Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Comfort Reads

I was going to do a post on a book I really love, but I must finish some work first. So I thought I'd throw the floor open - what are some of your favorite comfort reads? Any particular reason you love that book(s)?

25 comments :

Anonymous said...

I have a few.
The first is the Clan of the Cave Bear series by Jean M. Auel. This was the first adult book I read. The second is any and all Laurell K. Hamilton. Just cause I love them all so much! And finally, the Harry Potter series :D

malynda said...

For comfort? "The Cat Who" books, the "Pern" series...new stuff, the "Twilight" series:
Stories that reinforce the innate goodness in beings faced with challenges

Anonymous said...

If I want a comfort book I read a Lisa Kleypas historical. My all time faves are Dreaming of You and Where Dreams Begin. They both are excellent:)

Rachel

orannia said...

Hmmm. The books that spring to mind are The Last Herald Mage series by Mercedes Lackey. I've always picked them up at times in my life when I felt....trapped in a nightmare. I know they don't end well (any of them) but...I like them.

I've also thought of another - my Christmas anthologies. They always make me smile. My favourite novella has to be Day Le Claire's A Man of All Seasonings. That book just makes me smile :)

Mariana said...

For just the pleasure of the story: Nalini Singh, Marjorie M. Liu, Julie Garwood and Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

For kick-ass heroines: Shelly Laurenston and JD Robb

A good cry: Elizabeth Lowell (older stories) and Cry No More (Linda Howard).

Recent additions: 'Rough, Raw and Ready' by Lorelei James and 'Regularly Scheduled Life' by KA Mitchell - very sexy emotional stories.

Big list I know, but I'm a pretty fast reader and have re-read all of these too many times to count.

katwhitt said...

I will admit that I really love the Psy/Changeling series, but I have also been reading a lot of Christine Feehan and Sherrilyn Kenyon. Usually I read them while I am waiting for a new book to come out.
I also really like the "Pern" series, Julia Quinn, Nora Roberts, Lisa Keeypas, Pamela Morsi and Julie Garwood no matter what name she is writing under. Needless to say my taste in books is very eclectic.

Anonymous said...

My comfort reads are usually Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series or LK Hamilton's Anita Blake series. Those are the only two books I've gone back to time and time again. Although, I do enjoy the Aisling Grey novels by Katie MacAlister as well.

Lady of the Review said...

Oh, boy! Comfort reads...basically anything in my Keepers list. You, Marjorie M. Liu, Lisa Kleypas, Julia Quinn, Misty's Valdemar books, Anne McCaffrey, Colleen Gleason.

Any books that can get me away from reality for awhile are good. :)

Anonymous said...

Sunshine by Robin McKinley is a comfort book for me. I have a particular thing for sunlight myself, so maybe that's why. I definitely have a weak spot for the Psy/Changeling series. I love when people from opposite sides come together like that. Jeaniene Frost's series is also excellent. I also like the Holmes & Russell series by Laurie R. King.

There are many books on my shelves from when I was younger. I have stuff from when I was a teenager and younger, and I'm 35. A good book, as Stephenie Meyer says, is a good book--you don't have to find it in your age-group section in the bookstore to like it. If a book touches me, I hang onto it.

All’sReads said...

Nora Roberts, especially her Donovan series. StS by Nalini, but then I have to keep going through the rest of the series to date!!! SEP's Kiss an Angel, Lavyrle Spencer's The Gamble, Lisa Valdez's Passion. And that's just a few of the romance ones.....!

Nalini Singh said...

You all have mentioned so many of my favorites as well - makes me want to go down and grab them off my keeper shelves.

One I didn't see mentioned is Jayne Ann Krentz - I love her stuff, especially her older contemporaries. JAK always delivers for me.

And I'm smiling that my books are comfort reads for some of you - thanks for the compliment :)

ShellBell said...

Some of my older books are my comfort reads - older Johanna Lindsey books such as Tender Rebel, Fires of Winter and So Speaks The Heart and Jude Deveraux's The Black Lyon

Anonymous said...

I find it very interesting, looking at this list...how many people go to series for their comfort!
Now, you mentioned Jayne Ann Krentz. I used to go to her...I actually think I am burnt out of her! lol I over read her and now only play catchup with her new stuff.

