I'm a regular reader of the Murderati blog, which you can find here http://murderati.typepad.com/murderati
Yesterday's post about food and today's about comfort reading brought home some good memories for me about finding comfort in today's world. I'm one of those people who finds comfort in food. No, not just eating it, though I do my share, but the recipes and the preparation of food.
When I was growing up food was at the center of every family gathering. Thanksgiving, Christmas, family reunions, even Sunday visits brought out the sharing of food and conversation. That combination was the hub of my childhood. Sampling all kinds of food, listening to all the stories floating in the air above my head, the women swapping recipes and the family sharing good times. Even now when we all get together, the food and conversations flow with that same wild abandon. I can't imagine a Christmas without my Aunt Marie's Raspberry Crumb Pie or my Aunt Elsie's snowball cookies, baked by me with treasured recipes from the past.
As my boys have grown I've passed the recipes on to their wives and shared new memories with them. I haven't baked a birthday cake in years, my family's treat of choice on their birthdays is homemade cream puffs with a thick fudge glaze which I still bake for everyone's birthday celebration. The grandkids get their choice, too. The youngest always picks chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, the older one, cream cheese brownies. Comfort food and memories that my family will take with them through their life. Smells and tastes that will remind them of me, like my treasured recipes bring back my childhood.
Considering that I love mystery/crime novels my comfort reading is a strange choice. I am a big fan of Georgette Heyer's romance novels, especially "These Old Shades" and "A Marriage of Convenience". Ms. Heyer spins a story that is so filled with humor that you burst out laughing and everyone in the room is looking at you like you're nuts. She also wrapped some of her romances up with wonderful mysteries that required no dead bodies but still kept you guessing as to what was really going on. If you want to write a mystery without dropping bodies every other page, you won't find a better teacher to help you master that aspect of mystery writing.
So what about you? Where do you find your comfort zone? What remembered smell or taste puts a smile on your face or takes you back to your childhood? And what is your comfort read? What book do you pick up when you want the world around you to disappear?
3 comments:
My mother didn't bake and barely cooked so it's mys husband's cooking that gives me comfort. And it's old movies that give me comfort rather than books. Pillow Talk, Bringing Up Baby, Mr. Blanding Builds His Dream House. Cary Grant movies in general.
Cary Grant made some great movies, I think Father Goose is one of my favorites. He was never afraid to make a fool of himself in a movie. I wish some days that I could be that fearless.
My mother baked and cooked all manner of things when I was growing up. My favourite, actually two favourites for this time of year as the holiday season in December approaches is homemade mincemeat and Christmas cake made with goodly doses of added rum into the crockpot. She would begin putting ingredients into the crockpot in September so the mixture would age well. Cross and Blackwell make a good commercial mincemeat close enough to my mother's recipe.
As for reading to submerse myself: that would be any one of Wilbur Smith's books (Quest is waiting on the bookshelf-love his descriptions and set ups) and Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series (A Breath of Snow and Ashes, and John Grey and the Brotherhood of the Blade waiting as well on the bookshelf). I'm saving these for reading over Christmas.
I tend to read more books outside of the genre I write in, although I do read fantasy and science fiction on occasion to keep up with the trends. For dark fantasy, I read EP Taylor: Shadowmancer, Wormwood, Tersias the Oracle; even though its aimed at YA. Truly creepy stuff with an edge.
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