"Om im, lend me your knife."

[rolanni]

I'm reading Hellspark again; can't remember how many times I've read it since it was first published, back in the late '80s. It's one of my comfort books, along with Pride and Prejudice, The Witches of Karres, Cotillion, and The War for the Oaks.

So -- what are your comfort books?

Comments

[farwing.livejournal.com]

Well, War for the Oaks, for sure. I find The Blue Sword very comforting. I'm too sleep deprived to come up with anything else right now.

[patchwork-prose.livejournal.com]

Hellspark is definitely one of mine. Others include Modesitt's Ecolitan and Ghosts series and Elswyth Thane's Williamsburg novels.

[malkingrey.livejournal.com]

Bellairs' The Face in the Frost. Elizabeth Enright's Melendy Family stories (</>The Saturdays, The Four-Story Mistake, And Then There Were Five. Kipling's Stalky and Company.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

The Mapp and Lucia books by EF Benson. Middle Pterry--MORT, GUARDS! GUARDS!, up through FEET OF CLAY.

Must read WAR FOR THE OAKS. Have heard much.

[cadhla.livejournal.com]

Stephen King's IT, The Stand, and On Writing. Fire and Hemlock, by DWJ, and to a lesser degree, Deep Secret. If I feel like romance in my comfort, either Local Custom or the Meg Cabot adult chicklit trilogy. And, of course, Carla Speed McNeil's wonderful Finder.

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

I've read Nightworld by F. Paul Wilson many times. Love to go back to it. Inspires me every time.

Also, any of David Eddings' books in The Belgariad and The Mallorean series.

Oh, and The Once and Future King by T.H. White.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Individual titles include The Drawing of the Dark by Tim Powers, The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley, Howl's Moving Castle and Charmed Life by Dianna Wynne Jones, The Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson, The Beacon at Alexandria by Gillian Bradshaw, and the Liaden books especially Agent of Change and Conflict of Honors .

Emma Bull's War for the Oaks is also very good, as others have mentioned.

For a comfort binge I'm liable to run through my Dick Francis titles, or to read The Lord of the Rings. In fact I'm getting the LOTR hankering now that the weather has suddenly turned crisp and the leaves are turning. For a decade I read LOTR every fall, and there's something about the change of seasons that makes me want to pick it up again.

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

CS Friedman's Coldfire trilogy, especially Black Sun Rising. Anything (except The Bishop's Jaegers) by Thorne Smith, but especially The Stray Lamb. Lois McMaster Bujold's Shards of Honor, and sometimes Barrayar, as well as the butterbug book, whose name escapes me at the moment. (And if I'm in a mood, the entire Vorkosigan series) The Pilot's Choice omnibus, especially Scout's Progress. Catherine Asaro's The Last Hawk. And the complete Harry Potter collection.

Clearly, I'm a serious romantic sf / romantic fantasy junkie. :-)

[sraun]

A Civil Campaign

[sraun]

That is a great line! And you've got me wanting to go back and re-read it!

My comfort reads - Hellspark, War for the Oaks, your Liaden books, Bujold's Vorkosiverse, anything by E.E. "Doc" Smith, Wasp and "Nuisance Value" by Eric Frank Russell, James White's Sector General novels, Modesitt's SF (can't stand his fantasy).

I could probably come up with a dozen or two more, if I were home with my library instead of at work!

[torrilin.livejournal.com]

Falcon, War for the Oaks, and Finder by Emma Bull
Tam Lin by Pamela Dean (and Much Ado About Nothing and The Lady's Not For Burning to go with)
Partners in Necessity, Plan B, I Dare etc by rolanni and kinzel
Code of Conduct, Contact Immanent, Law of Survival, Rules of Conflict by kaygo
Mirror Dance, Memory, Shards of Honor, Curse of Chalion and Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
These Old Shades and Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer
Devilish by Jo Beverley
The Mage Wars series by malkingrey and James McDonald
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baronness Orczy
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
The Chrestomanci Quartet, Howl's Moving Castle and Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones
the Master Li and Number Ten Ox books by Barry Hughart
the Young Wizards books by Diane Duane
anything and everything I can get my grubby paws on by Janet Kagan, up to and including Star Trek
The Unsung Hero, The Defiant Hero and Over the Edge by Suzanne Brockmann

My god that's a list. I don't have to have *all* of those around at any given moment, but if I can't find the one I need, I'm distressed. Regrettably, my parents have a number of comfort reads that intersect with mine, so *finding* the Right One can be issueful. Even worse, a lot of 'em are in storage at the moment. Need to get them out of storage and onto shelves so they can be read, as is proper.

