Warm, delightful, rereadable books.

[shadesofmauve]

Anyone who doesn't follow ursulav (and you should, on general principle) should go over and read her recent post on the kind of book she'd like to write.

It's interesting (and amusing, which goes without saying for her), and the comments are both interesting and heartwarming. I feel happier just reading people talking about their 'it makes me feel good' comfort reads.

In some ways it's the antithesis of all the conversation I've had with westrider, when we're trying to figure out what makes certain books depressing. I've thought about that a lot, because I try to avoid those that might send me into a depressive spiral (I get very caught up in books, and I don't need HELP feeling miserable). Maybe what I should've been doing is thinking about why any given book makes me happy.

It's not that my comfort reading doesn't have bad situations; a story with no conflict is boring. They don't always end perfectly happily, either -- they're never tragic endings, but they're occasionally bittersweet. Reading the comments, I think I've got a bit more handle on some other parts, too. I've always said that having a protagonist who's proactive is important to me -- I hate feeling trapped in the narrative, feeling like the protagonist and I are just buffeted by events. But for comfort level books, I also want to like, not just relate to, the protagonist. And I want them to behave reasonably. They don't have to be perfect, but if I'm cringing as I read and saying "No, no, god, don't DO that!" the book isn't going to be on the comfort-read shelf.

It's not exactly about Competence Porn -- they don't have to be particularly good at what they're doing -- but they better be trying the best they can with what they've got, and not making really painfully bad decisions.

There are other books that fall on the same shelf just because of when I read them -- Heidi (from when I was a child) and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (first read when I was dealing with medical misery) are there because of that. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Joan Aiken) is another one from my childhood. But more current examples are a few of the Dorothy Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey novels (especially the ones with Harriet), much of Bujold's writing (especially Curse of Challion, the Cordellia books, and the chronological middle of the Miles books), and... y'know, this list really ought to be longer. What are yours?

[by the way, on Saturday Erik and I are heading to Connecticut to spend a week with his parents, so if you throw titles and authors at me I may see if I can find them at a bookstore for travel reading].

Comments

[tersa.livejournal.com]

When I was a kid, I used to re-read the hell out of books the way that kids nowadays re-watch Disney and Pixar DVDs. (I used to re-watch the hell out of movies in high school and college, too, but they were on VHS tapes. And get off my lawn). I'm familiar with the concept of 'comfort reading', the idea of returning to an old favorite book and re-reading it...but I just don't do it anymore. I think because my 'to be read' list is so long, that if I'm going to spend time reading, I'm going to be reading something new.

That said, when I cast my mind back to things I would re-read, most of what I came up with are the books of my childhood. I bought the core of the "Little House on the Prairie" series a few years ago and spent a few weeks burning through all of them from start to finish. I have the Chronicles of Narnia on my shelf--although I haven't read them since I bought them, I could, if I wanted to. Shapechangers by Jennifer Roberson fulfills an adolescent wish for fantasy and romance. It took me a billion re-reads and many years to fully understand The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks, and I still consider it a favorite.

[t-c-da.livejournal.com]

Terry Pratchett and Isaac Asimov are two of my favourites (I have the whole of Terry's canon up to Snuff as e-books on my netbook for reading on the 1 hour each way commute). Between those two I could cut out a month without a pause!

I've generally stopped reading the comments on ursulav as I find them a little too fawning when I'm pushed for time (which seems to be happening a lot lately...

[shadesofmauve]

There have been a lot that don't seem to have much added content, haven't there? This post had comments that included both lists of people's comfort reads and suggestions as to what makes that type of book, so the comment section was worth delving into.

A lot of Terry Pratchett -- but not all of it -- can fill that spot for me. I am ashamed to admit I haven't yet read snuff -- perhaps that's what I'll buy for the plane!

[stasia]

So I'm not the only one seeing that fawning thing happening? Phew. I was afraid that I was just turning into a cynical snot.

Thanks!

Stasia

[sinvraal.livejournal.com]

I still blow through the David Eddings series' when I'm in the mood for an old friend. Comics also do this for me in a lot of ways- Hellboy, Usagi Yojimbo, Blacksad, that kind of thing. I love revisiting those worlds and basking in the artwork.

[shadesofmauve]

David Eddings totally fits in that camp. The fact that he was intentionally formulaic is fine when you're in the right mood.

[sinvraal.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Sometimes all the magic, prophecy and unapologetic good guys win hits the spot.

