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Aug. 3rd, 2006 09:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatPlaying 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?
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?
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Date: 2006-08-04 05:00 am (UTC)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!
no subject
Date: 2006-08-05 02:14 pm (UTC)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.
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Date: 2006-08-05 03:27 pm (UTC)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.
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Date: 2006-08-05 04:20 pm (UTC)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.
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Date: 2006-08-05 04:36 pm (UTC)