C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter, “I can’t imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once.”
Or woman, either. Certainly not this one! I love those old favorite books I go back to over and over again, familiar and comforting as a mug of hot chocolate on a chilly day!
A quick quiz: what was your first thought on seeing that picture?
- Tea and books- wonderful, point me to the nearest cozy armchair and I’ll be right there.
- Arrgghh! Move that cup and teaspoon off those books now!
Congratulations! There are no wrong answers. Either means you’re a book lover. :)
Though now, I mostly read ebooks. They aren’t the same as holding a paper book, inhaling that wonderful bookish smell that only books have. Tiny covers in a row on a Kindle don’t have nearly the same delight as a lovely row of matching spines on a bookshelf. But never having to say goodbye to a beloved book again is a wonderful thing. Being able to carry a thousand books around is amazing.
When I left Australia to move to England, I left my books and my family behind. And I missed my books most! Family, I knew I’d see again. I could talk to them on the phone. I could fly home. My lovely books, carefully saved for or thrifted over the years, from hundred year old children’s classics to vintage Harlequin romances, I had to sell.
After letting go my collection of all L. M. Montgomery‘s books in paperback and hardcover, I’m thrilled to have a complete set again, this time as ebooks. I bought a huge collection of all her books for just $2.99 (£1.99 in the UK). 6775 pages, according to Amazon! As most of her writing is now in the public domain, it’s available inexpensively, or even free.
When I need an easy comfort read, her books are where I turn first. I adore her stories! They’re sweet, uplifting, and just plain fun.
Most of us will have read at least one of her books, as she’s the author of the beloved Anne of Green Gables series. But if you haven’t read anything of hers beyond the Anne stories, you have an treat of discovery ahead! Try the Emily of New Moon trilogy, about a girl determined to be a writer, reflecting aspects of Lucy Maud’s own journey to publication. And make sure to look at The Blue Castle, possibly my all-time favorite romance, about an on-the-shelf woman, considered past the age of falling in love, who decides to escape her awful family and drab spinster life when told she has a life-limiting illness.
It’s quaint, old-fashioned and ever so slightly irreverent, but in a faith-filled way, with delicious lines like:
Valancy had long ago decided she would rather offend God than Aunt Wellington, because God might forgive her, but Aunt Wellington never would.
You can read a preview here. Time to reread it again, I think!
What are your own all-time favorite comfort reads?
Please share in the comments! One comment made before November 2 will be chosen at random to win one of my ebooks.
USA Today bestselling author Autumn Macarthur writes romances full of faith and hope, celebrating God's love as well as a man and a woman finding their happily ever after. She prays they’ll warm your heart and make you smile. An Australian transplanted to Britain, Autumn lives just north of London with her lovely English husband and three demanding cats, in a very small house with a teensy tiny garden. She loves talking to readers, so please get in touch! And get a free Christian romance novella when you sign up for her reader newsletter at http://bit.ly/Autumnsubscribe
I love the Narbia books – and have found they only improve with age and life experience. Also the Swallows and Amazons series (all of them, not just the first one) by Arthur Ransome. Just writing this makes me want to go and get them off the bookshelves for another read!
Ooo Autumn, to give up your books! That is big. I think that ebook readers are a blessing in that sense.
Comfort reads: may sound strange, but I love the Narnia series and am delighting in watching my boys fall in love with Narnia. I am a ‘mood’ reader- what I read depends on what mood I am in, so I have loads of paper and ebooks ranging from historical, suspense, contemporary, children’s, even some fantasy dare I say!!
Hi Autumn! Love your the picture with a cup on top of the books. I have stacks of books around my house and often place a cup of coffee, hot chocolate, mulled cider, or tea on top of the books. Especially during the cooler weather of fall and winter. When I was younger I reread books, now I sometimes reread parts. As stated in your blog, I enjoy having my entire library available in my Kindle account and there is so much available and never enough time to read.
I love that photograph, Autumn! Although I love my Kindle because it allows me to make the font EXTRA big for my aging eyes, I do prefer a paper book. There’s so many beautiful covers out there and with the ebooks you miss out.
