Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Original poster

What is your comfort book

112 replies

travellingwilbury · 08/02/2011 13:25

If I have read something particularly hard going I always turn to my James Herriot books for a bit of comfort . They are just so cosy and comfy and always cheer me up .

I know they are all pretty much the same
Cow dies / cow lives
grumpy/happy farmer
grumpy dog / farty dog

But I love them

What is yours ?

OP posts:
GraceK · 09/02/2011 18:45

Dorothy L Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey books esp the ones with Harriet Vane - I just love their relationsip & have reread them so often (since I was 14) the spines are held together with tape.

Daziel & Pascoe by Reginald Hill - so much better than the tv series (though the first few episodes were quite faithful to the books).

Bill Bryson.

The Sandman comics by Neil Gaiman.

Original poster
travellingwilbury · 09/02/2011 18:37

I am so pleased to see I am not the only one that loves a bit of James Herriot .

I am going to make a point of eventually reading Pride and Prejudice now .

OP posts:
BachAtTheMoon · 09/02/2011 18:34

Lord of the Rings

Jilly Cooper

Harry Potter

Twilight Saga Blush

Also devoloped a thing for Jackie Collins when

I was pg with DS2 which I think may

outBlush the others!

IlsaLund · 09/02/2011 18:28

CJCregg - me too. They are one of my most prized possesions.

LadyWellian · 09/02/2011 18:24

I misread the OP and thought we were talking about when things generally were hard going, not just needing light relief after reading something challenging, but I shall persist in my misapprehension and say when times is hard I always turn to something that comes in several volumes and has a map in the front.

In particular - the Belgariad/the Malloreon by David Eddings (that's 10 books in total, enough to see me through the darkest of dark patches); and The Fionavar Tapestry (three volumes) by Guy Gavriel Kay, even though I spend a great deal of it in tears. (It's probably good for me.)

CJCregg · 09/02/2011 18:22

Damn, forgot Antonia Forest. I reread them all the time. To the extent that I worry about myself.

IlsaLund · 09/02/2011 18:19

Another vote for the Anne of Green Gables series

James Herriot

Antonia Forest

Dick Francis

BeatriceLaBranche · 09/02/2011 18:16

Anne of Green Gable series.

Her repetitiveness/descriptive annoys me after a while, but I love them.

CJCregg · 09/02/2011 18:15

Georgette Heyer, yes yes! Especially The Grand Sophy and Friday's Child.

Cazalet Chronicles, yes yes yes!

And Blush Harry Potter.

Pride and Prejudice.

Tales of the City.

Lucky Jim.

I should be reading War and Peace, I know. But it just doesn't hook me in the way the others do.

QuickLookBusy · 09/02/2011 18:15

Pride and Prejudice

Tess of the D'urbervilles

Major of Casterbridge

I know the last two are bloody tragic, but they puts my problems into prospective!

minipie · 09/02/2011 18:06

Georgette Heyer, and classic children's books (What Katy Did, Ballet Shoes, Secret Garden, that sort of thing).

Clearly I am more girly than I think.

arfanarf · 09/02/2011 17:47

As soon as I saw the title I thought of James Herriot.
Also Maeve Binchy and Rosamund Pilcher; like chatting to old friends.

UrsulaBuffay · 09/02/2011 17:36

Adrian Mole books
Harry Potters
My Big Fat Teenage Diary
Randy Tarraborrelli (sp) biog of Michael Jackson!

For shame

renaldo · 09/02/2011 17:36

I second Melissa Banks - about time for another collection of stories..

misspollysdolly · 09/02/2011 17:34

Adrian Mole (especially the first two diaries)

Girl with a Pearl Earring - Tracey Chevalier

And also - from childhood - Goodnight Mister Tom and on occasion (like when DD was reading one or two of them) a Judy Blume book Blush

All good 'poorly' or insomniac books Wink MPD

MardyBra · 09/02/2011 17:27

Another vote for The Tales of the City series. Some of the characters are so lovely, I just want to hug them.

softpaw · 09/02/2011 17:14

rebecca,daphne du maurier.
and also a strange choice,but i love we need to talk about kevin,by lionel shriver

midnightexpress · 09/02/2011 17:12

The Thurber Carnival, by James Thurber. It always makes me LOL and it reminds me of my dad, who always used to LOL at it too.

Plumm · 09/02/2011 17:06

Georgette Heyer, Dan Brown or Harry Potter (but I have to read all of the HPs so that's a bit of an undertaking).

mrswoodentop · 09/02/2011 15:25

Lark rise to Candleford,not the silly TV version which bears no relation to the Flora Thompson original,but my mums original copy which she had as a bridesmaid present in 1955.

I first read it age 12 and still dip into it,especially the chapter called ;The Box which describes how when a women was about to give birth in the hamlet they would borow the box of baby clothes and it would be wheeled into the village by one of the older children,and how the yougest was always called " baby" ...until the next one arrived.and how if you didn't get in first you might end up with the second best box!

elizabethtailored · 09/02/2011 13:34

The Elizabeth Jane Howard books - the Cazalet Chronicles. I know them backwards. Have seen me though university finals, final weeks of my mother's life when I was looking after her and wedding planning!

Also - Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher and the Shell Seekers.

DandyDan · 09/02/2011 11:06

Mansfield Park, or a bunch of children's books I love.

ttalloo · 08/02/2011 23:01

Georgette Heyer for me - The Grand Sophy, Frederica and Venetia in particular.

I've read them all so many times that they are now falling apart (it doesn't help when I drop them in the bath).

BarryShitpeas · 08/02/2011 22:56

Tales of the City.

Florence King books.

ghosteditor · 08/02/2011 22:53

The Time Traveller's Wife, I think.

And orangina has reminded me that I love most of Douglas Coupland's books, especially 'Girlfriend in a Coma'.