Do you read comfort novels when the world is falling apart around you?
Or, what do you like to read when you need reassurance?
A lot of people would say the Bible, and that’s a great answer, but what do you like to read for entertainment–to escape the crisis of the moment?
Many people like to read mysteries because they know the story will resolve with the bad guy getting caught and the mystery solved.
That can be very encouraging when you’re in the midst of confusion and the ending doesn’t look happy at all.
(Of course some of us cheat and read the last pages to make sure the story has a happening ending, but we’re not counting that.)
Missing a husband comfort novels
During a time in my life when my submariner husband had been gone too long and one too many trials had hit, I spent my evenings rereading all the romantic suspense novels written by Mary Stewart.
One in particular, Airs Above the Ground, featured a husband called away from home by government duties who appears to his wife in a disguise.
The meeting was so charged with the familiar give and take of people who love each other in a difficult circumstance, that I read it over and over again. The husband sounded a lot like how I remembered my husband, and I missed my guy a lot.
It’s hard for me to put a finger on what makes a novel a comfort novel beyond the fact I’ve read it and enjoyed it.
One novel I reread on a regular basis–usually on the night before a trip when I can’t sleep–is Eva Ibbotson‘s The Morning Gift.
Something about that World War II story flavored with unusual characters and a touch of Viennese charm, lulls me and helps take my mind off whatever is troubling it.
Comfort novels
For me, the comfort books are always novels.
I need a distracting story in a different place, to immerse myself and leave behind the everyday world.
I need clever women pushing their way through difficult circumstances to happy endings.
Don’t suggest a story that sends my heart revving up with guns, bullets and fear.
I don’t want an imaginary land of magical characters with fantastic gifts.
I want to read about “normal” women confronting difficulties with verve and charm and having a happy ending.
Is that too much to ask?
Best selling novels in times of trouble
I’ve spent today reviewing the best sellers of the past, trying to get a sense of what makes a book appeal to large numbers of people.
I focused on the 1930-1944 time period because I suspect our country is in a similar emotional place. Readers confronted challenging times with little money. The war troubled. discouraged and frightened.
People needed comfort novels.
It’s an interesting list and you can see both the fiction and non-fiction best-sellers here.
Historical fiction in far off lands seems the major draw, from Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth to various volumes in John Galsworthy’s The Forsythe Saga.
It amuses me to see melodramas, trash novels (Back Street, anyone?) and lots of books we know from the movies: How Green Was My Valley, Mrs. Miniver, Grapes of Wrath and The Song of Bernadette.
Religious themed novels appear on the list nearly ever year, from those mentioned above and including The Keys of the Kingdom and The Robe.
What conclusions can you draw from such a list?
What do people like to read when their world is turned upside down?
Obviously, a well-written book is the first need, but it looks to me like people want to read about folks like themselves confronting challenges and getting through them.
Mrs. Miniver handled a German flyer in her garden, all the while wondering about her roses.
The Joads pushed across the western US for hope in the California vegetable fields.
The Chinese family in The Good Earth lived through draconian circumstances and horrible choices.
But were a family still at the end of their book and lives.
Maybe that’s the unifying theme?
When all is said and done, when you’ve met the enemy and sometimes it is us– family remains the most important thing.
When the challenges of life frightened and tried to tear you apart–the people you love bring comfort.
Life may have been difficult, but it was good–because we were together.
Or simply a comfort novel for a rainy day?
The rain is pouring down today and I’m not feeling very well.
I’m going to pull one of my comfort novels off the shelf, find a blanket and wrap myself up in–both the blanket and a good story.
A little resolution is always good for the soul.
What novels bring you comfort?
[…] I’ve written before about “comfort novels,” books read when I didn’t want to belabor my brain too hard or when I needed a fast escape I could trust. That post is here. […]