This fall has been the winter of my discontent with the election making me want to pull up the drawbridge to my psyche and mentally barricade myself in a safe place. I know I’m not alone with this because I know too many people in both political parties who are stunned by what has happened to civil discourse in America. What makes it worse is that in today’s 24/7, all-access world there are very few ways to get away from it. Open a browser, check social media and you’re inundated with words of such vitriol, fear, arrogance and insult that it’s like being punched. I’m left staggering around, unable to focus on much of anything and feeling as if something is very wrong even though, in my life, everything is all right.
One of the biggest ways all this has impacted me is my reading, which sounds like no big deal, but it’s my ‘job’. Blogs need content and I need to read lots of it in order to share recommendations with you all—that’s why you stop by. But when I’m trying to understand how someone who brags about his right to sexually assault any woman he wants because he’s a “star” can run for President it doesn’t leave much room in my brain to process anything else.
What it does leave me with is a desire for safety and security. I like fiction that challenges me and even makes me uncomfortable, but in the last two months I’ve turned back to what I call Comfort Reading—fiction that I know will immerse me in the kind of stories that do nothing but entertain. The macaroni and cheese, meat loaf, pancakes, mashed potatoes, chicken noodle soup, chocolate cake kind of reading that requires very little thought, because the author does all the heavy lifting. Here are four authors that I know I can count on for consistently great, escapist reading. The good news? Unlike comfort food comfort reading is not fattening and doing it in excess won’t make you feel sick.
Ah, Inspector Lynley, I think it’s safe to say I’ve had a crush on you since I was introduced to you by Elizabeth George in 1990. As if it weren’t enough that you’re well-dressed, thoughtful, and intelligent George even surrounds you with a cast of characters that never fails to make me laugh and keep me on my toes (I’m looking at you Barbara Havers).
Truly, if you like mysteries AND are an Anglophile than the Lynley series of mysteries are a must-read. Thankfully, there are nineteen so if you start now you could be set for life, whereas I have to wait desperately for the next installation.
Fun note: George is actually an American and lives near Seattle! I don’t know how she does it, but her knowledge and use of British slang, locales, and customs had me fully believing she was British until we moved to the Pacific Northwest and she was mentioned as a local author. p.s. My dream job? To be her research assistant.
For as erudite and elegant as Inspector Lynley is, John Corey is not. He is gruff, profane, hates authority, almost always has trouble with women, but is a brilliant detective. He is one of the reasons I love Nelson DeMille, who has written 7 Corey mysteries—all with a nod to international politics. DeMille is one of those authors who entertains and educates. I learn something from every one of his novels—usually something disturbing about terrorism, but unlike the real world I don’t have to worry because Corey will fix it.
Aside from this series, DeMille has written numerous other great thrillers.
If I’m going to read chick-lit (and I am) then it needs to be reliable. I want bling, misadventures, travel, high society and a plot that wraps itself up neatly in a Tiffany box with a bow. Sophie Kinsella’s Shopaholic series delivers. Her heroine Becky is sometimes a twit and has very little understanding of finances, but she makes me laugh…and sigh for the yummy clothes in every novel. Sometimes the fun tips over into annoying, but by and large Kinsella can be counted on for reading that has nothing to do with reality.
Well, really this one can’t come as a surprise, I’ve been yammering about Philippa Gregory and my obsession with British historical fiction for months. The Cousins’ War, the War of the Roses, the Boleyns, Seymours, Norfolks and that fat bastard Henry VIII—what’s not to love? Gregory is another author who teaches me something with every novel I read because she does an immense amount of research for each book. Now I’d just like to find her counterpart for the French monarchy because you know there was some crazy stuff going on there.
The Gold Coast?!!! You re-read The Gold Coast and didn’t tell me?!!! You realize it’s been one of my favorite books for years?! Well, I’m not sure it would totally stand up were I to read it now, but you get what I mean. Love that salty humor…especially when Corey unleashes it on his snobby in-laws.
Don’t worry- I didn’t re-read it! I just used the photo because it was the first DeMille book I ever read! I haven’t read all the Coreys so am reading The Lion’s Game right now.
Comfort reading is so important. I call them palate-cleansers, those tried and true books that you know will clear out any cobwebs from a slog of a read or the mess of synapse firings from a great thinker. Robert B. Parker used to be my favorite comfort author. I knew his characters so well, picking up a Spenser book felt like pulling up into the driveway at home after a long trip away. I find I now have little time for comfort reading, though there are “types” of books I try and cram in every once in a while. My “comfort” reads have become more series reads that aren’t always comforting in content – Lee Child’s Reacher, John Sandford’s Davenport or Virgil. I do love the lightness in David Rosenfelt’s Andy Carpenter series. Man, I need to get on one of those. There is NOTHING wrong with comfort reading, glad you’ve got some good go-to folks in your lineup.
Could not agree with you more!! My comfort reading for the last week was trying something new – which is the opposite of what comforts most people! I read Paris For One by Jojo Moyes, which is her new book of short stories, easy and delightful. I could read these all day long! Now, The Bitch is Back edited by Cathi Hanauer which is a collection of essays that I am (to my surprise) really enjoying! And when I am tired at night and all else fails I am binge watching Younger (TV Land) which is just adorable and fun! Happy Fall reader friend!!
I do the binge watching as well. I just tore through Bloodline on Netflix. I’ll have to check out Younger. Hopefully, this will get better once the election is over!
I haven’t read Sophie Kinsella, but that looks like a great comfort read! I usually reach for chick lit when I need something easy on the mind.
Isn’t it fun?! It’s like a warm bath for the brain- relaxing and soothing!
Yes I find the whole election campaign very discouraging. I finally had to ban CNN and all other TV news networks, though I still listen to NPR. I just can’t take it anymore. All the dirt, and crap. All the death threats by Trump supporters, what the hell?! Anyways I don’t know if it’s affected my reading, but all the bad news is stressful. I say turn off the TV and maybe I will entice myself with the new Bruce biography!
I just put this on hold at the library- I love the Boss!
Maeve Binchy is my mac and cheese. D.E. Stevenson is my cornbread with butter. Great topic!
Oooo…cornbread with butter! Now, I’m hungry. Isn’t it lovely to have authors you can trust with your emotional wellbeing?!