Kati said...

The Virgin River series by Robyn Carr. LOVE them! The heroes are delicious and sensitive and the heroines are smart and fun. And the love stories are really poignant.

Same for Lisa Kleypas' contemps. I love Sugar Daddy and will read it at the drop of a pin.

Marnie said...

I read "In Death" series but JD Robb - its my comfort read. I usually just read excerpts from each of the books not the entire thing.

Una said...

My comfort reads really depend on my mood. But the ones I typically reach for is your Psy/Changling series, Black Dagger Brotherhood series, Mercy Thompson series, or Twilight Series. I like a book from series because each book in a series has it feel, the emotions conveyed/released which help me with either wanting to feel those or helping to squelch those. And if I need it, I can continue, pick a choose or jump around depending.

I agree with a good book being a good book. When I really need a good cry, nothing beats Where the Red Fern Grows. When I need to let out, it's my first book of choice. I can't tell you how many times I've read it but it always gives me the good cry you just sometimes need.

Kathy Martin said...

For all time comfort, I read Sunshine and Shadow by Sharon and Tom Curtis. I like the romance between an Amish woman and a cynical movie director. Also, anything by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller or Lois McMaster Bujold will do for me.

Anonymous said...

I find it difficult to reread books, but I have several comfort authors with Nalini Singh being number one on the romance list. I can read a Sherrilyn Kenyon Dark Hunter anytime too or one of Jacquelyn Frank's Nightwalker series.

felinewyvern said...

You mean other than your books? Well, Earth Children series by Jean M Auel, Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey, both Pern ahd Power and Hive series' by Anne McCaffrey, Carpathian series by Christine Feehan, Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series' by Laurell K Hamilton and Dark Hunters by Sherrilyn Kenyon all get reread whenever I need to escape to a different world. It depends on what mood I am in as to which series gets read from the beginning to end all over again :D

Shaymless Aymless said...

Lately its been The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop. Usually something will trigger me to hunt down some old favorites like Chronicles of Narnia, Mercedes Lackey (just about anything written in the Valdemar world) and of course my favorite romance (Nalini, Meljean, CL Wilson to name a few).

And because I'm way OC I'll usually read the whole dang series from book one to whatever I have... *sigh* it really holds me up in clearing the TBR.

Jules said...

My comfort reads are Susan Elizabeth Phillips (if I really need a good comfort 'read' I'll listen to the audio version of any of her books); others are re-reading the Psy/Changelling series, Patricia Briggs, Julia Quinn, Linda Howard and Catherine Anderson books too. Individual titles, for me, would be Breathing Room (SEP), Honey Moon (SEP), My Sunshine (CA), Caressed by Ice (Der!), Dance with the Devil (SK).

Heather said...

I have to agree with Lady of the Review...a comfort read for me is anyone that I buy all their books. However in that list I do have my favorites, Nora Roberts, you, Julie Garwood, Christine Feehan, etc...

azteclady said...

Oh cool question!

It depends on the mood I'm in--sometimes a good cry is comforting, you know?

The list is much too long to post here, but if we skip romance (yeah, I know) I could say that some of my childhood classics are wonderful comfort reads: Jules Verne's and Alexandre Dumas' books, for example. What better way to get lost in a different universe, hm?

Courtney said...

If I dive into a book for comfort, I reach for one that will take me away from my troubles. The authors who do that without fail are JR Ward, Kresley Cole, JD Robb (nothing like lusting after Roarke to cheer me up), and Nalini.

Actually, when I was offered the opportunity to fly home this weekend to see my grandpa one last time, the first think I did after making the arrangements was reach for Caressed By Ice. Not that the changeling heroes aren't hot enough to distract me, but there's something about Judd that makes me focus on him and only him every single time.

Anonymous said...

Thank you all for great ideas on new stuff to order and become my new comfort books. I just ordered Sunshine and Shadow because of one of the comments made. One of my fav comfort books is by the same author Tom and Sharon Curtis and it's Lightning that Lingers. You can't get a better set of opposites than a stripper and a librarian! And i absolutely adore rereading Nalini's, especially Slave to Sensation!