Sadly I am just not one for the classics, I prefer either contemporary love inspired books or paranormal romance. My comfort series that I read over N over again though is Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunter series. They opened paranormal reading to me and re-ifnited my love of reading after I had been in a 7 year slump. Middle school and high school being assigned books to read that most of which I did not enjoy had pretty much ruinined reading for me for a while.
Oh, great choice, Shona! Yes, the Narnia books are also on my list. That I think is the test of truly great children’s books, that we can reread them as adults and find even more depth there.
Embarassed to say, I’ve never read the Swallows and Amazons series. I read every book in the children’s section of our small local library, but they didn’t have these. I must go look for them.
Thanks for suggesting some lovely new reading. LOL, now to get the time to read! ;)
Yes, it hurt to let them go. I could only choose about ten or so books to box up and send over to England. Then there was an issue in transit, and half the things I valued most and wanted to keep were lost! Favorite books, a beautiful painting by my talented sister, and a small woolen blanket spun, dyed, and women by my mother. :(
Ereaders don’t replace the lovely physical object of a book, but I do love that I can carry them everywhere with me and will never lose a book again!
Narnia doesn’t sound strange at all. I suspect it may come out as most readers’ #1.
I’m a mood reader too. So many books, so little time to read! :)
Books definitely make the best decorations a home can have, IMO. Renate, I love imagining you surrounded by books and a lovely warm drink. :)
Oh yes, that’s the other blessing of the Kindle! But they aren’t the same as paper books. Unfortunately we live in a tiny house with not a lot of space for books, we have bookshelves and books tucked in every possible location! Plus, we are hoping to make a house move soon, again to another country, so we need to consider the expense of shipping things. So I try to buy ebooks when I can, now. But no ereader compares with holding a “real” paper book!
Cassandra, it’s so sad that the assigned reading in school does ruin so many people’s joy in books. Glad you found that love of reading again! Yes, I enjoy Love Inspired, too, sweet and uplifting! I like reading knowing that I’ll feel good at the end of the story!
I used to read a lot of fantasy and paranormal, but I haven’t read any of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s. The main problem of being a writer is that the time I now spend writing is the time I used to spend reading!
I love a post that mentions reading books more than once. I have many favorites, some of which are The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald, Little Dorrit by Dickens, A Wrinkle in Time, and any of Jane Austen’s books.
I have all of Montgomery’s books and still reread them! I have an old secretary that is full of old books that I have read and still reread them. Some of the books I reread every year are: Max by Rosa N. Carey; Following the Star by Florence Barclay; Pride & Prejudice; Buelah and St. Elmo by Augusta J. Evans. Newer books that I have reread are Pepper Basham’s books, Rachel Hauck’s How to Catch a Prince which I have read 3 times this last year (and I WILL reread her newest A Royal Christmas Wedding); all of Susan May Warren’s books and Tracy Hilton’s Plain Jane series (especially the first one Good Clean Murder). I’m getting ready to reread Roger Elwood’s Dwellers and several books of Ted Dekker (especially the Circle Trilogy, the Caleb books, and Blink). I love reading new books and trying new authors, but sometimes I just have to reread a good book.
Some of my favorites are by Grace Livingston Hill . A librarian introduced me to them years ago when I was in a bed rest pregnancy. Along those lines I just mailed a set of books from The Borrowers to my grandson who loves to read. My daughter had been trying to find them for him, but apparently they are largely out of print. They are both looking forward to reading them .
In response to the picture I was excited to see a cup of tea , my favorite beverage, but also concerned for the books.
All excellent choices! For a long while, I re-read LOTR yearly. :)
And thanks for reminding me about Madeleine L’Engle (A Winkle in Time). I do love her books, and she also blogs actively on reading and writing, espcially writing as a Christian.
Here’s a quote from her blog: “A book, too, can be a star, explosive material, capable of stirring up fresh life endlessly, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.”
– Madeleine L’Engle
Some new ones there for me, Becky! I’ll need to go look them up.
Yes, it doesn’t have to be old books that we re-read. I have several more recent releases that sit by my bedside and I go back to again and again. :)
LOL, yes, that was my thought too, about the picture. I couldn’t help imagining a white ring on the cloth cover! I do try to look after my books. But I don’t mind finding those in older thrifted hardcovers. It shows a book that’s been read and loved.
