expensive "contemporary" paperbacks will have the same number of pages (ie the first paperback editions of the Harry Potter novels as opposed to the second, cheaper printing.)

So your version just had bigger pages - more words could fit.

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

Growing up I must have read each of Louisa May Alcott's books ten times, and when I was in college I discovered, read, and reread the Lord of the Rings and all of Jane Austen's novels (naturally those still hold my interest and make me happy).
More recently I've read the Harry Potter books multiple times, as well as Dorothy L. Sayer's Lord Peter Whimsey mysteries, and Jim Butcher's Dresden Files.
Most recently I've started in on Terry Pratchett's Discworld, and although I'm reading them all for the first time they are giving me that same feeling of joy and comfort (a world I recognize, and characters I can love to spend time with).
Although I have to second the loving of Ellis Peter's Cadfael Mysteries, I even went so far as to take a pilgramage to Shrewsbury, England (which was absolutely wonderful, it completely lived up to my love of these wonderful novels).

I love TV and movies, but when push comes to shove there really is nothing as deeply satisfying as a great book!

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Would agree here...when push comes to shove - it's the book. You have more control when you read a book. You can cast the characters and envision them. You can choose how you want to read it.
From back to front. Front to back. Skip about. Read only certain sections. You can take a book anywhere including the bathroom. (Actually from what I've seen, that appears to be where a lot of folks read - on the stool. Not me, so much.) Books also are quiet. They don't disturb anyone around you. And you don't need people to be quiet around you in order to read.

It's odd but I never read the Lousia May Alcott books. Saw the movies based on them numerous times but never read the books. Did however read almost all of the Jane Austens - went a bit nuts over Austen in my teens. There were three that I did not read. Northhanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, and Sense and Sensibility - the heroines in these three novels - I could not identify with for some reason. The didn't have the spunk and common sense that the ones in Emma, Pride and PRejudice, and PErsuasion did.

Outside of The Amazing Maurice haven't read much Terry Prachett. Will say that book qualified as a comfort read. My brain was mush at the time, and I was stressed out.

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

I still love Louisa May Alcott, I reread Little Women a few years ago and it really held up for me (filled with humor, real characters, and the small concerns of every day life). And I never tire of rereadng Jane Austen: I identified TOO much with our 'heroine' in Northhanger Abbey: being a wall flower, falling in love too fast, and day dreaming too much, I found myself embarassed for her the first time I read it (it is hard to see the humor when you are writhing in self-identification).

Like you, I don't like to read in the bathroom (not even in the tub). My preference is to curl up someplace really comfortable where I won't be disturbed, but I also carry a book everywhere so that I can escape long lines or crowded subways or general boredom.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

This is why I prefer paperbacks to hard backs - the ability to carry it anywhere. The bigger the book is - the harder to cart around and the less likely I'll make it through it.
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel I made the mistake of buying in hard back when it first came out - impossible book to lug around, so it sits in my nightstand, undisturbed.

Ah, that may be the reason I could not make it through Northhanger Abbey identified too much with the heroine. It was Austen's attempt at satirizing the gothic romances that were popular during her time. She had troubles with the heroines in these romances, apparently, she thought they were a tad wimpy and passive and a bit on the stupid side. Can't remember where I read this.

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

Yes, I took a course on English literature where we read some really odd-ball stuff, and one was a traditional 'Gothic Romance' where the heroine was such a ninny, with less sense than a baby, and I understand that these were universally popular at the time. Those novels led to Bronte's 'Jane Eyre' (a more believeable Gothic Romance but with an intelligent heroine), and Austen's 'Northhanger Abbey' which was a spoof about someone who reads too many of them, while still being one in it's essential elements.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

So many, and depends a bit on particular need for comfort: I got through the final months of writing up my PhD on the Victorian family novels of Charlotte Yonge, but if I'm feeling unwell quite often it's John D McDonald's Travis McGee I turn to.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Ah, Travis McGee - the books that always had a color in the title if I recall. Loved them when I was younger. I think I read almost all of them - my father had just about every Travis that was published at one time. Haven't read one in ages.

Agree with the particular need for comfort. I tried to be specific but in reading the replies, I think I was tad more general in my definition than I intended. Ah well, general memes are easier to respond to, I've discovered. What I meant was the books you read when the brain is mush, you don't want to think, you just want to escape, to fall into another world - you have that craving for something that does not require too much concentration. Books you'd probably not review in a lj or put out on your shelves for display or necessarily discuss. Books you love because you just need to escape.

[westlinwind.livejournal.com]

What I reread when I just want to escape to familiar territory: Alice Walker's Temple of My Familiar; Stephen King - The Talisman, Black House, and some of the Dark Tower books; Charles deLint's Newford collections; Neil Gaiman's American Gods. And I really don't watch tv, but Lost has definitely become a comfort show. *grin* I think Stephen King and Lost fall into the "disapproving look" category.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

LOL! Yes, I'm a fan of Lost too. But also a bit of a TV slut...and I like Stephen King, who I think may be underrated - his earlier stuff is actually quite good.

