Hello, everyone! Once again, it’s Read Around the Rainbow time. I’ve been working to get back into the swing of doing more than just writing. I'm hoping to sneak onto social media more, post on my blog, and start emailing my reading group a little more often by including my rare Read Around the Rainbow posts. Speaking of, welcome to our new members! I have even gone so far as making a schedule! Ofelia Gränd would be so proud of me!
Since we last spoke, I have a few new things in the works, including organizing for the rerelease of a story that is reverting to me from the original publisher, with a second book in that series nearly complete. I’m also working on an upcoming box set for the 10th anniversary of another of my series. But I’ll let you know all about that in the coming weeks.
Now it’s Read Around the Rainbow time! (Typing that made me think of Reading Rainbow, which somehow led to me think of 3-2-1 Contact and then to The Bloodhouse Gang. I need more sleep!) Each month, the Read Around the Rainbow gang posts about the same subject on the last Friday of the month. This time around, we’re talking about Comfort Reads!
Oddly, I’ve never really thought about comfort reads until now. I might have even argued, I didn’t do them. But, after sitting down to really think about it, apparently I’m all about the comfort; I’d just never put that name to it.
In elementary school, I listened to the same Alice in Wonderland audiobook every night as I went to sleep. In middle school, high school, and college, I would watch the same cartoons every morning when I was getting ready for class. Whatever cartoon was showing in that time slot, I’d watch it every day, even repeats. I would actually feel edgy when they switched the schedule around, until I got used to whatever cartoon they’d put in its place.
When I was in my twenties, I started a business with two partners. I drew the short end of the straw and got stuck with closing the books every year to hand over to our accountant. And since then, for close to twenty years, I’ve watched the A&E Pride and Prejudice mini-series while doing it.
Why it’s only occurring to me now that it’s kind of the same thing, I’ll never know. Then, I just needed to apply that same logic to my reading habits. And sure enough, I do have comfort reads!
Over the years, I have lost count of the number of times I’ve read Fish and Ghosts by Rhys Ford. I know that story forward and backwards, and it is just a delight to read for me every time. When the week has become overwhelming or when I really need to unwind over a weekend, it is a go-to. It was one of my early MM reads, and it’s still one of my favorites. It’s just great fun!
I also return to Mummy Dearest by Josh Lanyon. Few things are better than classic monster-chasing fun, and I adore everything about it. It’s also a quick read, which can be nice when you’re spread too thin.
There are definitely others that don’t fall under the romance category, like Dracula, The Haunting of Hill House, and the High Society Lady Detective series, all of which I come back to again and again. There is something about rereading a book without the stress of wondering what’s going to happen. And it says something good about a book when knowing how it ends doesn’t diminish the enjoyment.
I don’t think most of the group had time to contribute this month, but check out the ones that did below—I’ll continue to update links if they come in after I hit publish—and make sure to share your comfort reads!
You can check out the other Read Around the Rainbow authors by clicking their names below!
Addison Albright • Holly Day • Lillian Francis • Fiona Glass • Ofelia Gränd • Nell Iris
A.L. Lester • K.L. Noone • Ellie Thomas