"Top Ten Tuesday" is an original feature/weekly meme created on the blog "The Broke and the Bookish". This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists at "The Broke and the Bookish".
It is now hosted by Jana from That Artsy Reader Girl.
Since
I am just as fond of them as they are, I jump at the chance to share my
lists with them! Have a look at their page, there are lots of other
bloggers who share their lists here.
This week, our topic is Comfort Reads (Share which books or kinds of books you turn to when you need to escape. You can either share specific titles if you love to re-read, or you could share qualities of books you look for in a comfort read.)
This was another tough subject for me. I like challenges, I love books that have more than 500 pages, I love classics, Nobel Prize Winners, Peace Prize Winners, anything that is not too easy. I can escape the real world best when I read about it. Weird, but there you are. And I've already done my favourite Nobel Prize Winning Books last year (see here). However, there are other prizes where I like to read the latest winners or some from former winners. I know many of you will disagree that these could be comfort reads. But yes, they often give me great comfort because I realize how well off I am.
None of these authors has received the Nobel Prize though I believe they would all be worthy of it.
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi "Half of a Yellow Sun" - 2006 - Women's Prize for Fiction
Doerr, Anthony "All the Light We Cannot See" - 2014 - Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Hansen, Dörte "This House is Mine" (GE: Altes Land) - 2015 - Favourite (German) Independent Books and several other German prizes
Kingsolver, Barbara "The Poisonwood Bible" - 1998 - Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (finalist)
Leky, Mariana "What You Can See From Here" (GE: Was man von hier aus sehen kann) - 2017 - Favourite (German) Independent Books
Lenz, Siegfried "The German Lesson" (GE: Deutschstunde) - 1967 - Peace Prize of the German Book Trade and several other prizes, i.a. Goethe Price and Thomas Mann Prize
Myers, Benjamin "The Offing" - 2019 - Favourite (German) Independent Books and The Times Book of the Year Award
Owens, Delia "Where the Crawdads Sing" - 2018 - Favourite (German) Independent Books and The New York Times Fiction Best Sellers
Powers, Richard "The Overstory" - 2018 - Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, MAN Booker Prize Shortlist, William Dean Howells Medal and several others
Whitehead, Colson "Underground Railroad" - 2016 - Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and National Book Award for Fiction plus several other awards
As always, I'm really looking forward to the other comfort reads. I know we will all have a different view and share different books. I hope one or another will find one of my books interesting.
📚 Happy Reading! 📚
I find it interesting that you find long, challenging books as comfort reads. The Overstory is perfect for this list.
ReplyDeleteI know, Deb. A lot of people don't like this kind of book but I just get bored with the easy ones. I'm glad you liked The Overstory. It's the first book I read by Richard Powers and I absolutely loved it.
DeleteI haven’t thought about The Poisonwood Bible in years. It was such a good read.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I could give you good memories, Lydia.
DeleteAll great choices and never question what comforts or challenges you! Have you read the new Anthony Doerr, it is GORGEOUS and I loved The Overstory.
ReplyDeleteThese are the authors to whom I have found myself turning for comfort.
Thanks for that, Michael. I haven't read the new Anthony Doerr but it's on my wishlist. Oh my, so many books, so little time. But I'll see that I get it soon after such a good recommendation.
DeleteWow, you read a lot of prizewinning novels. That’s neat.
ReplyDeleteHere is our Top Ten Tuesday.
Thanks, Astilbe. I love them. It's almost as with a favourite author, if someone has received a prize and you liked the other recipients, this one must be similar. And mostly it's right.
DeleteInteresting comfort reads. Most of the TTT post I read today listed easy books that allowed to shut off the brain, but you seem to be comforted by the total opposite. I like that.
ReplyDeleteHere is my TTT: https://herseriallife.com/top-10-comfort-reads-books-escape/
Have a great week 😊
That's the good thing, Rae. We all like different things and there are so many books there for all of us.
DeleteI loved All the Light We Cannot See and Crawdads. There are a few others on here that I want to read (especially Colson Whitehead's book since I read another one of his books that I loved) and I can't wait to get to them! 😍 Great list
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised, Dini. You have read and liked a lot of books I liked, as well. I guess the other Colson Whitehead book is "Nickel Boys" which I also read but I had to choose one and so I went with the first one. They are both great and I have his next one on my TBR pile.
DeleteAny book that I'm reading and enjoying is comfort and escape; books are what I turn to when life is hard. Any and all books. :D
ReplyDeleteThat's great, Lark, I also see it that way. If someone prefers easy books for comfort, it's fine. As long as people read!
DeleteI think everyone has a different (if sometimes similar) definition of a comfort read. I can see classics, for sure, and long reads (there's something about just immersing oneself in a chunkster). :)
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of these books look like they would be educational in a way, in the sense of sharing some insights or knowledge about important events. always a good thing!
You are right, Greg. We are all different, and we all enjoy our reads differently. I just often hear that shorter and easier books are supposedly comfort reads. Not for me.
DeleteAnd yes, I always like to learn something from my books.
I am hoping to read Where the Crawdads Sing sometime this year. Great list.
ReplyDeleteGo ahead, Cindy. It's a fantastic book. Thanks.
DeleteI think it's great that you escape the world the way you do. We all need different things. :) I'm currently reading Where the Crawdads Sing and I'm really loving it. It's very interesting and I'm curious about what's going to happen.
ReplyDeleteOh, enjoy, Jenni. I haven't heard from a single person who didn't like the Crawdads. And yes, we all need a different distraction from our daily lives.
DeleteHalf of a Yellow Sun was probably one of the toughest book I read, emotionally, but I understand your reasoning for putting it in your list
ReplyDeleteIt definitely is very tough, Emma. And probably the toughest of the books I listed but I don't think it's the toughest I ever read, many Holocaust books were just as bad. Though I don't think you can compare anyone's troubles with those of others. They all had terrible situations to live with. Or try to live with.
DeleteAnd yes, I hope I have explained it well enough for everyone why these are comfort reads for me.
Great list! I put at least one heart-wrenching work of literary fiction on my list, too, on the grounds that it would be worth reading again and was emotionally satisfying.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a good idea, Laurie, I'll have a look at your list. I'm sure ti's interesting.
DeleteGood choices of comfort reading books. I prefer shorter books for comfort reading, but if you really have a good book, a thick one is rewarding.
ReplyDeleteThat's so true, Lisbeth. I always enjoy long books, it's always so hard to say goodbye when the books are short.
DeleteI enjoyed reading both The Poisonwood Bible and The Underground Railroad. I have not read the other books you'd listed in your TTT post this week.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lisa. I am sure you would like them all.
DeleteDid I mention the other day that I am happy to see you back?
Thank you! I will post here and there whenever the whim hits me. I won't be back to posting like I use to do previously. I just don't have the time to post like I use to do... and am still dealing with crps.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Lisa. I know you said you wouldn't post much but I was happy to see a post and your comment here. So lovely.
DeleteI am sorry you have CRPS. I "only" suffer from migraine (my whole life) and fibromyalgia plus several other stuff, mostly age related but I can imagine how hard it must be. Best wishes.
Best wishes to you too, Marianne!
DeleteThank you, Lisa.
Delete