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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 07:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-05 02:05 pm (UTC)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.