My Top 8 Comfort Reads that I am Very Tempted to Reread Right Now

This post: [May exposes herself for rereading constantly]

(I’m joking!! I expose myself for this all the time.)

I’ve been running low on post ideas, and frankly my blogging motivation has gone down a lot ever since school started back up again for me. (Online of course!) But my unfortunately genius friend May gave me the idea to talk about my comfort reads, so here I am today doing exactly that!! And sorely wishing I could reread them right now.

Comfort reads are on everyone’s minds right now as we struggle to navigate this strange, stressful situation. So hopefully you might pick up some of these since 1) I’ve been yelling about most of them for a while now and 2) they will maybe bring some comfort to you as well!!

PERCY JACKSON

To no one’s surprise, this is first on my list! I know I’ve annoyed approximately everyone with the amount of times I’ve talked about PJO, but it’s just… the equivalent of Harry Potter to me and I will never grow old of it.

I’ve read The Lightning Thief six times at this point, and I’m also very VERY tempted to do another series reread this month. I don’t know how I have the willpower to not do that right now, but I’m just hoping I stay strong!! Because I’d finish it in 3 days and then read nothing else for 3 weeks!!!

SIX OF CROWS

Yes, again, I am surprising no one with this! Granted, I don’t think I’ve talked about Six of Crows for a bit of time now, which is great so I can give the love to other, just as amazing, lesser-known books.

But this is still very much a loved book of mine, and I’ll never grow old of the feeling of comfort that I get whenever I return to it. I love this world and I love these characters and I love the story that Leigh weaved. Not to mention May yet AGAIN (this is sickening), but we’re definitely doing a series reread in December this year!!

FOOLISH HEARTS &
RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE

 

The aforementioned May (oh my god she is everywhere what the hell) will laugh at me when she sees this because my Emma Mills love can be attributed a Lot to her but… it’s true!! It’s just a really cute book, with a really cute romance, and really cute friendships. The dialogue is so funny, too, and I feel so much happier and lighter when I finish it!

I also included Red, White & Royal Blue, because it gives me the same feelings as Foolish Hearts! While I’ve only read it once, it’s definitely something I’ve been wanting to reach for lately. I really love the characters and the dialogue, because it’s one of the most hilarious books I’ve ever read, and I’m saving this one to reread when I hit Rock Bottom sometime this year.

ARISTOTLE AND DANTE DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE

YES this book makes me sob, YES it is still a comfort read!!! I don’t know why my brain works like that but it does!!!!

I think it’s kind of like. if I’m sad about something in my life, then at least I can read this book and be sad about something else? Maybe?? But also this book just really hits different when you’re gay or when you’re sad, so to be BOTH is just like a whiplash to your face and I Love it.

I also feel like… the way that the author writes about growing up and being a teenager is very relatable to me? It might be just a me thing, but it all feels so real and beautiful with just a twinge of sadness!

(Another thing is that I read this around the time I started questioning my sexuality, so it has some Extra meaning to me!)

LEGEND

This was one of the very first YA series I read, after Divergent and Six of Crows (it hurts me to see those two books next to each other). Meaning that there’s nostalgia attached to it, and I discovered that it was a lot more than I thought when I read Rebel and got emotional over the JuneDay content!!

The ending of this series also makes me cry a bunch (I cried on and off for a whole hour after I finished rereading it last year), and I think Marie Lu in general has a penchant for writing the most painful yet perfect endings. Somehow, I find comfort in that? Just the way she can portray realness in her stories yet still end them hopefully?

ON A SUNBEAM

This is my favorite webcomic/graphic novel! It’s a gorgeous book, in terms of the story and the characters and the stunning art. I think “soft” is one of the best ways to describe it—all of it—and that’s exactly why it brings me so much comfort.

I also feel like art in a story allows you to form a deeper, more emotional connection with it! Which can be bad, when you can’t connect to it very well, but when you’re drawn in to it like I’m drawn into the art in this book, it feels like an otherworldly experience. (Besides the fact that it’s, you know, set in space.)

Heartstopper is also a comforting webcomic for me to return to! I think my love for it has lessened a bit lately, but it still deserves a mention here.

A WISH IN THE DARK

This is a fairly new addition, but I’m very confident in it! I can see myself returning to this book whenever I just need to smile. It’s a truly heartwarming book, both in terms of the story/characters themselves and also the meaning that the Thai representation has to me. Anything related to Thailand feels like coming home!

Plus, middle grade books are often soothing in a way no other book age group can recreate? They all have some level of hope in them, especially when you see that these are just kids trying to do their best, and this book definitely has that feeling of hopefulness.

THE MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY

Here comes more childhood nostalgia! I read these books when I was younger and loved them so much, and it somehow feels like I know both the characters and the story so well yet can also completely rediscover them again when I reread. There’s also that wonderful found family aspect that I love reading, especially with kids.

I also have FANTASTIC new memories to attach to this series now, since I reread the first 2 books with the loml Emma and she herself is a comfort to me!!

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what are your comfort reads? are you rereading them right now during this mess? if not, what other ways are you coping? what books are you nostalgic over??

p.s. i would’ve mentioned the foxhole court on here if i didn’t hate it so much… listen, it’s terrible and problematic and the worst but that trashfire brings me so much comfort and i’m probably rereading it some time this year

p.p.s. i also would’ve mentioned the poppy war if not for the, you know, brutal genocide, murder, torture, and rape. but fang runin best character