The books we turn to after a long day.
The ones we open up when we are down.
Just seeing the cover art makes us smile.
You MUST own a copy, because our home feels empty without it.
For me, it's Harry Potter. (Yes, I know, that answer is pretty much cliché. Totally don't care.) I have them on my bookshelves in my living room, my shelves are one of the first things you see when you walk into my house, I want them visible! Plus, I'm still trying to get the Mr. to read them...
When I've had a rough day, or I've been sick, or I'm in a reading slump and don't feel like starting something new, I turn to those books. Sometimes it's just a chapter... sometimes it's a couple of books. ;)
So tell me. What are your comfort books?? Please share in the comments!
That's really a tough one, I think like you it would either be the Harry Potter series or the Mediator series by Meg Cabot. I'm not even sure how many times I've read those books.
ReplyDeleteI love this question... And I've never read Harry Potter. :(
ReplyDeleteI think my comfort reads would be Just Like The Movies, it's a YA Contemp. filled with all these re-enacted movie moments but it still has depth, but nothing too heavy and I just loved the cover. I think Simon VS. would also be a great comfort read for me if I ever got around to finishing it. :)
Harry Potter, This Present Darkness (and it's sequel), Pride and Prejudice... anything I've read over and over again. :)
ReplyDeleteI have so many. Def Attachments and Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. Claire Lazebnik adult novels. Unsticky by Sarra Manning.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the most comforting books are the books that I read as a kid. So that's "Because of Winn Dixie," "Holes," "Number the Stars," and "The Giver."
ReplyDeleteAustenland and The whole Other's series by Anne Bishop.
ReplyDeleteIt depends on the comfort that I'm in need of. If I'm feeling tired of this world and all it's machinations, then I will always turn to Jane Austen. But if I'm just tired and run down and want something easy I will go to one of my gentle cosy crime series - Phyrne Fisher, Maisie Dobbs or Rowland Sinclair.
ReplyDeleteWhen I moved to Tanzania for 3 years and limited luggage space (20kg total - just under 40lb) before the era of e-readers, I had to be very strategic about the books that I packed. I wanted books that I had read a hundred times before that would stand up to a hundred more re-reads. The books I packed? Anne of Green Gables (L.M.Montgomery), Little Women (Louisa May Alcott), Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte), and Mere Christianity (C.S.Lewis).
ReplyDeleteDefinitely any and all Tamora Pierce books for me. Add to that the Abhorsen trilogy, Pride and Prejudice, and anything Robin McKinley wrote. I literally cannot handle life unless I have those in my house. If I'm going through a rough patch of anything, my stress response is to reread, and those are the ones I reread ALL THE TIME. (Thank god for ebooks because I let a friend borrow the Alanna quartet and a couple of the Kel books like...three years ago. And she still has them...I should probably just buy new copies *sobs*)
ReplyDeleteI always buy Kindle or iBook copies of books that I love so that I always have a copy at hand, even if I've loaned out my hard copies (as I'm wont to do). Also, the Kel and Alanna books are my favorite Tamora Pierce books!!
DeleteI guess there are exceptions to everything, because I don't have a comfort book. I don't re-read books because there are too many books I haven't read for the first time. I just read one of the two books I'm currently reading. The act of reading is what relaxes me; doesn't matter what the book is.
ReplyDeleteExactly how I feel. I only very occasionally reread, so I think it will be many years still before I'll feel like I have any answer to a question like this.
DeleteThe Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling are my go-to comfort reads. My copy of The Hobbit has been around the world with me several times over, as has Sherlock. Due to the size and weight of all the Harry Potters both the English and German versions only made it from Germany to England and back.
ReplyDeleteMy go to comfort books are any of Morgan Matson's books. I love them and always feel warm and fuzzy after reading them.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I am strange but I don't really reread so I don't have that favorite series that I have read over and over. If I want a comfort book I choose something lighthearted to read, something snarky that I haven't read yet but it's on my reading list.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably Harry Potter for me as well, but the Throne of Glass novels are probably the books that I dip into most, especially when I'm emotional over something. Both those series' have such emotional depth and the characters struggles feel so real, and I suppose that's what helps me.
ReplyDeleteShoujo manga ... cheers me up every time.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella.
Definitely Harry Potter. But also The Princess Bride - I have so many childhood memories associated with that book/movie.
ReplyDeleteLauren @ myexpandingbookshelf.blogspot.co.uk
For me, it's definitely Harry Potter and Twilight. Just seeing the books on my shelves makes me happy!
ReplyDeleteThe same as almost every person ever, Harry Potter is my main comfort read. Also Mitch Albom books. And Twilight *hides face in shame*.
ReplyDeleteMine are Harry Potter, of course,Wuthering Heights, the Twilight series, the Anne of Green Gable series.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to out myself as a woman of possibly very questionable taste here, but my go-to comfort books are the Clive Cussler adventure novels featuring Dirk Pitt, American hero. Every book is basically the same, wherein Dirk has to save America/the world from an evil tyrant of some kind and there will be some sort of subplot featuring a famous sunken vessel or sea treasure of some sort. They are SO formulaic but by golly, they're exciting! And I've been reading them since I was 11, so they are perfect for those moments where I am done with being an adult!
ReplyDeleteThe Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper, or the more fantastical of Ursula Le Guin's books, or The Hobbit, or Mary Stewart's romance/suspense. Also, of late, Susanna Kearsley's work.
ReplyDeleteWithout a doubt all of Jennifer Armentrouts books! *drool*
ReplyDeleteAgatha Christie. Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot are my comfort reads.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a fun question! My go-to reads when I'm in a reading slump are probably anything by Georgette Heyer (similar to Jane Austen style writing, but so much more fun) and the Twilight Series.
ReplyDeleteI love to read Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, Enchantment by Orson Scott Card, Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness and Protector of the Small quartets, and The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen. I've read all of these so, so many times, and I don't see myself tiring of them any time soon.
ReplyDeleteI am reading Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope and this series of 6 books is a true comfort read for me, plus the Jan Karon Mitford series and the Alexander McCall Smith series that begins with No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.
ReplyDeleteOooh tough. I'd have to say The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine and Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell. Both books I've read several times and I don't ever see myself tiring of them any time soon.
ReplyDeleteThere is one book and one book series that my brain tells me I must always have in my collection (so I do). The book is Jane Eyre. The series is the Chronicles of Narnia. I have even evacuated hurricanes with them.
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