Comfort reads (or rather re-reads)

Dervla Murphy and her early travel books. The one I read again and again is Full Tilt about her ride from Ireland to India on a sit up and beg bike, no gears and carrying just a change of clothes. No mobile phones or internet in those days. It is full of humour as well.

I also like Cold Comfort Farm.

Terribull I agree about the Cazalet Chronicles though I still have difficulty remembering all the characters.

Oh, I forgot Anita Brookner! Recently re-read some of hers, too. I don't quite know why they're so addictive - beautifully writtten of course, but often the same sort of main character and a sad or depressing sort of ending - but I'm still an addict!

Maeve Binchey! How come she's not been mentioned yet? Rosamunde Pilcher for sure. Susan Fletcher's Eve Green is one I've read three times.

I used to enjoy all of Dick Francis's novels. Have re-read them all.

Lark Rise to Candleford!!!! A beautiful one.

Joanne Harris.
Loved Chocolat and All the others that followed, making want to dip back in backwards.

Have just been looking through my bookcases as a result of this thread, and have pulled out "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" by Betty Smith. It's been a while since I read it, and I remember enjoying it very much, so that's my book for tonight instead of my Kindle.

Forgot to mention any of the Guido Brunetti stories by Donna Leon. Good detective fiction with great food. Some of my best meals have been filched from her books.

Day6

Loved that book, lent it to a friend and she thought it was awful! Bit sentimental I suppose, but a good read.

Oh, ditto Sara65 and Day6. The film was good but different...I don't remember 'Doing a Gussie' or abortions mentioned in the film.

My favourite book ever: The Shipping News, by Annie Proulx
Definitely one for the re-read list

Have only seen the film Sara65 and will put it on the list! So many recommendations and so little time....!

Pantglas

I love the book so much, that I wasn’t sure about seeing the film, but I thought it was a really good adaptation.

Sara65, I have not heard of that book. When I googled it I just got info on a boy band from Korea! Who is the author?

Shell Seekers - thanks for reminding me. I've put it on my list for the library.

There is a series of mystery books by Canadian author L.R. Wright that I have enjoyed, the first one is A Chill Rain in January. It has been quite a few years since I read one, so maybe I will start the series again.

There is comfort in reading a book where you know how it ends, but still enjoy the journey.

I enjoy re-reading Agatha Christie's books or Ruth Rendell's books. I never seem to remember "whodunnit".

CanadianGran

Haha! I didn’t know that!

The Shipping News is written by Annie Proulx, you will not regret reading it, it’s a truly beautiful book.

Norah Lofts :- The Town House, The House at Old Vine, The House at Sunset. Her trilogy about all the people who lived in a house from about 1200 to the 1950s.
Norah Lofts :- Bless This House, in a similar vein.

Monica Dickens :- The Listeners, about the Samaritans.

George R Stewart :- Earth Abides. The story of a few survivors after a disaster wipes out nearly all of the population. But it is not the usual disaster story, where the few survivors go round shooting people. It is about a small group who try to build a new community, against all the obstacles; failure of the water and power supplies, plagues of insects, lack of food etc. The 'hero' tries to keep the next generation literate, but through the years all they want to do is play, and live off tinned food scavenged from shops. One day he makes a game of making a bow and arrow, and on the day one of the children shoots a rabbit he knows his tribe will survive. I read this book once a year, and have done for the last 50 years, since I found a tatty copy at a jumble sale. It is still available on Amazon.

Georgettte Heyer, Jane Austin, Trollope- any, Mrs Oliphant - the Carlingford series and Hester, Dorothy Sayers, Marjorie Allingham, John Buchan

'Miss Read' for calming and Jeeves and Wooster for the laughs.

I don't usually read books twice but every few years I feel the need to re read DH Lawrence's The Rainbow. It is like visiting old friends and it somehow grounds me. Though I am not from Nottinghamshire I am from a very rural background and many of the characters are recognisable to me.

Dick Francis, Michael Gilbert, Dorothy L Sayers, Desmond Bagley, John Wyndham.

"How Far to Bethlehem?" by Norah Lofts most years in December, as it's such a lovely version of the Christmas story.

winterwhite, don't you count re-reads as part of your 50 books? I count them no matter how often I've read them!

Rubysong

I love DH Lawrence, I also re-read Wuthering Heights this year, having listened to it on the radio, and there was so much of it I’d forgotten, but to be fair, it must have been the best part of fifty years ago!

I used to be a prolific reader but now only manage a couple of pages in bed unless I've got something impossible to put down. Currently reading the Helen Durant detective series which are quite good.

I've read hundreds of books over the years but love Robin Hobb, Joe Abercrombie and George R Martin. The one book I've reread several times is Lord of the Rings - the copy I have is full of pictures I printed off and stuck in it the first time I read it so an already thick book is now huge! Another is a book called Five Smooth Stones by Ann Fairbairn which is about apartheid in S Africa - I first read that about 45 years ago and it stuck in my head so finally found it again when the internet came into being and paid a fortune for a copy.

I have also read two books by the wife of a distant relative in Australia called Beryll Coverdale - The Lazarus Secrets and the Lazarus Quartet which I can recommend.

It's years since I read the Just William books - I loved them so might look those up again

How Green Was My Valley by Richard (?) Llewellyn was a lovely book - just the description of the joy of sinking one's teeth into a freshly-made blackberry pie is a masterpiece in itself!