Shout out to the commenters in our latest Whatcha Reading post!
There were some great comments about “In Case of Emergency…Break Glass” books and a request for a post. We’re always happy to run requests like these!
We ran a similar post in 2020, so we did our best not to duplicate suggestions.
Sarah: In 2020, I mentioned the Call of Crows series, ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au ) and that I always keep them with me should I need to soothe everything with heaping doses of rage. Wow, was my rage a lot different then.
Right now, my rage is endless and my balance is precarious. I’m doing the delicate monitoring of staying informed while also protecting my brain from that which will harm me.
The titles I have in my “break glass in case of emergency” stack aren’t out yet (I’m sorry) but with a new Veronica Speedwell ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) and a new Murderbot ( A | BN | K | AB ) in the next few months, a re-read of both series seems alluring.
However, my pick isn’t one thing, it’s a category: Magazines. Check out the digital magazines at your library because they have just about everything, from craft to gossip, travel to poetry – birds and horses and art and food. You’ll likely find library access to magazines in Libby/OverDrive, Flipster, PressReader, or another app to which your library has offered access.
When my brain cannot book, magazines are perfect.
Elyse: I am struggling so hard right now, and this kind of stress amplifies my autoimmune issues which sucks. I’m navigating that space of not being immediately in-your-face with the news while still being informed.
Right now I just don’t have the mental capacity to sit down and read a book. All my juice is being used up at work and when I’m not at work I have to recharge. I’m watching a lot of hockey because my brain is capable of the mental work of “did the biscuit go in the basket” and that’s about it.
When I’m not watching hockey, I’m listening to audio books but I’m being careful in my selection. I’ve been listening to a lot of Terry Pratchett. Prachett’s books are satire, and funny, and blistering on point without ever feeling dark. His heroes are mostly ordinary people who Do The Right Thing even when it’s hard, but they aren’t gleaming Paladins of virtue. He also points out that evil is often overwhelmingly stupid. I can’t help but wonder what he would be writing were he still with us, and I’m sure whatever it was would be hopeful while also cutting in its accuracy.
Pratchett had a lot of books, so if you don’t know where to start, the very first book is The Color of Magic. ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au | Scribd ) There are several sub-series though, and my two favorites are the City Watch Series which begins with Guards! Guards! ( A | K | G | AB | Au ) And the Granny Weatherwax series which starts with Equal Rites. ( A | BN | K | AB )
If you have read all the Pratchett books, then I recommend listening to/reading Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher which is very similar in humor and tone.
I’ve been knitting while I listen to audio books and working on Melt the Ice hats as well as some homebrew anti-ice socks.
Lara: At the moment my emergency book is anything written by KJ Charles. Presently, I’m rereading Slippery Creatures and it’s great! The writing is sharp and vivid, and the story is immersive. When I read it, the real world temporarily disappears and I’m at peace.
Amanda: For a brain break, I’ve been diving into a lot of webtoons, primarily through sites like Webtoons and Manta. You can marathon a series or just check in to read a chapter a day. There are tons of free options, so there’s often no monetary obligation to give one a try.
Tangentially, I’ve found that organizing my giant To Read/Reading webtoon library has been particularly soothing. I used Manga Baka to do that.
I’m not typically a re-reader, but I do make an exception for the following books:
- The Bride by Julie Garwood ( A | BN | K | G | AB )
- Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas
- Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones ( A | BN | K | G | AB )
Kiki: In shitty times, I like to return to a big series so that I don’t have to think about what my next book is going to be. Combine that with the way I’ve come to rely on historical romance in the last few years and I recommend the Mackenzie series by Jennifer Ashley, which starts with The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie, ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) though I’m particularly fond of A Rogue Meets a Scandalous Lady. ( A | BN | K | AB )
In the same vein, Jo Goodman’s westerns, especially In Want of a Wife. Like the Mackenzie series, there are a good number of them, and they are absolutely immersive.
