A Reader’s Life: Emotional Support Books

There are certain books I will re-read over and over in my lifetime. Books that feel like a warm hug, no matter what their content.

About once a year, I pick up a book or series I’ve already read. Maybe multiple times.

I don’t do this because I don’t remember the content. I do it because I want to be wrapped in a familiar blanket. Of intrigue. Of fantasy or mystery. These books are like old friends. They’ve touched me in some way.

I think anyone who reads as voraciously as I do has books like this. Books you return to, time and again, no matter how tall your to-be-read list is.

Not everyone feels about books the way I do. I can’t remember a night in the last several years that I didn’t leave at least one chapter of a book before going to sleep. Quite often, I’m up past midnight, because I just lose myself in a story and don’t realize how late it is until…well, it’s too late.

Books are like magic for me, that’s no secret. And it’s probably why I am so determined to write my own.

Right now, I am in the process of re-reading The Mayfair Witches, by the late Anne Rice. I read an article last week that AMC was going to be making a television series based on those books and I got very excited. It is my favorite of her work, but if you pressed me, I would not be able to say why. I just have an odd sort of connection to Rowan and Michael, and all of the witches.

Last year, I re-read The Black Jewel Series by Anne Bishop in preparation for a new book being released. I wanted to re-acquaint myself with some of my favorite characters overall.

And a few years ago, I re-read the Avalon series by Marion Zimmer Bradley (and Diane L. Paxton), starting with Fall of Atlantis. Regardless of how anyone feels about what has been said after Ms. Bradley’s death, and her personal life, this series changed my life in ways it would take many posts to explain.

Next on the list, when I’m ready for another re-read, it will be the Kushiel books by Jacqueline Carey.

These are my comfort books. My warm hugs. My safe places to land. Not because they are safe books. Far from it. All three of those series are controversial in their own way.

But I don’t read safe books very often. I like to be challenged. I like to be made to think. That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy a quick easy read now and then. But I prefer books that test my mettle. Especially if they’re fantastical stories that you almost need a scorecard to keep track of. And that’s what these three series have in common.

These books are my happy place.