We asked staff for some suggestions on the topic of “comfort reads” and lots of good recommendations came in. You can read that post here. We now bring you the second installment! Many are available as e-books which you can borrow remotely. Check them out!
Josh recommends: Alexander McCall-Smith. We have a lot of his books on Overdrive! I got into him through the Number One Ladies Detective Agency series, but I really love Professor Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld. Those books are a hilarious and gentle skewering of academia. I also recently enjoyed his My Italian Bulldozer (on Overdrive). It has a lovely setting and funny adventures. Things go wrong — but not too wrong— for food writer Paul Stewart and there is an enjoyable conclusion to this first in a new series.
Jennifer says: I am one those weird people who prefers to read things that remind me it could be a lot worse. Feed by Mira Grant is one for this occasion.
Matthew R. recommends: Hannah Tinti. Her two novels The Good Thief and The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley both share a love for misfit characters, oddball mysteries, and quirky New England locales. They also both feel like timeless, ageless classics already – books that could have been written today or 100 years ago, and can be enjoyed by any age. I also love that both feature younger protagonists that are unsure about their past, and that must overcome that past in order to grow. And as described by many before, Tinti’s writing has a sort of Robert Louis Stevenson vibe to it that harkens back to adventure novels of the 19th century.
Robin recommends some books she enjoyed with her daughter: (1) A Child’s Book of Poems illustrated by Gyo Fujikawa. The illustrations are dreamy, sweet, and beautiful. (2) The Hilarious Adventures of Paddington by Michael Bond, especially for reading aloud (British accent a must) because Paddington is so lovable and funny that you’ll wish he was real.