In 2003 I went to Ireland for the first time and I stumbled upon Maeve Binchy's books. That year I went on a bit of a binge, but have since limited myself to about one a year. It's my go to for a reliable comfort reads. Obviously when you've written more than a dozen books, some will be mediocre, but most are great character driven stories.
My favorites are Tara Road, Evening Class, The Glass Lake and Circle of Friends. In each books Binchy creates characters that have stayed with me for years. The books are always about people, not plots. Some of her books are collections of stories, tying people together in some small way. Those books are a good way to get a little taste of her writing style to see if it's for you. Some of the novels blend together and she tends to rely on a few specific types and seldom deviates, but they're still enjoyable reads.
Do you guys have any comfort read authors?
6 comments:
I know exactly what you mean about Maeve Binchy and I have Heart and Soul from 2008 waiting to be read shortly.
That's actually one of the only ones I haven't read yet. We'll compare notes after we both read it.
Yes definitely :)
I get Maeve Binchy from my friend who gives me what I call "car books" (mostly romances, I keep one in the car so I always have something to read--usually I can leave one in the car and pick it up again the next week or whenever). The other author I like for this kind of reliably fun or comfortable read is Nora Roberts (especially as J.D. Robb).
I've never actually read anything by Nora Roberts, or actually any romance novels. I wouldn't put Binchy in the same category, but she does make a great car read.
I know I've read one Binchy; I *think* it was Lilac Bus and all I remember is that I liked it. I don't really have a comfort-read-author because I've always been the kind of reader that bounces around genres and craves variety. Janet Evanovich is the only author where I read series books back to back to back and am burnt out now.
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