[malkingrey.livejournal.com]

The Mage Wars series by malkingrey and James McDonald

...fair brightens my day, that does...

Thanks!

[torrilin.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome :). They're on the list of "check shelves, check Dad's side of the bed, and check Mom's side of the bed" if I want to read a particular one. Parents tend to abscond with them.

[elbales]

Wow, there are quite a number.

Deathgift and Sky Road, War for the Oaks and Bone Dance, The Blue Sword, Tam Lin, The Thread that Binds the Bones, Winter Rose, Sense and Sensibility, and--hey, who knew!--Agent of Change and Carpe Diem.

Diana Wynne Jones has begun to worm herself into this list. Go, Ms. Jones, go.

Plus Georgette Heyer. Curse, you, rolanni! ;)

[adina-atl.livejournal.com]

Someone else who mentions Bone Dance! I love that book, more even than I love War for the Oaks, that seems to be the minority opinion. The person who recommended War for the Oaks to me actually told me not to read Bone Dance. I'm glad I finally disregarded her advice.

[elbales]

I'm glad you did, too. I can't imagine not liking that book. As Gaiman said in his review, it takes you weird places with fireworks.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Mmm...comfort books...

Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (all three of them)
Pratchett, Feet of Clay and Small Gods
Herodotus, The Histories
Seutonius, Twelve Caesars
Saint-Exupéry, le Petit Prince

[elbales]

A list like that makes me think that you must be a scholar.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Heh...and I left off Peter Ackroyd's "London: The Biography" (a book I do not hesitate to recommend).

But no scholar, just your typical SF fan who has far too many interests!

[od-mind.livejournal.com]

The Lord of the Rings
Hellspark (me too!)
Komarr, Lois McMaster Bujold
The Curse of Chalion, ditto
A Night in the Lonesome October, Roger Zelazny
The Liaden Universe(R) books
The Phoenix Guards, Steven Brust
Bridge of Birds, Barry Hughart
Tanner's Twelve Swingers, Lawrence Block

[seachanges.livejournal.com]

In no particular order:

Alphabet of Thorn
Any of the Harry Potter books
War for the Oaks
Alamut
Swordspoint
Stranger at the Wedding
Any of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories
Sense & Sensibility

[howl-at-the-sun.livejournal.com]

Ah, a post I can't resist replying to... I am a fan of your Liaden series and thus have been haunting your LJ for a few months now. Hi!

The Last Unicorn is one of my favorite comfort books, along with some of The Sandman books, and parts in the Silmarillion about Feanor and his line. The grand epic language used to throw me, but by now I know the story so well that it's just nice to read.

[xinef.livejournal.com]

Depends on my mood and what book is closest to me at any given time!

List includes:
Early Anne McCaffrey - the first 3 in the Dragon Riders series (Dragonflight, Dragonquest and White Dragon), the Crystal singer trilogy.
Lois McMaster Bujold - a number of the Vorkosigan books, but esp Shards of Honor and Barrayar.
From my childhood, but still a favourite re-read: Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Sure there are more.

Oh, my...

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I am quite stunned and amused...I think every single author or series I've used as comfort books at one time or another has been mentioned, except BRIDE OF THE RAT GOD by Barbara Hambly is a comfort book, and KIM by Kipling...And even my own occasionally, especially NIGHT CALLS and KINDRED RITES.

But Austin, Heyer, Bellairs, Bull's War, Bujold, Lee & Miller, Eddings, Rowling (first three stand out), Tolkien, McCaffrey, McKinley...ah, has anyone mentioned Patricia McKillip's works? Her Riddlemaster series and Cygnet books, especially...and The Forgotten Beasts of Eld I think it was, a perfect jewel of a book. And Witches of Karres, Howl's Moving Castle, the Barry Hughart books...

Yes, I am amused, and find it interesting that people whom I suspect have a wide age difference are naming the same books.

