Comfort books
Fri, 2001-09-14 13:34
#1
Comfort books
Do you have any books you return to again and again whenever you feel sad/uncomfortable/uneasy/generally p*ssed off?
I find 'Veronica Tries to Die' by Paul Coehe, The Bluebird of Happiness (not sure who the author is but it's a classic farytale) and anything by Judith Krantz are good 'escape into another world and block out the bad stuff' books
Barry Wood
Ten Cents Off Per Dozen, a silly book of short stories written by Gregory Clark. It makes me happy and I forget everything else. No wonder I've been reading it a lot lately! Don't know if it's still in print.
Emily, I'll check out Veronica Tries to Die.
beachwood
'Hearts In Atlantis' by Stephan King. It contains a collection of interconnected short stories, and the first two, 'Low men in yellow coats' and 'Hearts In Atlantis', I always find myself coming back to again and again. I guess because I identify with the central charicter in both stories, and reading about their problums helps me to forget about my own.
Karl Wiggins
"Flesh & Blood" by Pete Hamill. A novel of a New York boxer, who learned to fight in prison. The book's out of print now, which is a shame because it's exceedingly readable. It keeps dropping into the third person as he talks to himself:
"It was you, babe. Before Harlem and Watts, and before Vegas. Before all the high rollers came out of the subway to shout for the other guy. And you already knew how it was going to end, babe, didn't you."
Or something like that. And there are parts in the book that take you buy surprise. Like when the queens come on to him in prison, and he's only an 18-year old kid, and about the only white kid in the joint. Although I won't give the story away.
I treasure my battered old hard cover and lend it to very few people.