Books as Self-Care

i almost didn’t read comments because i wasn’t sure it was asking what favorite comfort books were….i think i’m not alone because there would be about 500 comments! but i am going to read some of those mentioned by readers. i love Louise Penny’s murder series set in Montreal..it’s also quaint.. also A Tree Grows in Brooklyn..Sometimes Elizabeth Berg’s books ..they are a fast read but the way she puts words together feel warm and fill me….

I’d be interested to know your thoughts on A Little Life once you’re done. I read it a year ago, and it was difficult to read because of the atrocities heaped on one character. Beautifully written but so heavy and emotionally draining. I can’t stop thinking that although this is fiction, stuff like this actually happens. Human potential can be matched by its depravity.

Love the photos on this post! So fun!
Books are definitely an important part of self care. I’m currently reading “the self love experiment” by Shannon Kaiser! What are your favourites?

With regards to the first two… my six year old son is autistic and finds social communication to be challenging (and it is also challenging for neuro-typicals to communicate with him) but books are his friends and his world of imagination. He will speak out loud to the author as he reads and it seems as vibrant and dynamic as any human relationship. It has made me realise that this author/reader relationship is so intimate and for me, such a joy. On a recent trip to bookshop, I was a little overwhelmed thinking about how much authors give, all the love on the shelves and said a quiet thank you.
So thank you for this too!

I have found myself reaching for a lot of childhood favorites and other comfort books. The books from childhood go so quickly that I probably need to grab September, The Shell Seekers, and Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher to keep me going for a while. I have been trying to read a lot of anti-racism books, and books about the state of our nation and how to get rid of the bad actors, so the comfort has been soooo necessary.

There’s a quote (from the movie ‘Shadowlands’) that I love and think of so often…it seems to fit here …
“We read to know we’re not alone”

I want this as a poster to hang in my house!

Started Untamed by Glennon Doyle this week and that bottom left one, spot on.

Thank you so much for this lovely illustration! I plan to share it with my students to encourage them to see reading as more than a school activity that is demanded of them.

I’ve basically made it through this year because of escapism in books. Every day I read before bed, listen to the book when I can, and even sometimes fall asleep for a nap or at night listening, and it’s calmed my mind tremendously. In the first 6 months of the year I read all of the “Agatha Raisin” cozy mysteries by M.C. Beaton – all 30. I’m moving on to the author’s Hamish MacBeth series, with a break for two books that are similar to each other but equally delightful, “The Giver of Stars” and “The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek”. I have always loved reading but this year it’s become my quiet time, my escape, my soothing positive thing I can do for myself for self-care. I also highly recommend Gerald Durrell’s books, particularly the first three about his family’s time in Greece.

I just got notice that my library hold on Olive Kitteridge is ready, so I feel so seen!

Feeling so seen by “The Most Fun We Ever Had.” I see myself in so many of the characters. They are so perfectly HUMAN. And the companionship of this wonderful, complicated family! It’s the best thing I’ve read in awhile and I am SAVORING it. Thankfully, it is a long read.

Escape hatch for me! Goooodbyyyeeeeeee

New fall routine: after dinner, I put on a flannel nightgown and kneesocks (yeah, I look *amazing*) and get under the covers and read for two hours. Two hours! There are things I should be doing, but instead, I am loving every minute of reading new novels. Has anyone read Migrations? Or Hieroglyphics? So beautiful. I think in the new year I may start digging in to big, fat novels I’ve never had (or made) time for: Vanity Fair, here I come!

Ha, I feel like this post is timed for me to share the book I’m getting sooo much comfort and delight from, “My First Summer in the Sierra”, by John Muir.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/238727.My_First_Summer_in_the_Sierra?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=3obJIanNng&rank=1
I’ve been reading it every night before going to sleep. It’s my first book by him and though I’ve always meant to read his work I just never had. It is one long poetic praise of Nature. Just gorgeous.

My 6 (almost 7) y-old developed a passion for reading during our lock down in France (march-april); since then he has stated that “books are my religion” (what a relief) and “books are like medicine” (so true).

That is one positive thing from the quarantine.

“Hello friend”, yes, so absolutely. Thanks for your drawings, always spot on.