Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly topic hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week she provide a topic and you are free to use that topic and/or variations of that topic to make your top ten list. A full list of the weekly themes can be found here.
Before getting to my comfort reads, I’m going to start with a story, so bear with me. I’m pretty close with my grandma. She’s one of those people in my life that I could talk to for hours on end and never run out of things to say, and we’ve done that. For Christmas, the adults in the family pick one name out of a hat, and then only buy for that person with a $50 limit. It makes Christmas a lot less stressful. A couple of years ago I picked my grandma, and I knew what I was going to get her: Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C. S. Forester. It was her comfort book from when she was a teen to today. I first had her read a poem that I wrote before opening her present. I’ve seen my grandma cry quite a few times this past year due to my grandpa’s health and then death, but back then, it was one of the 2nd or 3rd times I’ve seen her cry. In one of her moves, she lost the book or it was donated. I wanted to give her back some form of comfort, and this is why I really love this topic because comfort reads are those kinds that we all need. To have something precious and beautiful that we can turn to during hard or sluggish times is something we can’t take for granted.
Ugh, can the Cemetery of Forgotten Books be real, please?!? The beauty of this book from the writing to the characters blew me away when I read it, and I constantly re-read that first scene when Daniel sees the enters the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.
I think the best way to describe this book is as a hug in paper form. It’s beautiful and thought-provoking and just plain amazing!
This is a new book that is added to my list of comfort books. I could re-read Alex and Henry’s emails all the live-long day. How Casey McQuiston writes love stories is just so lovely and makes me believe in love again.
I want to adopt all the kids in this book and I’m someone who doesn’t want kids, so that tells you something! As V.E. Schwab says “it is like being wrapped up in a big gay blanket.” It really is an absolutely perfect book!
In the past few years, my feeling surrounding Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird have changed, especially with the publication of Go Set a Watchman. But a few years ago, I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn that gave me the same feelings that Lee’s novel did. The coming-of-age story of Francie Nolan is beautiful to see and I definitely see my younger self in Francie.
I can insert Pride and Prejudice in here as well. I love a good character arc and Emma will always be one of my favorite characters and my favorite Jane Austen novel. I will never tire of the line “if I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.”
I still remember reading this book for the first time in middle school. I was blown away by the entire book, and the line “stay gold, Ponyboy,” still brings me back to that age.
I debated whether to include anything by this author, but I do have to admit that these books did shape who I am today. I still have such an amazing thoughts and feelings about this series, and I don’t want her to affect how I feel about these books.
Happy Reading Darlings!
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a wonderful pick!
My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-comfort-reads/
Thank you!!
Oh we definitely share a couple of the same comfort reads!
Cerulean Sea and Shadow of the Wind are faves and I can see why they’d make a comfort reads list. I’m not an Austen or Bronte fan, but that’s why there are so many books, right? See my list at https://www.bookshelfjourneys.com/post/ttt-comfort-reads