My Reading Life: Finding Comfort in Uncomfortable Times

By Maggie King

Do you ever need a respite from the news of the world? Or maybe a respite from personal concerns? In recent months I’ve found solace in what I call “comfort” reading. I stumbled across Jen’s Reading Life on YouTube. Jen describes herself as “A 50+ Booktuber sharing my love for timeless literature, cozy mysteries, British women’s fiction, and comfort reads that warm the soul.”

Exactly what I needed. On Jen’s recommendation, I enjoyed Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim, Miss Buncle’s Book by D.E. Stevenson, Spam Tomorrow by Verily Anderson, and 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. Jen describes each book she reviews as “lovely and charming” (Jen herself is lovely and charming!).

The following may, or may not, be on Jen’s lists–she has a lot of lists.

For cozy mysteries, I’ve discovered Betty Hechtman’s crochet series.

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson focuses on decluttering–during your lifetime. It is an ongoing activity in my house.

The satirical Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller addresses today’s controversial issues, but in a highly entertaining way.

I loved Bonnie Schroeder’s Write My Name on the Sky. Bonnie was featured guest for my holiday newsletter.

I tried to read Christmas stories, but couldn’t find one that held my interest. Exception was “The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding” by Agatha Christie. The Killer Wore Cranberry is a Thanksgiving-themed mystery anthology featuring a variety of tales.

I still return to the “dark side.” e–llegal treasures by C.V. Alba and The Pilgrim by Thomas A. Burns, Jr. are hard-boiled tales that offer little in the way of comfort but much in the way of great stories. They do have happy endings, so there’s that.

If you’re in need of some comfort reading, I suggest visiting Jen’s Reading Life, and reading Tolstoy Therapy’s article “16 of the most wholesome comfort reads for a hug from a book.”

An added benefit: all this comfort reading is making writing more comfortable for me!

Tell us what you’re reading and recommending. Let’s keep those TBT lists toppling over!

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Author: Maggie King

Maggie King is the author of the Hazel Rose Book Group mysteries. Her short stories appear in the Virginia is for Mysteries series, 50 Shades of Cabernet, Deadly Southern Charm, Death by Cupcake, Murder by the Glass, First Comes Love, Then Comes Murder, and Crime in the Old Dominion. Maggie is a member of International Thriller Writers, Short Mystery Fiction Society, and is a founding member of Sisters in Crime Central Virginia. She serves Sisters in Crime on the national level as a member of the Social Media team. Maggie graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a B.S. degree in Business Administration, and has worked as a software developer, customer service supervisor, and retail sales manager. She lives in Richmond, Virginia with her husband, Glen, and Olive the cat.

12 thoughts on “My Reading Life: Finding Comfort in Uncomfortable Times”

  1. Whether it’s old movies or older books, I do find it a lot easier and more pleasant to stick with books or movies with less angst than a lot of the newer things being presented. Even if a James Patterson mystery or Nelson DeMille book might have a few dead bodies in the story, the overall tale is a lot easier to follow than current fare with junk that I just can’t swallow. I have most of Dick Francis’s books and some Michael Connelly short stories that I can reread. Mr. Connelly was gracious enough to write the introduction for an anthology I was in called LAst Resort so I’m happy to read his stuff when I want something interesting to fill my time. Even Agatha Christie stories make fun reading. And an old movie still has me wondering why Hollywood abandoned common sense for stuff that makes people think the apocalypse is right around the corner. So finding something good to read or watch is a fine goal while we’re waiting for normalcy to return.

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    1. Gayle, you make a lot of good points. I didn’t realize that Michael Connelly wrote short stories—I’ll look for them—although he might be too “rough” for me at the moment.

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      1. Connelly just wrote the introduction to our anthology, not a story. Everything I have of his are novels, though I do have three novels of his in one book. The book is 793 pages.

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  2. Unsurprisingly, I read mostly books with dogs in them, or other animals including wildlife. If you know who I am, you’ll recognize that’s what I like to write best too!

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  3. Maggie – I’m so glad you’ve found ‘comfort reading.’

    I do a lot of that to counteract heavy work challenges. My favorite author in this genre is Rosamund Pilcher. She wrote The Shell Seekers, amongst so many other books. I also like to re-read Paul Gallico and, of course, Agatha Christie. I find the best stress-reliever is to lose myself in a good book!!

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    2. Rosemary, I read Shell Seekers years ago and loved it. Rosamund Pilcher is a favorite on Jen’s Reading List, and I’ve added Winter Solstice to mine.

      I’m not familiar with Paul Gallico. Thanks for the suggestion.

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  4. Thank you for this, Maggie – permission to read “nice” books again. I’ve read many, and am tending towards them more and more. I just read a note from Jan Karon who wrote for many years the books about Mitford and the townfolks and a local pastor. She’s just written a new one after years of doing other stuff.

    For mysteries I really like Iona Whishaw’s Lane Winslow mysteries set in the 1940’s in British Columbia. She was a spy in WWII, but now helps police find criminals in a rural town. (There is a love interest too.) I’m on book 12 of 14.

    Gabrielle Meyer’s time crosser novels are really good, beginning with “When the Day Comes.” There are six I think. I’ve read four. They are very cleverly written and took a LOT of research on the history of the times her characters inhabit.

    M.M. Kay is probably known for her uber-long romantic “Far Pavillions,” but she has a list of shorter mysteries that are really good and suspenseful, all beginning with “Death In…” plus a name of an exotic place like Zanzibar, Kenya, Cyprus, Berlin… Great reading!

    At the end of 2025, and beginning of 2026, I’m reading Tim LaHaye/Jerry Jenkins’ The Jesus Chronicles. They are excellent and moving, and a close-to-history fictional telling of the lives of the four Gospel writers, “Matthew’s Story,” “Mark’s Story,” Luke’s Story,” and “John’s Story.” I’ve read three already, and I am bouyed up, warmed, joyfully crying in each. Highly recommend them.

    And of course, I’m hooked on the two writers of Middle-grade/teen adventure-mystery-spycraft stories, “City Spies” series by James Ponti (7 or 8 in all) Also the Kenneth Oppel’s future/space series with older teens, beginning with “Airborn.” SO well written!! Seriously, try one!

    And lastly, Benedict Brown’s “Lord Edgington’s Mysteries” set in 1920’s England – clean, funny, and good. (The author’s notes at the end of the book are at least as fun and interesting as the story, and often take up about 10th of the book!)

    Okay, I could go on, but I’m not writing this post! You really spurred me on, Maggie King!!

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  5. Maggie, first off, thanks for the shout-out—I’m glad you enjoyed Write My Name! I, too, love to dive into a good book and escape reality. When my own life takes a downturn, I appreciate reading about someone else with real problems—Schadenfreude, for sure—because then I realize I don’t have it so bad after all. And sometimes it’s just nice to get away, literarily, and inhabit another person’s world. James Michener’s books are fine escapism for me—and he was a darn good storyteller too.

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