When it’s this rainy and grey outside, we need something to cheer us up, and some of my favourite books are the reading equivalent of comfort food. What could be better then picking up a book you just know is going to be brilliant – because you’ve read it at at least three times already?!
Everyone’s go-to books to cheer them up are different, but mine are mainly all about nostalgia. Which is why I still love school stories (The Chalet School, Enid Blyton’s St Clare’s books) and pony stories (the Jill books). And then there are those books I read growing up that I will never forget – classics like The Secret Garden, The Owl Service and Judy Blume’s Forever.
One of my favourite nostalgia reads that’s guaranteed to chase away the grey clouds is I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith. Set in the 1930s, it’s the journal of 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain and tells the story of her eccentric family’s life in their crumbling castle home. As she falls in love for the first time, she struggles to put into words her confused feelings and come to terms with the adult world around her. Reading this both as a teenager and now in my 30s, Cassandra seems so real as she describes the characters in her life in such detail. You can’t fail to both laugh and be moved by her story.
Not all of my fave reads are from my childhood, though. There are loads of books I’ve read in the past few years that still bring that comfort food feeling. These range from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy to Carola Dunn’s Daisy Dalrymple mysteries and Anna Maxted’s Getting Over It, which I’ve read three times and loved (and cried at) each time.
So this week I’ve mainly been reading books I already love, but next week I’ll be getting stuck into my pile of new books that’s been building up – come back next Saturday to find out what’s new!
- What are you favourite comfort books? Let me know what you’ve been reading – tweet me @FabFrosty.
