Everyone has a list of their favorite comfort foods, the tried-and-true dishes for when you're sick or having a bad day. On those days when things seem to be going terribly it's nice to sit down with a big bowl of ice cream and tell yourself that everything is going to be okay, even if just for the amount of time it takes to finish an entire pint of Cherry Garcia.
Because I'm a weird person, I have favorite comfort books that I like to read when things start looking bad. It doesn't matter that I'm stuck on the couch with a fever or having a bad day, things are always going to end up the same in the books I've read so many times the covers are falling apart. Do you have a book that you turn to when you need a pick-me-up? These are the top 5 that I reread when everything else is going to hell in a handbasket.
5. Anything from Janet Evanovitch's Stephanie Plum series
If you ever have a day when you just need to laugh about something, these books are the ones to turn to. I have literally laughed out loud while reading every single book in this series. It's about a girl working as a fairly terrible bounty hunter, the two guys who love her, her best friend the ex-stripper, and her crazy Jersey family. She's also clumsy, blows up a car at least once every book, and has a pet hamster. It's the perfect mindless distraction. The first in the series of 18,
One for the Money, was just made into a movie starring Katherine Heigel. I can't wait to see it!
4. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
I love this novel by Welsh writer Jasper Fforde - partially because it revovles around
Jane Eyre, and partially because it has everything you need in a book all wrapped up in one. Romance, mystery, science fiction, relateable characters, humor - not to mention lots of literary puns and allusions. I have read it multiple times and never ceases to entertain me.
3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
This is my favorite book of all time. I've read it nearly a dozen times by now. I think the familiarity is part of its charm - I know exactly what is going to happen when, and no matter what is going on in my life Jane is always going to be on the road that day on the way to town when Rochester comes home to Thornfield Hall. It's just lovely. This was also made into a movie recently (it has been many times before, but the newest one came out this past year). I finally watched it a few weeks ago and it was so beautiful and wonderful, I'm already looking forward to watching it again.
2. Conversations with the Fat Girl by Liza Palmer
I found this book randomly on the rack at Target and have never regretted buying it. It's about a young woman watching her best friend get married while trying to land her dream job, be less insecure about her weight, and get the cute guy at work to notice her. It isn't literary genius by any stretch of the imagination but reading about a normal person struggling with normal issues makes me feel ... normal. The ultimate comfort.
1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
This, coincidently, is also my go-to movie when I've had a bad day and want to feel better (although the new
Jane Eyre will give it a run for its money). I've read the book and seen the film so many times over the years that the Bennets practically feel like family.
And if you're feeling particularly down and not even a classic romance will make you feel better, there's always Seth Grahame-Smith's
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Reading about Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth beating off the undead with their bare hands is always a good time.
This, coincidently, is also my go-to movie when I've had a bad day and want to feel better (although the new Jane Eyre will give it a run for its money). I've read the book and seen the film so many times over the years that the Bennets practically feel like family.