Final suggestion: audiobook everything. I can’t focus on physical/ebooks right now, but I can put on some noise cancelling headphones and crochet or paint or cross-stitch or cook and that helps soothe the pressure that is non-stop building in my chest.
Take good care of each other, y’all.
What are your “Break Glass” books? Tell us in the comments!
I can’t read fluff in bad times; my brain always sticks on “But life isn’t like that!” so I need something a bit darker.
I always go for The Count of Monte Cristo. While it’s not a light read by any stretch of the imagination, you can at least tell yourself that however horrible your life is at the moment (I first read it in a disgusting bedsit with a leaking ceiling and mice in the walls), you’re doing better than Edmond Dantès, and everyone else deserves what they get, more or less. It’s also a reminder that the burning political horror of the day isn’t going to last forever. And it’s so long that by the time I get to the end, something has shifted.
(Note: written 1844-46, and Of Its Time, particularly when it comes to Orientalism.)
C. L. Wilson’s five-book Tairen Soul series is described on the cover copy as “a Breathtaking Epic Tale of Magic, Passion, and Destiny,” and never fails to restore my belief in love and the good things in the world. It’s fae fantasy romance that was written before ACOTAR made it mainstream, so it isn’t just the same recycled tropes.
Also, I agree with the Terry Pratchett recommendation, but his writing evolved a lot over time. The early books are a lot shorter and (my opinion) sillier and less emotionally complex than the later ones. I read them out of order and started with The Fifth Elephant (city watch) and Carpe Jugulum (Granny Weatherwax), which I think are both better books than the earlier ones in the series. They can be read out of order without major difficulty.
I love talking about “break the glass” books as much as I love reading them. I keep a list that I update regularly. I’m currently reading from one on my list, the Blessings series by Ms. Bev Jenkins – I’m on the third one of twelve. A town of people trying to do the right thing, helping each other out, giving new people a fresh start – and bad things happen to bad people (they get squashed by a giant pig, they get swept up by a tornado, they end up in an oil tank).
Also on my list: AJ Demas’ AU MM historical romances, especially her newest, The House of the Red Balconies. Cat Sebastian’s “no plot all vibes” romances. Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor and Victoria Goddard’s Hands of the Emperor, when I want sweeping fantasy. And when I want mayhem and bad people dying gruesomely, Shelly Laurenston’s Honey Badgers.
I have 2 primary Break Glass in Case of Emergency Series:
1) Ilona Andrews’ Innkeeper series – laugh out loud funny, super competent heroine, and a setting very far removed from reality
2) JD Robb’s In Death series – another super competent heroine and Swiss army knife hero, future NYC setting which has gotten through rough times and has legal sex work, racial diversity, and a gun ban
Martha Wells’s MURDERBOT DIARIES and Ilona Andrews’s INNKEEPER CHRONICLES are definite comfort reads.
But ones that people might not have heard of include Dick Francis’s THE EDGE. A baddie is going to do something to ruin the glamorous transcontinental railway horse-racing tour and our hero must stop it while being kind and smart. He, of course, falls in love with a super competent and kind event planner. Found family and an “on-train live mystery play” — but trigger warning for suicides and animal death (both off-page). And there’s THE MISCHIEF OF THE MISTLETOE, a novella in Lauren Willig’s Pink Carnation series. The heroine learns to appreciate herself and the hero is a bumbling sweetheart.
I also really like listening to the audiobooks of Drew Hayes’s FRED, THE VAMPIRE ACCOUNTANT series. Beta vampire hero, badass love interest, found family, humor and kindness. Trigger warnings for on-page violence, some leading to death.
Yes to The Count of Monte Cristo, a real barn burner. My go-to books can depend on the kind of emergency, and range from Mansfield Park and Persuasion to various Pratchetts (especially Thud!, Monstrous Regiment and Carpe Jugulum) to many favorites by CJ Cherryh: the Chanur books (lions take their social structure to space) and The Paladin (where student teaches teacher). Among more recent books, I must have read The Goblin Emperor a dozen times, and much enjoy the recent Witness for the Dead trilogy.