Have a Charles de Lint that I bought a while ago that I need to try, since haven't read him.

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

Most of my "comfort reads" are children's books: Charlotte's Web, Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, The Phantom Tollbooth, Winnie the Pooh, The House at Pooh Corner, Harry Potter, The Hobbit, as well as some adult fairy tales like The Princess Bride, The Last Unicorn, Stardust, The Little Country by Charles de Lint, and The Once and Future King. Some of those, though, may not completely fulfill your definition, since a lot of them are "literature" and most of them do require thought.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Any books you like to read that don't require thought? Just fun pulpy reads?

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

It just hit me today that I forgot to mention Christopher Rice's books, which I devour, and I think those would qualify. They aren't exactly "comforting" per se, but they're fun and pulpy and full of over-the-top melodrama. I actually prefer him to his mother. I really like the way he writes and think he's actually quite talented. His plots, however, are always so over-the-top that they each reach the point where they become ludicrous. But like I said, I love them. And his depiction of the gay teenage boy in A Density of Souls tortured by his classmates in high school, in particular, was searingly accurate, even though most of the other characters in the novel were pretty one-dimensional. I think my favorite of his three was the second, The Snow Garden. I always feel weird recommending him, though, because there are so much about his books that are completely indefensible, and yet they're incredibly enjoyable, he has a good prose style, and is very good at true-to-life gay characters, even though the others don't usually work out quite so well.

[ponygirl2000.livejournal.com]

I like your definition of comfort reads. Myself I like Bridge of Birds, Howl's Moving Castle and Neverwhere. For me it's not that they don't require thought it's just that they've proven on rereads to hit the right emotional spots reliably.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Do you have any fun pulpy reads? Books that you love but aren't something you'd post a review of or well necessarly talk about? Guilty reads for times when the brain just feels like mush.
You may or may not re-read them later?

I have all three of the books you mentioned above. Only read Neverwhere - which has an interesting history. I may be the only person on the planet who prefered the mini-series to the novel, because I thought Richard came across as a stronger person in the televized mini. But the background of that book does fascinate - started as a failed British TV series, then became a novel and is now a series of comic books.

[ponygirl2000.livejournal.com]

For total trash there's the Gossip Girls series. Teen books that are the equivalent of reading In Style edited by the cast of Mean Girls. I do feel a bit dirty reading them, not because of the sex but the blatant consumerism. Perfect summer reads though.

Really my weakness is magazines. If I'm looking to read something comfortable I'll grab Elle or Bust or EW. Disposable fun.

Re: Neverwhere, it's definitely not the best of Gaiman's work but maybe because of that I find it so comfortable. I've always avoided watching the tv version because I don't want to mess with the picture of the characters I have in my head. That's the problem with comfort food - you always want it to be exactly the same.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Haven't heard of the Gossip Girls series.

But do understand EW, have the same weakness there. I adore reading reviews of things - books, movies, tv shows. Also adore reading about the process of filming or creating those things - particular films and tv shows. Premiere Magazine is another guilty pleasure. As is *cough*TVGuide*cough*.

Also get not wanting to see the film version of a favorite book - so often the director's casting choices will disappoint me, they don't fit what is in my head.

[fara-shimbo.livejournal.com]

Comfort reads: Definitely the Cat Who... books, althoug the last two or three have been pretty awful. Why? Because they put me in a place full of interesting characters, and where the summers are never hot. Anything by Agatha Christie.

Actually, I don't have "comfort reads" so much as "comfort listens." The Cat Who audiobooks read by George Guidall are fabulous, and the Poirots read by David Suchet, and the Miss Marples read by Joan Hickson, are too.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I remember devouring the Agatha Christie's when I was younger. My favorites were: Sleeping Murder, Curtain, Murder on the Orient Express. Also adored Tony Hillerman. And I may have read one of the cats. They are books that you can speed through.

I need to grab the Harry Potter books read by Jim Dale - you're the second person who's rec'd that.

[fara-shimbo.livejournal.com]

Jim Dale does a fabulous job! How he can keep all those voices separate I don't know, but he doesn't have to tell you "Harry said" or "Fudge said" etc. because as soon as the dialog starts you know exactly who's speaking, and they're the same from book to book. His Gilderoy Lockhart is a triumph.

[wisewoman.livejournal.com]

Do you have any fun pulpy reads? Books that you love but aren't something you'd post a review of or well necessarly talk about? Guilty reads for times when the brain just feels like mush.
You may or may not re-read them later?

Just wanted to add, that's a perfect description of The Cat Who... books; I'm almost embarrassed to admit I've read them, but they're just so damn...cozy, I can't resist them.

;o)