Recommendations for comforting reads please

[Colefra]

I'm struggling with very frustrating insomnia. I wake at around 4a.m. I pick up my Kindle and reading helps keep those anxious, dark thoughts away at that time. It's dark, it's cold so I need some comforting, cosy reads for that time in the morning.

@OneBookTooMany
Which book is the first in the Mapp and Lucia series?
I remember the tv series of yore and loved it!

The first one is, Queen Lucia, where we are introduced to Mrs Emmeline Lucas.

It is set in Riseholme and Lucia's husband is still alive.

Georgie is there and Lucia's social rival-a more hapless rival than Miss Mapp of Tilling-is Daisy Quantock.

I envy you starting the series with fresh eyes. They are old friends to me now but I wish I could step back and meet them newly spun for the first time!

Ps. Riseholme is based on Broadway in Wocestershire and Tilling, where they later move to, is based on Rye in Sussex.

They've been mentioned already but I love James Herriott books and have re-read multiple times. So gentle and humorous. Highly recommend.

@Winterbluuse Have you been to the World of James Herriot in Thirsk?

It's a museum in a little bubble of time-gentle, quiet and unassuming in the house where he lived and worked.

If you do find yourself in that part of the world, pop in.

Try the Myrtlewood Mysteries by Iris Beaglehole. There are 9 books in the series and 5/6 books in the companion series, The Crones of Myrtlewood.

They are cosy, witchy books and are absolutely fantastic to read. It's probably classed as fantasy but I don't like fantasy and loved these. I've read both series in the last 8 months - the characters draw you in.

You do need to read them in order and they're all available on kindle.

some wonderful suggestions on this thread. If I’m looking for gentle, well written novels I often pick up an Anne Tyler or Barbara Pym.

I second Winter Solstice by Rosamund Pilcher, and it's a lovely book to read in the run up to Christmas. It's one of the books I like to reread.

As a Christmas season book, The Twelve Days of Christmas by Trisha Ashley is also a great favourite.

Yes to;
Georgette Heyer
Jam Herriot (I’m hoping to visit the museum in Thirsk next year)
Bill Bryson
84 Charing Cross Road

Children’s classics -
Tom’s Midnight Garden
Ballet Shoes
Charlotte Sometimes
Little Women and the rest of the series

Others not yet mentioned
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Tuesdays with Morrie

I really find Victoria Clayton's books comforting. My favourite is Clouds Among the Stars.

Alexander McCall Smith 44 Scotland Street series are lovely gentle mildly funny books.

The late Rebecca Shaw wrote 19 books about life in the fictional English village of Turnham Malpas. She also wrote six books about a Vet’s Practice and the local farming community in and around the fictional English town of Barleybridge. Both series are very easy reads.

The Cazalet Chronicles. I find those books so comforting.

Great idea for a thread @Colefra, thank you.

I've recommended this a lot under various usernames: The Fortnight In September. By R.C Sheriff.
A really very lovely gentle book about a normal family on a normal holiday in the 1930s. I've re-read it every year for 30 years.

And the Darling Buds Of May and the others in the series, by H.E. Bates.

Not very intellectual but I love Sarah Morgan’s Christmas books this time of year.

A Fortnight in September sounds sweet but I think it might be out of print. I can’t find it on Amazon.

Try books by Lissa Evans, recent books but set around World War 2. Old Baggage features Mattie Simpkins, an indomitable former suffragette. Crooked Heart is set during the blitz and features some of the same characters. Small Bomb at Dimperley is set during the war. There's a lot of humour and the characters are engaging.

I find the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series of books by Alexander McCall Smith to be very gentle, comforting, easy reads. Being set in Africa they are also good to read in winter!

It’s available from Persephone Books.

It’s wonderful, and is one of my favourites, along with Green Gates, by the same writer.

I second (fourth?) PG Wodehouse, James Herriot and EF Benson.

I also recommend:

Leonard and Hungry Paul.
The Blue Castle.
I Capture The Castle.
A Month In The Country.

Another vote for PG Wodehouse

I also often re read books from my childhood if I want comfort - Heidi, Ballet Shoes, Anne of Green Gables, Swallows and Amazons...

An Enchanted April
Miss Pettigrew lives for a day
The White Umbrella by Brian Sewell

Thank you.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie lots on eBay, I've just had a look!

Oh yes , A Month in the Country is lovely @BlueEyedBogWitch ! I read it earlier this year and was sad when it ended