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Literary Comfort Food November 12, 2007 By Alison Andrews
Mashed Potatoes for the Mind Recently I found myself craving a healthy portion of literary comfort food. Do you know what I mean? Sometimes I get tired of reading things that challenge, perplex, or even dazzle my brain, and I just want to relax with a book that feels like an old friend.
So what are the characteristics of a “comfortable” book? For me, it’s one I know so well that I can just enjoy its company. An intriguing plot is not important, since I’m rereading anyway. In fact, I’d prefer a story without much drama, since real life can often be stressful enough, and I want to escape from that for a while. (We’re talking about the literary equivalent of mashed potatoes, after all.)
However, don’t assume that I want to read a boring book. Oh, no. What I want is interesting characters, people with whom I’d love to spend time chatting endless hours. Characters I’m sad to leave behind when I close the book. (Sometimes, if I’m lucky, the author will feel the same way and write some sequels.) And finally, since they are comfort food for the mind, I want to read a book—just once in a while—unafflicted by the pessimistic view of life portrayed in so many modern novels. I don’t mind if the characters have struggles; just please let the characters have some hope, optimism, and—is this too much to ask?—some moral fiber that carries them through to better days.
Village Life I suspect other readers may feel the same way, even if they may not realize it. When reading blogs, I found most of the respondents naming the same books over and over. Many of these works were on my best-beloved list as well. I noticed that many of the books mentioned were old—not a contemporary work in the bunch—and quite a few of them were discovered in the reader’s childhood.
So what are some of my literary comforts? First on the list: all of Jane Austen’s novels. I know I’ve written about her before, but I just can’t leave her out of any list of favorites. Her books never bore me, with their needle-sharp wit and inimitable characterization. Her enduring fan base has led to a number of Austenesque sequels, on which I confess I can’t offer an opinion, since for me no one does Austen better than Austen, and I’d rather read Emma again than an attempt to rewrite Pride and Prejudice in the modern era, or whatever the hook is. Still, for those who just can’t get enough Jane, I can see the appeal in such continuations.
For those who would like to try other books with the flavor of English village life in the not-so-remote past without the direct attempts to copy Miss Austen, I recommend the novels of Barbara Pym, Dorothy Sayers, and Miss Read. Pym writes about women in 1950s England who are mostly single, some of whom find love. The attraction of these books is in their tone: gentle amusement at the follies and daily routines of ordinary people. Sayers wrote mysteries that go beyond their genre: well-written, erudite, yet always pleasant to experience because of the engaging personality of the detective, Lord Peter Wimsey. Finally, Miss Read (the pen name of Dora Jessie Saint) was the author of novels describing village life through the sharp-witted view of an unmarried schoolteacher. I have been revisiting Miss Read’s first three books and found them refreshing and familiar at the same time.
A Child at Heart For many of us, books we first read as children or teenagers are comforting, perhaps because they take us back to a simpler time. This does not mean these are simple or childish books. My list would include The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings, the Little House on the Prairie series, Anne of Green Gables and its sequels, Little Women (but not its sequels), and A Wrinkle in Time, along with others by Madeleine L’Engle. You might be able to name others. These are some of the children’s books that I have not outgrown. I hope I never will.
If I’m still craving literary comfort food, I fill it with anything by C.S. Lewis, humor by authors like Dave Barry or Amy Krouse Rosenthal, or one of my favorite recent discoveries, Haven Kimmel (particularly her memoirs). If all else fails to soothe my weary mind—well, I can always read cookbooks.
ninetyandnine.com
© 2007, Alison Andrews
---------- Alison Andrews lives near Ft. Worth, Texas, with her husband and two young children. Her dream is to own a house with a whole room devoted to books.
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