Anything by Ilona Andrew’s for me. They have a new book oot on January 30th. Also I like Michelle Diener’s Class 5 series.
My break-in case of emergency books are actually three different series. First being the Otherworld series by Anne Bishop. It’s a little gory, but I find it comforting that the monsters always win, but the monsters in this world are just beings who want to be treated fairly. I won’t lie, I love that the solution to them is just eat the bad humans.
My second series is Shelley Laurenston’s Honey Badger series. Another book that’s very violent, but you never doubt that the main characters are safe. the McKilligan sisters are crazy but competent. The opening scene of the first book is *chef’s kiss*
Third, Ilona Andrew’s Kate Daniels series. The banter between Kate and Curran is just too delicious. I revisit it often.
If you want to hear something embarrassing, the Libby app tells you how much time you’re spending with your books. Since 2020, I’ve re-read this series so many times that I won’t even say the number. But I can fall asleep listening to these books and wake up and still be able to know exactly where I’m at in the books.
My usual go-to comfort books are the Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn, but lately with my life in more chaos than usual I can’t really deal with romance. So I got in the Wayback Machine and have been reading the Anne of Green Gables series by LM Montgomery before bed to quiet my mind and help me sleep. My other choice right now is the Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynn Jones, which IMO beats Harry Potter by a dragon length and has the additional virtue of not being written by a horrible person.
My comfort reads include Anne of Green Gables and the Kel series by Tamora Pierce. I also Mystic and Rider and Fortune and Fate by Sharon Shinn. I read the books I read as an adolescent when I feel awful!
The Alpha & Omega series by Patricia Briggs always puts me in a good place, so much so that when I had dental surgery I listened to the first book on audio to distract me. Holter Graham’s reading voice helped keep me calm.
Penric and Desdemona
Bujold is an immense comfort read for me.
I’ll add another endorsement for The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison aka Sarah Monette)!! Also, the spin-off series involving a secondary character).
Another of my comfort reads are Seanan McGuire’s InCryptid and October Daye urban fantasy books.
And here’s yet another endorsement of The Goblin Emperor and the Cemeteries of Amalo trilogy.
KJ Charles by a landslide, obviously.
I don’t tend to reread romances since for me part of the joy is that a new one will likely satisfy the old craving, but there’s maybe a dozen additional authors who are the exception: Katherine Addison, Suzanne Brockmann, (some) Tessa Dare, AJ Demas, Taylor Fitzpatrick, (some) Alexis Hall, Georgette Heyer, T Kingfisher, EF Lupton, Courtenay Milan, Cat Sebastian, Martha Wells. Arguably some of these authors are only marginally romance, but my brain centers it regardless.
I am interpreting this question as most reliable romances novelists, although in general I prefer bleak books when times are roughest, for the perspective maybe, or because they’re what I read as a kid so there’s a familiarity. But I had a therapist who proscribed Thomas Hardy, and did not seem to feel that Emile Zola was any better for me, and I haven’t gotten great traction with trying to convince people that intensely depressing Russian novels will make them feel better. So I am saving all my recs for most depressing books ever written -I have so many!- until the day I am explicitly asked, which, weirdly, has yet to arrive.
@Lee Lee
My comfort reads are also on the violent side. I never get tired, and never fail to find comfort in, Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series. The found family, the caring, the snuggliness on one side, the “i will rip apart evil people who cause harm” on the other side is so satisfying. I might also try a reread of ACOTAR….
Oh boy! There’s a few that hit the marks funny how the same books pop up for so many of us.
I echo THE INNKEEPER CHRONICLES by Ilona Andrews – the stories describe comfort in the midst of chaos. I think I’m coming up on my yearly reread.
CALL OF CROWS SERIES is also high up there – especially when feeling ragey.
I remember rereading the ANNE OF GREEN GABLES series as the pandemic was winding up and I was trying to cope with ED nursing during a a freakin’ pandemic.
