Book Short
The Comfort Reading List
By Stephanie Miller
In the past month, I’ve re-read a number of books that I already love, perhaps to insert a bit of controlled outcome into my life during the election season. That inspired me to share my Top 10 Comfort Reading books: old friends I can count on to be wonderful every time we meet.
1. “Pride and Prejudice,” by Jane Austen.
Give this one a try because it’s a great love story with a delightful heroine, but also because Austen is funny. She’s really very radical in her portrayals of supposedly quiet rural life in the early 19th Century. Plus, no one does snark disguised as polite conversation as well as Jane. I get something new out of her novels every time.
2. “Charlotte’s Web,” by E.B. White (PT Maine Author!).
I checked this book out so many times in the fourth grade, the librarian awarded me the worn copy she was retiring (I still have it). This is still my favorite book of all time. It’s spare, beautiful, and inspiring. The last line makes me cry every time, “It’s not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.”
3. “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd,” by Agatha Christie.
I often read Christie’s classic mysteries as a palate cleanser when I’ve finished a book but the characters haven’t finished with me. I can count on Dame Agatha whenever I need a familiar friend to lift my spirits and challenge my little grey cells to figure out whodunnit. (Full disclosure: despite having read them all, I never do get it right). This is a great intro to her extensive canon and has a wonderful twist at the end.
4. “A Gentleman in Moscow,” by Amor Towles.
This is my favorite of his work because the characters are so tightly drawn and a truly fantastic situation is rendered with such skill it is almost believable. Bonus: The super clever stylistic techniques.
5. “A Christmas Memory,” by Truman Capote.
This novella, and its companion, “The Thanksgiving Visitor,” are so touchingly composed they practically float. They are the perfect one-sitting reads when my heart is sore.
6. “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day,” by Winifred Watson.
I recommend this as an intro to Persephone Books, a publisher of work by forgotten writers (mostly women) of the 20th Century. This is a rollicking and fun adventure and defies every stereotype. Miss Pettigrew doesn’t just live, she emerges from her life-long cocoon wholly formed for high style living.
7. “Eleannor Oliphant is Completely Fine,” by Gail Honeyman.
The first time I read this, I finished and then opened page one immediately to read it again. I dare you to resist falling in love with Eleanor. This treasure is an uplifting and heart-breaking coming of age story of an outsider whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit will keep you alternately laughing and crying.
8. “The Great Gatsby,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
These are not always very likable characters, but they are so perfectly drawn and exposed it is like a blinding sun emanating from every page.
9. “Let the Great World Spin,” by Colum McCann.
Ordinary lives become extraordinary during a time of mighty social change in this sweeping novel of a family’s impact on America. It’s not a fast read, but one to savor.
10. “Great Expectations,” by Charles Dickens.
Social reform never inspires us so well as in a Dickens novel. Never preachy, always honest, and still relevant today, the characters Pip encounters are so rich with eccentricities they almost overshadow his path to self discovery.
Micro Shorts
‘Rudeness Rehab, Reclaiming Civility in the Workplace and Your Home Space,’ by John O’Brien, Ph.D. (MAINE AUTHOR!)
This is the book we all need now to teach us how to deal with the rise of incivility throughout America. A psychologist and keynote speaker, John helps us understand why rudeness is so prevalent today, how we all fall afoul of it ourselves, and, most importantly, what to do about it. He especially focuses on the “subtle but nonetheless negative behaviors of rudeness and incivility,” helping us think about how we treat each other. Not to mention the impact negative behavior has on our physical and emotional health.
We all have choices in how we interact with others. This practical, actionable guide helped me practice ways to halt my own worst tendencies and survive the behavior of others.
‘The Book that Matters Most,‘ by Ann Hood
As a book lover, you can’t get any better than this. The book club that Ava just joined – nay, the one she begged to join! – selects “books that matter most” to each participant. Each selection brought me back to enjoyment of those novels and memoirs. Ava selects a book that was her constant companion during a traumatic year of her childhood, where she lost both her sister and mother. Now, battling with loneliness, rage, and despair after her husband left her after two decades of marriage, Ava seeks companionship and understanding from the book club. But she can’t help falling into traps of self-destructive thinking. Meanwhile, her daughter is in Europe but not where she’s supposed to be, getting hooked on drugs through an abusive relationship. I know it sounds too trite to be interesting. Yet, Hood keeps the story moving and repeatedly foreshadows the next big reveal.
As with all of Hood’s novels, it all wraps up a bit too nicely at the end. This is a good selection for a rainy afternoon or a long travel day.
‘The Wild Robot,’ by Peter Brown
If you know any eight year olds – or carry the memory of your own middle school self in your heart – run out and get the first of Peter Brown’s futuristic Wild Robot trilogy, now a major motion picture. The heroine Roz is a robot who ends up on a deserted island. She’s trained to learn and adapt herself to any situation. As such, she becomes fluent in the language of animals and figures out how to make friends. Hilarity, heartbreak, and adventures abound – until her makers send more advanced robots to take her back to the factory.
Despite the sci-fi theme, it’s actually a very utopian book. The robots are not here to take over the world and they are actually more likable than many of the humans. I loved this so much, I ran back out to Back Cove Books, where I discovered the first, and bought the other two. The first is the best, so I recommend getting it for any eight to ten-year-olds you love — and yourself, too.
‘Bicycling with Butterflies: My 10,201-Mile Journey Following the Monarch Migration,’ by Sara Dykman
Activist and amphibian researcher Sara Dykman is the first person to cycle from Mexico to Canada and back again along the seasonal migration pathways of the monarch butterfly. This memoir is part of her effort to raise awareness for the importance of monarchs to every lifeform on earth. A self-proclaimed ButterBiker, she visited more than 50 schools and nature centers, showing some 9,000 students that anyone can be a scientist, conservationist, and adventurer.
I loved learning about monarchs, their habits, and the threats against them. For example, I didn’t know that it can take three generations for the butterflies to migrate one way. While the individual butterflies never reach Canada, their offspring do. Did you know that a group of butterflies is called a kaleidoscope? How perfect. Be forewarned, however: Dykman’s flowery style and cringe-worthy metaphors make this a dull read. By skipping pages, I was able to glean a lot of learning without getting distracted by the poor writing.