Clearly, it's time for me to read Hellspark and The Scarlet Pimpernel

[noiseinmyhead.livejournal.com]

Mary Stewart _Thoryhold_ & _Touch Not the Cat_

Re: Oh, my...

[elbales]

Ah! Another person who likes Bride of the Rat God! That's not one of her more popular books, is it? It's a hoot. And I share your love of McKillip. She's one of only a handful of writers whose books I buy in hardback.

Re: Oh, my...

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Ah! Another person who likes Bride of the Rat God! That's not one of her more popular books, is it? It's a hoot. And I share your love of McKillip. She's one of only a handful of writers whose books I buy in hardback.

Barbara has actually got an idea for a sequel--they go to China for a film. But right now she's getting paid to write historical mysteries and such. There are a few of us out there--I've mentioned it on panels, and gotten several pleased gasps from the audience.

I used to buy Pat in hardback, too, but I'm pretty broke right now. I have to find them remaindered. I've missed the last two (depression, alas, slows buying books.) So I need to watch for them! I even bought her mainstream novel and her SF.

Re: Oh, my...

[elbales]

Which mainstream?

We've got the SF title on our shelves, as well. :)

Re: Oh, my...

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Which mainstream?

I've always thought of Stepping From the Shadows as her mainstream...Pat said something once that made me believe some of it was autobiographical (perhaps more than the average amount in a fantasy novel!)

It feels closer to magic realism than her other works. It's time for me to find it and re-read it (I know I have more hardbacks than what are out--a couple boxes are still hidden away....)

She's being very prolific lately--I think I'm four behind, counting the latest release and the next scheduled.

[jack_calls_dances]

My wife: Anything by Guy Gavriel Kay, the Honor Harrington Series, and Watership Down

Me: The Heris Serraino trilogy (Elizabeth Moon), the Agent of Change sequence, Lois McMaster Bujold (various Miles Vorkosigon books)...various others that I could think of if it wasn't after midnight

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Austen, Bujold, Doyle & Macdonald for 'everything they write'.

Certain novels of Patrick Dennis, Dorothy Sayers, Robin McKinley, Patrick O'Brian, E.F. Benson...

confort books

[(Anonymous)]

The Mark of the Cat
Cotillion
The Unknown Ajax
The Promise in a Kiss
Partners in Necessity
In the Shadow of The Crown

I re-read any Andre Norton, Georgette Heyer, Stephanie Laurens and Liaden Adventure stories.

[adina-atl.livejournal.com]

Hellspark, of course.
Just about anything by Pratchett.
Steve Brust's Phoenix Guards for a long time was my "airline book" -- a battered copy of it lived permanently in my carry-on bag when I was traveling rather frequently for work. I knew I could pick it up and open to any random page and enjoy a few minutes of reading. Because I knew it so well I wasn't distressed when I had to put it away abruptly at landing, plus it's long enough that I never "finish" it during any one trip.
I'm actually fonder of Mansfield Park and Persuasion than Pride and Prejudice. I think I may have over-exposed to P&P, reading it for three classes and re-reading for pleasure a few dozen times.
Bone Dance by Emma Bull, though parts of that aren't so comfortable.

Funnily enough...

[vanye.livejournal.com]

the Liaden universe novels.
David Weber's Imperium novels.
Glen Cook's THE DRAGON NEVER SLEEPS and THE BLACK COMPANY
The Lioness Rampant series by Tamora Pierce.
The Door into Shadow by Diane Duane.
The Lensmen novels by E.E. Smith (nice nod to the man in I DARE,btw. The LaDemeters...)

Re: Funnily enough...

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I like Tamora Pierce, too! Especially her Wild Magic series, but her Lioness books, too--haven't read everything she's done.

I think I need to bookmark this romp--I can add to my reading list!

Re: Funnily enough...

[(Anonymous)]

In the last 2 years she's put out two more in the Tortall novels, dealing with Alanna's oldest daughter, and this month has the new novel in the Magic Circle series.

Re: Funnily enough...

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

In the last 2 years she's put out two more in the Tortall novels, dealing with Alanna's oldest daughter, and this month has the new novel in the Magic Circle series.

I saw the "Protector of the Small" books, but have not read any of the circle ones--the ones with the name of the protagonist in each one?

[alienne.livejournal.com]

*Hellspark* is definitely one of mine. As are the *Liaden Universe* novels and *The Last Unicorn*.