@Lee Lee – on Libby and Hoopla – I often note when I last read the book. I’ll have to check out the actual read time.
Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan saga. I picked Young Miles off my TBR pile when my (now) husband had a devastating accident abroad and I had to fly out to be with him. I literally started reading it in the intensive care department of an Irish hospital. That I could enjoy a book under those circumstances and still have the series as my go-to/desert island read 25 years later says everything about her writing. I find something new to appreciate every time I re-read it. A warning to people who want a pure comfort read: there are occasional very dark moments in some of the books, but it’s never gratuitous, and good people (mostly) prevail.
Mine is a bit unusual, maybe – in high school English at some point we read Alas Babylon by Pat Frank, a 1950s Cold War novel about a small town in Florida in the aftermath of a nuclear war. It’s not fluff by any means, and it’s definitely of its time (the main characters are pretty progressive for the time, but society is of course very racist). It’s not super famous, so IDK exactly why we read it in school in ~2000, but it’s been a favorite of mine ever since. It was written at a time when people feared that goverments would plunge the world into total destruction, and it imagines that the worst *does* happen – but despite the grim scenario, it’s ultimately hopeful. It’s about people finding ways to carry on and contribute, forging a community despite differences, and building a life worth living after the world falls apart around them. (I think it’s available free on Project Gutenberg Canada, and Audible did a great audio version a few years ago, which I’m currently listening to again.)
My other recent audiobook binge was the whole Lord of the Rings series. The version narrated by Andy Serkis is *outstanding*, and of course they’re excellent books for remembering that the smallest people and gestures can make all the difference and that there is always light to be found amid the darkness.
I’ve been doing a lot of fluffy rereading too – Courtney Milan, Cat Sebastian, and Julie Anne Long’s Palace of Rogues series (my beloved). Roan Parrish’s Garnet Run series of queer small-town romances are also great comfort reads. I’ve also been reading a lot of Beverly Jenkins’ westerns/historicals as I’ve been in a mood for westerns but she’s the only author I really know in that genre – so thanks for Kiki’s suggestion. My library has a couple of Goodman’s books on Libby including In Want of a Wife, so I’ve grabbed them!
The first books I think of when anyone requests comfort reads, desert island, break-glass-in-emergency books is always going to be anything (depending on mood) by Ilona Andrews. I also love Bujold and Pratchett for this. I think I love these authors because they cover the whole range of human experience from gritty violence to spit-take humor. Nor am I surprised to see these on so many lists. We are a community, no?
Here are a few other faves. G. A. Aiken’s Dragonkin series–especially What a Dragon Should Know–have that same range of violence through laughter. Aiken & Laurenston are the same person and I love the twisted family dynamics. In the same vein, Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark series has a few blood soaked gems that also make me laugh. I’ve gleefully reread Lothaire a number of times, though it’s as close as I ever come to a guilty pleasure. I think these books speak to our ability to survive the hard shit.
Then, there are a small group of Jayne Ann Krentz titles–most notably, Trust Me–that I read at least once a year. These are lighter but never fail to make me laugh. Along similar lines, there are some titles by Elizabeth Peters (Barbara Mertz) that are old but reliable friends–Crocodile on a Sandbank, Trojan Gold, The Murders of Richard the Third all come to mind.
Finally, when my brain is really treading water, I like to read poetry aloud until it calms tf down. I like Yeats, Millay, Leonard Cohen, Shakespeare, Heaney, Kay Ryan, Dylan Thomas, Marilyn Nelson, and I really like sonnets.
I don’t have comfort reads since I don’t re-read books, but I wanted to comment on Terry Pratchett. I didn’t actually read him until towards the end of COVID but I read everything, pretty much in order. What struck me (besides how well-written, intelligent, and entertaining I found them) was how much of his social and political commentary was still applicable several decades later. And I’m not talking about the good stuff but the awful stuff that is still happening. Don’t humans in power ever learn anything or try to do better? Yes, I’m pretty unhappy and in despair over what is happening in this country right now.
