Comfort Reading

I have some edtech tools I am collecting, but right now I really wanted to share a concept I came up with about a year ago called "comfort reading." You know how we call mac 'n cheese comfort food? Same concept. When I am going through some stuff, I don't need more unknown in my life, so starting a new book, even if it's really good, can be a bit daunting. That's when I reach for my old favorites. It's like hanging out with a good friend - you know who the characters are, you know what they say, you know how it ends, and it all surrounds you and lifts you off of the couch and out of your house and plops you right into the setting. It soothes your brain and your soul and gives you - well, comfort. Hence the name! 

Enough with the chatter. Here is a list of some of my favorites. 

 Anne McCaffrey The Dragonriders of Pern series

There are a lot of books in this series, and all are worth reading, but the core of the series is these three books. Set on a planet with no real mechanical technology, but aided by dragons who have a bond with their humans, these books have adventure and romance and intrigue and discovery and...dragons! Some folks try to characterize this series as fantasy, but it is in fact hard science fiction. There's no magic, but a thrilling story. 

 Margaret Maron Deborah Knott series

A lot of Southern fiction tends to be a bit strange, with outlandish characters, mosquitos, and tall tales galore. I adore this series of mysteries because Margaret Maron writes in the truest Southern voice I have ever encountered. I know these people (I am from North Carolina, and these books all take place in the Tarheel state!), I know this culture, I know a lot of the locations, these feel like going home for me. But even if you're not from North Carolina, the stories are tight and plausible and intriguing and the characters are so real and complex, people you want to know.

 J.R.R. Tolkien Lord of the Rings series

I have read this series 5 or so times. Every time I reach that point where Frodo and Sam leave the Shire, I get chills knowing what adventures await them. Here's what I always tell potential readers - Tolkien wrote the stories to be one novel. His publisher chose to chop the novel up into three separate books, so the endings of the first two are a bit arbitrary. And Fellowship reads like the exposition that it is, introducing the hobbits and the Shire and giving a bit of backstory. As such, it can be a bit of a slog, but it is worth continuing. Once you hit Two Towers, you will be completely sucked in. 

 Diana Gabaldon Outlander series

This wonderful series gets better and better as you move through each book! And each of these books are doorstoppers (i.e. HUGE!), so they'll take you a while to get through each one. Perfect for staying at home. Claire walks up to a circle of stones in Scotland in the 1940s and is transported back in time 200 years, where she meets Jamie. Romance, adventure, and many *ahem* adult situations ensue. The last 5 books in the series take place during pre-Revolutionary War North Carolina (remember what I said about NC above?!), and Gabaldon's inclusion of that time in history is masterful. 

And finally...
 Mary Stewart mysteries (here's a link to Touch Not the Cat)

My grandmother had Airs Above the Ground, which I snagged from her years ago. I started reading these when I was a teenager, and will go back to them from time to time. They're a bit dated, but I love the world travel, the adventure, the romance, and the intrigue! From the mountains of Corfu to the jagged rocks of the Isle of Skye, from sunny Provence to 1950s Austria, these books whirl you around the world. 

What books do you go back to time and time again? What are you "comfort reads"?!