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Original poster

best comfort books

56 replies

poppy34 · 04/06/2007 20:42

Votes for

Gerogette heyer -any but esp grand sophy
Jilly cooper (rivals and polo being particular favourites)
Katharine -anya seton
gone with the wind - margaret mitchell
the pursuit of love - nancy mitford
the course of honour- lindsey davis

any other ideas (as always open to more esp in run up to summer holidays)

OP posts:
hoxtonchick · 04/06/2007 23:09

nancy mitford, armistead maupin, robertson davies.

BishyBarneyBee · 04/06/2007 23:07

adrain mole

JackieNo · 04/06/2007 23:06

Of course - Rebecca. How could I forget.

JackieNo · 04/06/2007 23:05

(I was thinking more along pirate lines 'Haar, Jim lad' etc)

Genidef · 04/06/2007 23:05

Pursuit of Love/Love in a Cold Climate - tops
Jane Austen - second tops
(most things by) daphne du
go through Fitzgerald moments too
Loads more can't think though

Pruuni · 04/06/2007 23:03

I am saying 'Hairpsichordcarrier' in a Swedish sort of way.

My comfort read is PG Wodehouse but I ditched them all years ago, thinking I had moved on...

haarpsichordcarrier · 04/06/2007 23:00

(Oh no I didn't deregisterm I just changed to welcome Pruuuuuuuuni back I quite like it though, it makes me feel all Scandinavian. in a good way)

slowreader · 04/06/2007 22:58

Betty Macdonald

RosaLuxembourg · 04/06/2007 22:51

I agree with lots of the other nominations - particularly Georgette Heyer, Noel Streatfeild and Chalet School! but also love Angela Thirkell although I accept that she is a minority interest (and hard to get hold of these days).

FrannyandZooey · 04/06/2007 22:49

Oh god HC did you deregister too? Wtf is happening? Are you ok I feel like I haven't spoken to you for about a month?

Mercy · 04/06/2007 22:37

Why do my posts keep disappearing?

Anyway, Midnightexpress - I love James Thurber too!

Dubliners is my comfort book. Plus anything by Miss Read - anyone else know her books?

lillochum · 04/06/2007 22:33

Agree with the votes for Anya Seton's "Katherine", and for Georgette Heyers, Pride and Prejudice, and ALL the Laura Ingalls Wilder books (Little House on the prairie etc) I could come up with loads more, as I do re-read the books I enjoy quite a bit, and was big on reading particularly when I was a kid (had more time, and less interruptions). For years I haven't had time to read more than the Reader's Digest - at last getting back to more reading now my youngest is 4!

Original poster
poppy34 · 04/06/2007 22:27

for kids books -love chalet school books but sadly have given most of mine away (or thrown them away as fell apart)

OP posts:
JackieNo · 04/06/2007 22:26

Agatha Christies. YOu can read them in about half an hour.

haarpsichordcarrier · 04/06/2007 22:23

oh and P&P of course

haarpsichordcarrier · 04/06/2007 22:22

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
I also used to love The Darling Buds of May, which I used to read every spring until it was ruined for me by the stupid fecking tv series
Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles (the Arthur ones)
Falco series
oh and I have a private liking for Maeve Binchy books too

JackieNo · 04/06/2007 22:21

And yes to most Jane Austen. Also Vanity Fair (though sad in places).

JackieNo · 04/06/2007 22:19

Children's books in general, I think - as long as they're ones you read when you were a child.

FrannyandZooey · 04/06/2007 22:18

Room With a View

Anything by K M Peyton

School stories inc Antonia Forest and Malory Towers

Noel Streatfeild (entire oeuvre)

E. Nesbit ditto

The Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley - marvellous escapism

Armistead Maupin - so witty, gossipy and cosy

Anne Tyler

Original poster
poppy34 · 04/06/2007 22:13

madlabowner-that india knight list is good but does include forever amber which is very upsetting at the end plus she is a bit slappable as a heroine.

Also more recent one is the wedding officer by anthony capella - lots of lovely italian food references

OP posts:
Kathyis6incheshigh · 04/06/2007 22:00

Another vote for Mapp & Lucia, and one for Nancy Mitford and one for Cold Comfort Farm.
Must be something about the 1930/40s.

katelyle · 04/06/2007 21:58

Oh, I had forgotten Cold Comfort Farm - will search the book boxes for it tomorrow!

katelyle · 04/06/2007 21:57

Another vote for Rivals and for Nigel Slater.

But my favorites - read lots of times- are Pride and Prejudice, The Falconer's Lure, by Antonia Forest and Thendara House, by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Posey · 04/06/2007 21:41

When I was slightly younger, and not married and without kids, my comfort read was "The Barren Patch" by Sally Burton (Richard Burton's widow). The only book I have ever read more than twice.

midnightexpress · 04/06/2007 21:39

Nice thread! Mine is a James Thurber omnibus which makes me laugh and laugh. Even thinking about some of the Pet Department cartoons and the autobiographical writing makes me laugh.

And anything by Nigella Lawson or Nigel Slater.

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