Your 'comfort' book(s)

[JaffaCake70]

Not necessarily your favourite book, but which book(s) do you go back to time and time again and never tire of?

For me it's:

To Kill A Mockingbird

Any Adrien Mole (I still laugh out loud nearly 40 years after first reading them).

1984

It's a while since I read them but yes, I found them uplifting. I have a feeling that someone's husband or boyfriend dies in the war in one of the books, but I can't really remember.

Cazalet chronicles are a great read, but there is some death and sadness in them, so might not be ideal for someone recently bereaved. If I want something 'safe' to read I go for Katie Fforde or Judy Astley or similar.

Thanks. I'll steer clear for her but I'll read them. I love a safe Katie Fforde but need to check for one which has no back story of a dead parent or sibling etc as they sometimes sneak in

Marge Piercy is so underrated

For me it is the Turnham Malpas series by Rebecca Shaw. Comfort perfection. Also love Woman Of Substance by Barbara Taylor Bradford and the subsequent books in the series.

Olivia Goldsmith's Wish upon a star. Found it in a charity shop years ago and didn't realise that she'd written en first wives club

The Irish RM - Somerville and Ross.

Miss Read’s books. Lovely, wholesome stories.

Guards, Guards by Sir Terry Pratchett
Swansong by GM Jordan

The book I read to my daughter to get her to sleep if she needs a distraction is Raggedy Man Tales by GM Jordan. When I got together with my partner she recommended it and The Kid wants to grow up to be a Viking girl now.

I'm rereading The Shell Seekers

Yes, I agree about Wodehouse. The most comforting books are often the ones that create the illusion of a world. Tolkien's Middle Earth, for example. The Sherlock Holmes novels are another good example. Wodehouse did it twice, once with Blandings, and then again with Bertie and Jeeves. Powell's Dance to the Music of Time has that feel as well – where you are in the same world. Same goes for Agatha Christie.

Jane Austen and Dickens also created a world. OK, the characters change in each novel, but there is a consistency – the language, the types of people, the log fires, the pubs/inns serving punch or beer, the sound of horses and carriages. You know where you are.

I feel the same about Patrick Fermor's travel books. When I read him, I feel strongly that I'm in his company, that we're off traveling together in a closed world.

Anne of Green Gables series
Miss Read
Angela Thirkell
Cazalet chronicles (not the last one though!)
any Persephone book

Oh yes i had forgotten that one! Beautiful story.

I need a comfort book so I'm going to watch this thread. I think I'll start with The Thing About Jane Spring.

Anything by Agatha Christie , Ngaio Marsh & Dorothy L Sayers

Anything by Anna Jacobs too

& Mike Gayle