I don’t usually reread books, but there is one that’s my break in case of emergency book, “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue” by V.E. Schwab. It’s one of my all-time favorite books, and Julia Whelan narrates the audiobook. I have the print book and I’ve checked the audio book out on Libby multiple times, before purchasing it on Libro.Fm.
For me too it’s anything by KJ Charles, or Cat Sebastian.
What comes to mind is Just the Sexiest Man Alive and Something About You by Julie James. Other authors on the list are Jill Shalvis, Susan Mallery, Lisa Kleypas, Sarah MacLean, and Jenny Holiday. Also, there’s a few cozy mystery series that I like revisiting as well.
KJ CHARLES, ILONA ANDREWS, THEA HARRISON (I love the world she built – shape shifters, vampires, fae, djinn for the win!)TERRY PRATCHETT, JANE AUSTEN, LORETTA CHASE, LISA KLEYPAS, MARY BALOGH, JULIE GARWOOD, CAT SEBASTIAN and T KINGFISHER have all written so many great books. SUZANNE WRIGHT and SHELLY LAURENSTON’s books are like the best kinds of candy – you don’t even know you are consuming them.
I also love Lynn Kurland’s ALL THAT I ASK – it may be my favorite medieval romance. Another series I have reread many times that I don’t see here is Marjorie M. Liu’s paranormal series, DIRK AND STEELE.
Thank you all for the many fantastic suggestions! It is past time to break the glass on many levels, so please stay safe and take care of yourselves.
I reread a lot, a habit born of necessity in childhood (I couldn’t get to the library as quickly as I could go through the books I checked out, so I reread the books I owned. Over and over.) From there, rereading became one of the chief ways I have managed my anxiety over the years.
That being the case, I have many, many standalones, series, and authors I return to when life is stressful. Several have been mentioned here at least once: the Anne of Green Gables books by L. M. Montgomery; the Protector of the Small quartet by Tamora Pierce (aka the Kel series); the Lord of the Rings.
I was delighted to see Dick Francis’s The Edge in @LittyN’s comment; that is one of several of his books that fall in the comfort-read category for me. I’m also very fond of The Danger and the Kit Fielding duology, Break In and Bolt.
If I’m in a historical romance mood, I turn to Mary Balogh, Lisa Kleypas, Mary Jo Putney, Julia Quinn’s early Bridgerton books, and Stephanie Laurens’s early Cynster novels. In fantasy and sci-fi, I often return to Mercedes Lackey, Anne McCaffrey, Tamora Pierce, and Robin McKinley. In mystery, I go for the classics: Dorothy Sayers, some of Agatha Christie and most of Ngaio Marsh. If I want romantic suspense, I reread Mary Stewart’s romantic suspense novels, especially Airs Above the Ground, This Rough Magic, and Touch Not the Cat. In the last 10 years, Nora Roberts and Jayne Ann Krentz (especially her Arcane Society series) have joined the romantic suspense list.
But my most trusted break-glass-in-emergency books, the ones I find the most reliably comforting, the ones that have stayed on that list for decades without fail, are:
The Blue Sword, Beauty, and Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley
A City of Bells, Pilgrim’s Inn, and Gentian Hill by Elizabeth Goudge. (I’m also fond of Linnets and Valerians and The Little White Horse, but they are middle grade; the comfort there is as much the return to my childhood as the book itself)
The Blue Sword, Beauty, and Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley
Aunt Dimity’s Death and Aunt Dimity and the Duke by Nancy Atherton
Thanks to everyone for these!
For me it’s Diana Wynne Jones’ FIRE AND HEMLOCK and HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE, Robin McKinley’s two Beauty and the Beast retellings, BEAUTY and ROSE DAUGHTER. Lisa Kleypas and Mary Balogh, and others you all have mentioned.
The space opera Scout’s Progress by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller is on my comfort reads list. (“Far off places, daring
swordgun fights, a prince in disguise!”)I am so heavy into the comfort reads right now!
