Comfort Reading for Your Fragile Soul
YWR for hard times #131
Hello, my friends.
This week’s planned programming was about thrillers, or possibly even some smart but non-drudgerous literary fiction. (Oh, it’s out there. Though you really have to sift through those performative year-end lists to find it. We get it, book column editors, you’re all very smart. Good luck with your McSweeney’s applications.)
That was the plan. And I’m sure that’s what next week will bring. But it didn’t feel right this week.
This week, I find myself drawn to the most comforting, most engrossing, most escapist reading. Right now, as it all feels impossibly heavy. Right now, as we are witness to unconscionable actions. Right now, as the discourse is heated and binary and often teeming with the worst of us. Right now, as it feels like all the adults have left the building and we’re small, fragile children, holding onto nothing but our tattered bears and our frantic hope. Right now, as we know that we are the adults but are often so helpless, and that we still have to go on with our daily lives, as long as we can.
Listen. The absolute last thing anyone needs is another sanctimonious social media post about how we should behave, not that I know anyway. All I’m saying is - if you are seeking out a little comfort, a little gentleness, a little escape, just for a few pages - your friend Kerry says that’s just fine. Books love us and grant us what we need, when we need it.
Here are just a few of my comfort and escape reads, all four and five lambers. Some tried-and-true and a few new suggestions. Please leave your comfort reads below as a gift of kindness to your community of readers!
Bighearted, funny fiction
I’m going to need authors to drop everything and get to writing in this genre and this genre only, because I feel like I keep suggesting the same titles. Forgive me, longtime readers (hi, Joanna). Also, is the hack to find these kinds of book to just look for teal on the cover? Anyway:
The House on the Cerulean Sea: a ridiculously wholesome light fantasy book about a lonely caretaker of magical misfit children. Warm and loving.
The Guncle: If you haven’t read this story of an aging actor/gay uncle who unexpectedly takes care of his niece and nephew for the summer, I just don’t even know what we’re doing here. Do you listen to anything I say, at all?
Where’d You Go, Bernadette: This smart, zippy novel about an unconventional, brilliant mother told by her insightful daughter is great and more than a decade old! Where’d YOU go, Maria Semple?
Lessons in Chemistry: If you’re one of the twelve carbon life forms who hasn’t read this but also wants funny, warm, light books, you’ve found your next read. I know only one person who didn’t like it. There’s always one.
Pro tip: Everyone wants you to read A Man Called Ove in this genre. Do not listen to these people. It’s good, but he’s kind of grouchy and it’s also kind of sad at points. Be forewarned.
Non-scary non-fiction
These Guys Have All the Fun: One thing about me, guys - I’m gonna read an oral history about a cultural moment. This one, about the rise of ESPN, is long but also fun, and really interesting as both a sports and media artifact. (Where’s the “fall of ESPN” companion article, you cowards?)
Heat: Because obviously by now you have read My Life in France (right? RIGHT?), check out this cooking memoir by a New Yorker writer who decides to learn what life in a professional kitchen is really like. Not as delightful as Julia Child but definitely not as dark as Kitchen Confidential. After oral histories, I love a chef memoir.
Priceless: If you’re looking for nonfiction thrillers but don’t want too much danger, try this memoir by a former FBI agent assigned to track down stolen art. Fast-paced and fascinating. (If you do want some escapist danger, obviously your choice is American Kingpin.)
Some Must-Read Comfort Classics
If I’m being honestly, fully 20% of my personality and writing style is Anne of Green Gables. Charming, upstanding, appealing people generally trying to do right and getting into gentle capers along the way. Yes, it’s accessible enough for YA but substantive and smart enough to fulfill adult readers.
(Also, if you love Anne, you might like The Grace of Wild Things, a magic/fantasy reimagining of Anne of Green Gables. It’s heavier on the Y of YA, be forewarned.)
Howl’s Moving Castle: Practically a modern entry compared to Anne, with a publish year of 1986, this classic fantasy about an eldest daughter caught in a witch’s curse is not too sweet and doesn’t pander at all.
All Creatures Great and Small: Literally described as the “warm and joyful memoirs of the world’s most beloved vet” and what more do you need? Weirdly I, an animal lover, didn’t read this until a few years ago because who knows why. I thought it would be saccharine or something but in fact, it’s a few hours with one of the great raconteurs. If you haven’t had the pleasure, you’re in for a treat.
Geez, let’s look at my reading queue: mental health, immigration struggles and colonial survivalism. No wonder I want to read happy things.
More Words of Comfort
If you’ve read all these books or are made of sterner stuff than I am, check the archive for all manner of other books HERE.
This week’s links mostly go to Postmark Books, an indie bookstore recommended by Melissa L., and you guys? It is a BOOKSTORE FLORIST STATIONERY STORE and I don’t claim to know what heaven looks like but pretty sure it’s close to this store. Don’t forget to send me your favorite indie bookstore recommendations!
Are you tired of hearing me talk about Glory Be? Okay so just a quick note to tell you that it was favorably reviewed by The New York Times and is an Amazon Editor’s Pick so if you’d just go buy it then I’d probably stop talking about it, y’know?
Thank you for reading and being here! I’m grateful for every single one of you who opens, likes, shares this little ol’ newsletter. Be safe out there, kids.
thank you so much!