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:
applesandcider · 08/02/2011 22:50

Ooh, I'd forgotten Tales of The City - might have to revisit them if I can find them on my bookshelves.

applesandcider · 08/02/2011 22:49

Fair Stood the Wind for France - HE Bates , just lovely! But also Pride & Prejudice, Emma & I too love James Herriot!

coffeecoffeecoffee · 08/02/2011 22:48

Any of the Tales of the City books. Love 'em.

AnyFuleKno · 08/02/2011 22:45

I read the book 'The talk of the town' by Ardal O Hanlon. Don't know why that one in particular, but I find it comforting somehow.

BikeRunSki · 08/02/2011 22:36

Any of the Adrian Mole diaries.
Jane Green or Marian Keyes chick lit.

The Crow Road - Iain Banks, maybe not "comfort" but I can read it over and over again.

orangina · 08/02/2011 22:35

Mine has to be microserfs by douglas coupland. love love love it. have read it maybe 30+ times.

(sighs and wants to settle down into bed now with tattered copy of book, but looks at dreary half finished coursework and sighs again)

moggiek · 08/02/2011 22:31

Anything by Zola. Just when you think things can't get any worse, you turn the page and realise that they have!

LemonDifficult · 08/02/2011 21:47

Another one for Pride and Prejudice her. They're like old friends those characters.

Diary of a Nobody is fab
P.G Wodehouse
E.M.Forster

ravenAK · 08/02/2011 21:44

'Peter's Room' by Antonia Forest or 'I Capture The Castle' by Dodie Smith.

englishgirlintaipei · 08/02/2011 21:42

The Beach by Alex Garland, i hate the movie but love the book.

crapbarry · 08/02/2011 21:38

Dick Francis

Bill Bryson

Currently Stuart MacBride

Kate Atkinson.

I used to love reading the HErriot books - must go back to them actually, I know my Dick Francis books off by heart, and need a break - they were the ones that gave me a break from knowing all the words to the James Herriot series!

(oh, and I need more horses in my life :o)

FetchezLaVache · 08/02/2011 21:30

Pride and Prejudice, but also an Aga saga called "Between Friends" by Kathleen Rowntree. It's a great book for poorly days.

PaperView · 08/02/2011 21:30

What do you m,ean by comfort reading? I don't read anything hard going.

My FAVE book is 'Goodnight Mr Tom'. It's been my fave for years. Blush

sobloodystupid · 08/02/2011 21:29

Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte,tis wonderful, I also love The Secret History. Aristocrats by Stella Tillyard is fab
I have been trying to get my mitts on "Cold Comfort farm" and "Diary of a Nobody" but to no avail...

BelligerentGhoul · 08/02/2011 21:29

Jane Austen
Harry Potter
The Lord Of The Rings

Or a children's book such as Ballet Shoes or Charlotte Sometimes or Daddy Long Legs or What Katy Did. Or the Famous Five.

Or Bill Bryson but not the scary Short History Of The World one as I need my brain for that and haven't always got it!

pointythings · 08/02/2011 21:25

I love the Herriott books too, but my comfort foods are Duma Key by Stephen King (has to be that one, not one of the others) or any of the Vimes books by Terry Pratchett.

JackieNo · 08/02/2011 14:20

Cremolafoamfan - your post reminded me that I do love a bit of Vanity Fair, too, has to be said. Definitely soap-opera-esque.

Original poster
travellingwilbury · 08/02/2011 14:19

I knew I couldn't be the only one that loves the Herriot .

OP posts:
CreamolaFoamFan · 08/02/2011 14:10

Darn, forgot to say Travellingwilbury, no you're not the only person who reads those. We inherited a stack of those and like to sink into Heriot's vetinarian embrace every now and again!

CreamolaFoamFan · 08/02/2011 14:07

Georgette Heyer, Terry Pratchett, Cold Comfort Farm or Jane Austen, particularly Mansfield Park. Also huge fat Victorian novels, Trollope and the like - nice and soap-opera-y.

I've just realised that all my reading is comfort reading, more or less!

JackieNo · 08/02/2011 14:00

Quite a lot of Jilly Coopers, then Grin

JackieNo · 08/02/2011 14:00

Mine are the EF Benson Mapp and Lucia books. And old Jilly Coopers (not the more recent ones).

Lollypolly · 08/02/2011 13:59

Anything by Jilly Cooper - not very highbrow but if I ever go on Mastermind, it will be my specialist subject!

Original poster
travellingwilbury · 08/02/2011 13:58

You need to try James Herriot then Grin

Am I the only one that still reads these ?
I think I wanted to lead this kind of life when I was young .

OP posts:
FoundWanting · 08/02/2011 13:55

Don't want to encourage Bucharest to fill the missing part of her life. Shock