I haven’t re-read any Grace Livingstone Hill for a while, though I went through a stage in my teens and early twenties where I devoured them! And I’m sad to hear that many of The Borrowers stories are out of print. I delighted in those stories as a kid, our local library had all of them!
I completely agree with Lewis (and you) that “I can’t imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once.” I love the idea of grabbing a book, a mug full of coffee (sometimes tea) and just reading for a whole afternoon. My favorite memories are reading in a hammock at my grandpas beach house while it was raining. The hammock was usually hanging in the balcony, so it couldn’t be a lot of rain or I’d get wet (and the book) too, but just those light summer rains that will go on forever.
Recently I can’t say I have a favorite book I go back to, but I definitely have had favorites over the years. In my teans, I’ve read and re-read (way too many times) Robin Jones Gunn’s Christy Miller series. I have always been a huge fan of mistery books, so Agatha Christie’s books were also a good companion for many cups of coffee. These days I have favorite authors, several romance books I turn back to if I need comfort from happy endings, but selecting one (or even a series) is hard.
On another note, I’ve been having a hard time going back to reading paperbacks again. I acutally bought a few recently (and won a few from inspiromance–for which I’m really thankful), but I just have those books in my bedside table and never seem to get to them. I blame my kindle addiction and ergonomy of the device (light, weight, …), but also practicality of taking it with me everywhere.
I have to disagree. I don’t have time to read a book twice when there are so many more books left to be read.
I used to reread books all the time. I had more time than money, and only a small-town library to borrow from! I loved Anne of Green Gables and have certainly read that series more than once! Some that have been mentioned, like the Borrowers, I revisited when my children were young and will again soon with the grandgirls.
But like Merrillee, I now have access to unlimited GOOD books. I have more money to buy them and less time to read them. I can’t think what my most recent reread might have been. It has been a few years at least since I’ve reread anything, but I’ve sometimes wished I had when I start into a later book in a series and struggle to remember earlier details… or DO remember them with great fondness and am tempted to go back!
As an author, one of the greatest compliments I’ve received are from the readers who tell me they reread my books. An honor I don’t take lightly.
Many of my “must-reread” books I fell in love with as a kid – Little House on the Prairie, Anne of Green Gables (though I really need to read Montgomery’s other books!), anything Jane Austen, An Old Fashioned Girl and Eight Cousins/Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott (though Little Women is always worth another read), What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge, the In Grandma’s Attic series by Arleta Richardson, anything by Francena H. Arnold (especially Not My Will), and Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith. As an adult I’ve added Narnia, anything Georgette Heyer, most of Elizabeth Gaskell (especially North and South), Jan Karon’s Mitford series, the Million Dollar Mysteries by Mindy Starns Clark, and various Inspy Romance authors’ work that I’ve only known a couple years but read multiple times.
It’s been fun to see other people’s favorites!
As A child I was an Enid Blyton fan. I read and re-read The Famous Five and the Secret Seven. My Favorite book now is The Shack, I have read it so many times and I’m glad it’s on my Kindle or else it would have fallen apart by now. I’m very thankful for my Kindle as when I moved from the UK to the USA I didn’t have to lose too many books. It goes without saying I love all the Christian Inspirational books.
I’m a big re-reader. Anne of Green Gables is an almost annual revisit. Love Emily of New Moon, too.
I’ve gone to my bookshelf which has all my childhood books and remembered so many more. The Chalet School books were read many times as a teenager and I loved Anne of Green Gables too. Thank you for getting me to go back and enjoy all the memories I associate with these dear friends. I’ve spent a lovely time remember and trying to decide which one to pick up next!
That’s a beautiful image, you reading in the hammock as rain lightly falls!
Yes, I find I read paperbacks less and less now too. I tend to reach for my Kindle when I want to read.
That’s a good point, Merrillee. So many books, so little reading time!
Sometimes though I want the comfort of an easy, unchallenging read, something known and familiar. But I would also hate to keep reading the same book over and over, no matter how much I loved it.
One of the joys of grandkids – getting to revisit all those childhood favorites again with a new generation of readers. :)
So many favorite books already mentioned above! I re-read when I need something I can count on to be enjoyable. We just visited Williamsburg, VA, so now I’m re-reading Elswyth Thane’s “Dawn’s Early Light.” I could go on and on, but am still catching up after 2 weeks away from home!