And because I don't seem to get tired of Sparhawk and his buddies.

[pyoor_excuse]

Hrm, comfort books... it depends on what's made me want a comfort book which one I'll go for, so it's a fair list...

All of Douglas Adams body of work. Particularly the Hitchhiker books* or Long Dark Teatime of the Soul. Sara Paretsky's VI Warsawski novels - I've got a real soft spot for them, my dad introduced me to them (apparently he used to listen to radio adaptations, never *ever* watch the film, it's terrible) and I've always loved the strong female lead detective, as is fairly apparent when you look at our bookshelves. I also thought Bleeding Kansas was excellent, but it's not a comfort book, just another by SP that I rate.

That early love of crime novels means that Carl Hiaasen's novels fill me with joy, and fall into the comfort-reading arena. I suspect that Nicola Griffith's stuff will too, but that's a recent discovery, and they're not so light, which may make them less comfort-read - definitely not warm or delightful, but well written and a endlessly strong lead character, which sometimes is what I need.

I think more likely to drift into Comfort Read is Nurk (Ursula Vernon, of course) and possibly Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series.

Stephen Fry - particularly The Liar - that is definitely a curl up and read. As are Puckoon (Spike Milligan) and Three Men in a Boat (Jerome K Jerome). Both are books that bring my dad into my mind, and bring me that bittersweet feeling of being close to him. I also think they're both awesomely funny, which helps. But TMiaB I can actually hear my dad reading to me when I'm reading it. It was traditional for us to have that on holiday, usually in the Lake District with the rain hammering down on the windows...

And for the ultimate cheering up, Elephant's Don't Sit on Cars (David Henry Wilson) and Florence Parry Heide's Treehorn's Treasure (illustrated by Edward Gorey :) ).

Probably a few more in there, but since our book collection is mostly in boxes still, it's hard to remind myself.

* Not a book, but, also, the original BBC radio series of Hitchhiker and The Restaurant at the End of the Universe - complete with announcements, recorded by my dad on crappy C-120 tapes. I need to digitise that** :)
** Also not a book, but entirely wonderful is the vinyl copy of The New World Symphony, complete with scratches, pops, crackles etc. Relates in that it has the same effect on me as some of these books.

[criada.livejournal.com]

I think the number one thing that makes books depressing for me is the sense that there is no narrative arc. As you mention, passive protagonists contribute to this. Also, authors who hit their characters with one bad thing after another for no apparent reason. (Like the Mists of Avalon. That book drove me crazy.) If I want conflict with no meaning, I've got real life! (And indeed, I deal with problems in my life that I can't control by mapping them to a narrative arc and hopefully giving me a guide for what to do and how to react.)
That's probably why formula novels make such nice comfort reading. You've got a nice sense of where things are going.

For me, I love gothic mysteries, noir mysteries (esp Raymond Chandler and urban fantasy writer Kat Richardson), romance by Jo Beverly, and Terry Pratchett.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

I'd been thinking about this as well, but hadn't made the connection to it being the opposite of our trying to figure out what made things depressing. A few qualities I found that seem to hold across most of mine:
- A viewpoint character who I like and identify with. Tho this in itself is a pretty broad and hard to define category even just for my own taste. All the examples I can think of, tho, are broken in some way (maybe not at the start, but eventually), but keep going, deal with it, and eventually get something of worth out of that damage.

- Significant conflict/obstacles to overcome. I sometimes like Slice of Life and Gentle* Fiction, but they're not comfort reads to me. These should be mostly things coming from outside, rather than being caused entirely by the character doing stupid stuff and having to deal with the consequences.

- The main character always has something to do to keep them moving toward overcoming those obstacles and is doing it. This is a big part of why Paladin of Souls falls down for me compared to the other two in that "series": There's that really nasty chunk where they're stuck in the castle with nothing they can do while the sorcerers fuck everything up.

- And yeah, it doesn't have to be a "Mega Happy Ending", but it should be a clearly victorious one, even if there were costs.

A few off the top of my head:
- The Deed of Paksennarion
- The Curse of Chalion
- Komarr & A Civil Campaign (And sometimes Memory first)
- Sunshine & Chalice, by Robin McKinley
- Most of the Vimes books. Which in particular depends on my exact mood, but Guards! Guards!, Night Watch, and now Snuff are pretty regular there.
- A few other Pratchetts. Reaper Man, Pyramids, Soul Music.
- Narbonic

*I think that's the term I'm looking for. Stories where nothing bad happens.