+1 for Martha Wells’s MURDERBOT DIARIES and Ilona Andrews’s INNKEEPER CHRONICLES
I also just reread a lot of Bujold – the SHARING KNIFE series and the CHALION series – and am getting started the sci-fi ones, which I’ve never read before.
SUNSHINE by Robin McKinley is another favorite.
JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte.
THE BLUE CASTLE by LM Montgomery of Anne of Green Gables fame.
DRAGONSONG and DRAGONSINGER by Anne McCaffrey.
Also, last year, I discovered LOLA AND THE MILLIONAIRES. It’s Omegaverse, which is not for everyone, and I’m not sure why it’s so comforting, but I’ve already reread it multiple times. Definitely the smuttiest on the list!
I see many recommendations above that are also on my list ~ The Others by Anne Bishop, The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, books by Thea Harrison, and The Class Five books by Michelle Diener.
Absolute favorites not already mentioned are the Linesman books by SK Dunstall, The Curse of Chalion by Bujold, the Touchstone series by Andrea K. Hõst, and the Claimings series by Lyn Gala.
I agree with so many of these suggestions! I love Sharon Shinn’s Troubled Waters and her Mystic & Rider series, I am currently rereading Lee & Miller’s Liaden Universe, and my newest comfort read is Ilona Andrews’ The Inheritance. My choice for Robin McKinley is Chalice.
Somehow, the most comforting of the Miles Vorkosigan series is actually Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance, with its weird mix of romance and heist plotlines.
Yes to Shelley Laurenston’s Honey Badger chronicles!
If I want SF action, I go for Doyle & MacDonald’s The Price of the Stars, which clearly started as Star Wars fanfic but ends up in a more interesting place.
For fantasy, Vivian Shaw’s Greta van Helsing series and Theodora Goss’s Athena Club series. And if the situation is really bad, there’s always Patricia C. Wrede’s Dragons YA quartet.
I second magazines! I was reading a Smithsonian at my mother’s and realized I missed the surprise of it — finding yourself reading an article on a random topic and being really interested. A little bit of non-fiction without committing yourself.
Also seconding Terry Pratchett (Going Postal is the best book ever), Murderbot, and my go-to cozy mysteries by Charlotte MacLeod.
I’m a fan of the Goblin Emperor, Heyer, and a whole bunch of other writers already mentioned. But I read self-published Aussie writer Andrea Host the first time when under fire in Kabul and she kept me decently distracted. The Silence of Medair and the Rose series are favorites.
@Lark +1 to Mary Stewart! Nine Coaches Waiting is my go-to, followed by This Rough Magic and The Moonspinners.
A College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer is one of my go-tos She’s such a slyly funny author! Also To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis.
Celia Lake’s Albon books.- cozy historical magical romance. Her characters “figure out what’s next and make the world around them a little bit better. Together.” making world better and being kind are so soothing for comfort reads.
Just want to thank everybody for these great suggestions!
I can’t believe I didn’t mention Celia Lake’s books in my message. I guess I was thinking of books I’ve re-read in tough times already, but Celia Lake’s books got me through the last especially tough half of 2025. They’d be getting me through this start to 2026 except I’ve run out of them and want to give them a little more time before re-reading.
And yes, thanks to everyone for the suggestions!!
My go-to books (that I can think of off the top of my head right this moment) are:
The “Faith, Love & Devotion” series by Tere Michaels
“Red, White & Royal Blue” by Casey McQuiston
“Heated Rivalry” by Rachel Reid
“Pride & Prejudice” by Jane Austen
“Lord of Scoundrels” by Loretta Chase
“Circe” by Madeline Miller
The “Memento Mori” series by C.S. Poe
Cat Sebastian (just about anything she writes)
This is an extra interesting Whatcha Reading? I’ve nothing to add, since I’ve never been a re-reader except as a hard-headed child on library restriction, forced to turn to my own (many!) books. I read poetry from anthologies in personal and political troubled times.