It’s been a while since I made a book list. There are reasons, one being that this isn’t a fast process. The other is that due to the algorithms of ‘social’ media, I can no longer toss out the question of ‘what do you like to read?’ and get more than a hundred enthusiastic responses. Which is sad, because I refuse to believe that people are reading that much less than they did a few short years ago, and I know for sure that readers love to talk about books they want to share with other readers. I know I do! Even after all these years, I have the heart of a librarian and want to introduce folks to books they might also love, but I understand all too well that not everyone will like the same books I do. This is why I crowdsource the book lists, rather than completely curate them myself. It’s fascinating to see, with this list, what readers find to be comfort reads.
Something that aligns with my own experience is that for comfort, readers seem to like entire series, or the whole of an author’s work, more often than a single title. I’ve tried to put in jumping-off points for those.
“I read it three times. I know the plot twists, I know my reactions to the scenes. I like them, that’s why I read it again and again and again.” –Leeroy Jenkins (while recommending Monster Hunter International)
| James and the Giant Peach | Roald Dahl |
| Monster Hunter International | Larry Correia |
| Lest Darkness Fall | L Sprague de Camp |
| The Unknown Ajax | Georgette Heyer |
| Flint | Louis L’Amour |
| Eric | Terry Pratchett |
| Man-eaters of Kumaon |
Jim Corbett and Raymond Sheppard
|
| Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series | Nathan Lowell |
| Children of Hurin | JRR Tolkein |
| Book of Lost Tales | JRR Tolkein |
| Spenser series | Robert B Parker |
| Innkeeper Chronicles *and other series | Ilona Andrews |
| Union Station series | EM Foner |
| Carpe Diem |
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
|
| Paladin series | T Kingfisher |
| Beauty | Robin McKinley |
| Watership Down | Richard Adams |
| Combined Operations series | Dorothy Grant |
| Alexander Orlov: The FBI’s KGB General | Edward Gazur |
| Kitty Rocks the House | Carrie Vaughn |
| My Name is Legion | Roger Zelazny |
| The Sword and the Swan | Roberta Gellis |
| Dyce Dare series | Sarah Hoyt |
| Lord of the Rings | JRR Tolkein |
| Hob’s Bargain | Patricia Briggs |
| Time Enough for Love | Robert Heinlein |
| Drumberley series | DE Stevenson |
| Lord Peter Wimsey series | Dorothy Sayers |
| Belgariad | David Eddings |
| Master and Commander series | Patrick O’Brien |
| Dreadnought and Battlestations! | Diane Carey |
| How Much for Just the Planet | John M Ford |
| Bloodthirst | JM Dillard |
| Trustee From the Toolroom | Nevil Shute |
| Juvenile books | Robert Heinlein |
| Hopalong Cassidy stories | Clarence Mulford |
| The Sleeping Dragon | Joel Rosenberg |
| Ariel | Stephen Boyett |
| The Lieutenants, and The Captains | WEB Griffin |
| Undead Pool | Kim Harrison |
| Honor Harrington series | David Weber |
| The Lost Fleet series | Jack Campbell |
| Our Mutual Friend | Charles Dickens |
| I, Jedi | Michael Stackpole |
| The Enchanted Forest Chronicles | Patricia C Wrede |
| The Joyous Season | Philip Barry |
| Ware Hawk | Andre Norton |
| Vision of the Future | Timothy Zahn |
| Dinotopia | James Gurney |
| All Cats Are Gray | Andre Norton |
| The Cherokee Trail, Hondo, and the Last Stand at Papago Wells | Louis L’Amour |
| Cyrano de Bergerac | Edmond Rostand |
| Nero Wolfe series | Rex Stout |
| Dresden Files | Jim Butcher |
| Skolian, Major Bhaajan series | Catherine Asaro |
| Vorkosigan series |
Lois McMaster Bujold
|
| Shogun and Noble House | James Clavell |
| Mrs. Pollifax series | Dorothy Gilman |
| The Blue Castle | LM Montgomery |
| Arcane Casebook series | Dan Willis |
| A Natural History of Dragons | Marie Brennan |
| Wearing the Cape series | Marion G Harmon |
| Paper Magician | Charlie N Holmberg |
| The Cobweb Bride | Vera Nazarian |
| 13 Clocks | James Thurber |
| Anne of Green Gables series | LM Montgomery |
| Freckles and Keeper of the Bees | Gene Stratton Porter |
| A Little Princess |
Frances Hodgson Burnett
|
| Kim and the Jungle Books | Rudyard Kipling |
| Hot Money, Decider, and 10lb Penalty | Dick Francis |
| Brat Farrar | Josephine Tey |
| The Dreaming Jewels (or The Synthetic Man) | Theodore Sturgeon |
| A Town Like Alice | Nevil Shute |
| The Heritage of Power serries | Lindsay Buroker |
| Star Nomad series | Lindsay Buroker |
| Tree of Ages series | Sara Roethle |
| Witches of Karres series |
James Schmitz and Dave Freer
|
| Joy Comes in the Mourning | Dave Freer |
| Moth and Cobweb | John C Wright |
| Watchers, The Bad Place, and Dragon Tears | Dean Koontz |
| I hate to CookBook | Peg Bracken |
| Scaling the Rim | Dorothy Grant |
| The Wizard’s Butler | Nathan Lowell |
| Thud! | Terry Pratchett |
| The Forest |
Stewart Edward White
|
| Starship Troopers | Robert Heinlein |
| The Outlander series | Diana Gabaldon |
| Father Tim series | Jan Karon |
| Posleen or Troy Rising series | John Ringo |
| The Moon is a harsh Mistress | Robert Heinlein |
| Podkayne of Mars | Robert Heinlein |
| Interview with a a Vampire | Anne Rice |
| The Travis McGee series | John D MacDonald |
| The Callahan’s Bar stories | Spider Robinson |
| One For the Money | Stephanie Plum |
| Rimworld series | JL Curtis |
| The Corfu Trilogy | Gerald Durrell |
Charlotte Macleod, Peter Shandy Mysteries
Anthony Boucher, O’Breen/Jackson mysteries, Sister Ursula, Case of the Seven of Calvaey
Ford, The Dragon Waiting
Michael F Flynn’s Firestar series.
It starts as a private space program doing what the government programs couldn’t. (Who’da thunk it)
Christopher Stasheff’s Starship Troupers, the first book being A Company of Stars.
(note the spelling)
A group of old and young actors spreading culture and revolution among the stars.
Stasheff was able to finish the series before passing.
I have lots, but the top 4:
Taran Wanderer – Lloyd Alexander (the 4th Prydain book, which are all worth rereading)
Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card
Prentice Alvin – Orson Scott Card (3rd Alvin Maker book, start with Seventh Son, but Prentice Alvin is the one I always reread)
The Deed of Paksenarrion – Elizabeth Moon
I always buy cheap used copies of Ender’s Game and Paksenarrion any time I find them so that I can let people borrow them without worrying about them being returned.
Also, anything by Louis L’Amour.
The rise of social media, along with Google deliberately attempting to kill blogs and blog reading, has really been detrimental to actual socialization online. The blogosphere, decentralized and quirky and intensely individual, was far to be preferred over facebork and tw_tter. Now, even blogging software seems more geared to eyecandy and clicks rather than, you know, reading and commenting. It’s unfortunate, but getting people to change back never seems to work.
I’m keeping this list, some of these are yes of course!, some of these are, I’m going to look them up.
Alan Dean Foster: Adventures of Pip and Flinx.
Fritz Lieber: Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.
PG Wodehouse: Jeeves and Wooster.
George MacDonald Fraser: Flashman.