Some great choices there, Katy. Some I haven’t read since my early teens, and a few I haven’t read. Difference between a US childhood and an Australian childhood, I suspect. I’m going to have fun looking up the ones I don’t know. :)
I love and re-read the Little House books, too, plus Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer.
Oh, yes, I read all those too, Lorraine! EB was so prolific. I especially loved her Mallory Towers books, and desperately wished I could be sent away to a boarding school like that!
I haven’t read The Shack yet, one on my TBR list, but there are always so many other books to read… and write!
Choosing what books and other possessions to take when you move country is so difficult. We always need to leave things behind we wish we could take. I’m especially glad for ebooks when I think of moving again!
There’s joy to be found revisiting books we know and love. Writing this post really got me wanting to read those Emily books again. And the Pat books, too. I don’t know when I’ll get time- lots of deadlines!
Lovely to read books that are relevant to where you’re visiting, Margaret. I haven’t heard of Elswyth Thane before, so she’s another new-to-me author I’ll enjoy discovering more about. Thank you! :)
I’m so glad, Shona! That’s one of the delights of old books! :)
After just finishing Can’t Help Falling by Kara Isaac makes me want to get back into the Naria books. I have such a large TBR pile that I have a hard time going back to something I’ve already read.
I do love to watch my favorite movies over and over, but I can spend that time constructively by crocheting at the same time and it keeps my hands busy so that I don’t eat.
I enjoy reading and re-reading Grace Livingston Hill books. :-)
Sounds like the movies and crocheting combo is a great plan, Gail! I haven’t really gotten into audiobooks yet, but I think a lot of people like them for the same reason, being able to hear the story and do other things at the same time.
Hi Mimi! Another mention of GLH. I must go and look those up again. I know I did read some back in my twenties, but that was a long time ago!
I have a huge tbr so I rarely reread but sometimes I just miss a character or want to experience a certain scene again then I’m flipping through a favorite book to find that special line :)
I don’t have any classic books I like nor am I a re-reader. I have much too many books to read (you should see my bookshelves!) like Merrille said. :-) I’ve never been one to re-read a book, or collect books. I just don’t have the room & the idea of moving them if we ever had to is much too daunting…lol! Besides, I’d much rather donate my books to my sis-in-law or my library once I’m done reading them. :-)
So sorry you had to leave all of your books Autumn! That certainly hurts the readers heart. While I am glad I have a Kindle to store thousands of books, I agree, there’s nothing like holding a real on in your hand. Feeling the paper as you turn the pages, the smell, lovingly gazing at the cover, and the coziness just elude relaxation to me :-)
I do that too, Beth. Too often I don’t have time to reread an entire book, so just a scene or chapter. :)
You and Merrillee are so right, Trixi, there are so many wonderful new, or new-to-me, books to read. Sometimes though I’m in that mood where only an old favorite will do. It’s a whole different pleasure re-experiencing a book on a second, third, fourth or more read! The best books give a little more each time.
I’m less of a collector than I was! In fact, last year I sold another book collection, this time signed and collectible books from when I ran an online bookshop. I kept a lot when I closed the shop, but realised I had to let them go. Thankfully that didn’t hurt much at all, not like losing the books I’d had since childhood!
I loved reading the Sue Barton series as a young girl, so much so that I searched the internet a few years and found all but 1 book. I’ve since reread them, and enjoyed them immensely. Another favourite was Heidi, and then the classic, Gone with the Wind. I can’t imagine re-reading it now, though – it’s such a long story and there are too many other good books to read these days!!
I loved Heidi, too! Great that you found so many of the SB series. Hoping you get that elusive last one, too! I agree with GWTW! I’m glad I read it, in a weekend where I did nothing but read! But that’s a once-only book for me. :)
I should warn you that Elswyth Thane’s books are out of print, and are not e-books (yet,anyway). The copy I have of “Dawn’s Early Light” is one my mom got the year I was born! I did find copies available through Alibris.com for 99 cents plus shipping.
I love trying to find out-of-print books. Second hand bookstores and thrifts with good book sections are some of my favorite places!
So sad when they go out of print, but not into ebook. I have a favorite author who died in the 80’s this happened to. Apparently there’s some issue with whoever owns the copyright giving permission.