Comfort Books

They are first cousins to comfort foods.  Grilled cheese sandwich and cream of tomato soup is still the most popular comfort food.  And has been for a long, long time.

Maeve Binchy, doyenne Irish writer, is still the Queen on Comfort, but she died.  (the nerve) and I've read all of the previous books.

Richie, in a desperate scramble through our massive collection, handed me three books by Lilian Jackson Braun.  She has written more than 21 books with these characters:  Jim Qwillern, nicknamed Qwill, is a writer on the Moosetown newspaper in the northeast quarter of the U.S.  He inherited millions, prefers the quiet life and started a foundation which is more or less the fairy godmother of the area.

He has two Siamese cats - Koko and Yum Yum - in a cat focused community.  He and the head librarian love each other but have no desire to change their life styles and marry.  Qwill has a number of colorful friends.   His column, the Qwill Pen, is avidly read by the locals. 

He and the cats solve murders, such as there are in Moosetown.

Braun takes us behind the scenes for such time-honored events as the 4th of July parade, the Christmases - Qwill is forced to be Santa - and all in all, brings a lovely slice of Americana to the table.

Normally I would run a country mile from all of the above, but I actually enjoyed them.

Don't get sick or shut in just to read them.  They'd be a pleasant beach read as well.