What is your favorite comfort book? You know, the book you can always read to escape from the world, you know the characters like you know your own family, forgive their weaknesses, and cherish the comfort of reliving it all again...

Mine would be "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier

Two books I've read many, many times: On Fortune's Wheel and The Wings of a Falcon, both by Cynthia Voigt.

4 books (soon to be 5 on October the 9th!!!):

Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, and Drums of Autumn; all by Diana Gabaldon. I do indeed know the characters like they were my own family... *G* I've actually drawn up family trees for the main characters, wishing my name was in it somewhere! *Blushes* I even own The Outlandish Companion, which is a book about the books. All the books are plus or minus 1000 pages so it takes awhile to read them... but nevertheless I've read each of them several times.

Last week I decided to start reading the series backwards (book 4 - book 1) just to read them in a different way, and I'm already partway through book 3.

There is an unfortunate side effect from reading DG's (known to her fans as "Herself") books - they totally ruin you for every other author. I used to swear by Dean Koontz, but after reading the Outlander series, I find anything else unbearable to read. I don't think I'll live to see another author that can compare to Herself in creativity, description, depth of character, or style!!!

the most comforting book i have ever read (not for escapism reasons, but, quite the opposite) is "the prophet" by kahlil gibran.

also "the garden of the prophet".

i have never read anything so compassionate, insightful and poetic in my life.

...."life is older than all things living...life sings in our silences and dreams in our slumber...life is deep and high and distant; and though only your vast vision can reach only her feet, yet she is near...when life speaks all the winds become words"..

Mine, ironically, is The Master Puppeter. I first read this book in 5th grade when we read an excerpt from it in Lit. I'm not exactly sure why it's my favorite, it's certenly not the best book I've ever read, it didn't hold some deep meaning to what I needed to hear, or contain a charatar I could totally relate to. Yet I just keep going back to it. I've read it a couple dozen times. Strange, but anyway.....

the book I go back to, more than any other (I don't know if it's a comfort book or not) is "Cat's Cradle" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Actually, I have a trio of Vonnegut books that I read fairly regularly--the other two being "Breakfast of Champions" and "Slaughter-House Five". I don't know what comfort I gain from them, aside from the knowledge that there is a guy out there who thinks that humans are as messed up as I think they are....

Give me a good romance novel. There's nothing better than a happy ending.

OH, and I used to read "Little Women" a lot. I'll pull out Shakespeare to remind me of when I used to be smart.

hi there, allynellie here, i love the "Rendez-Vous With Rama" series by Arthur C Clarke - it blew me away. Clarke's theories about the meaning of life were interesting.

i also really enjoyed Patrick Tilley's Amtak Wars books.

Lake Wobegon Days, Garrison Keillor or It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It by Robert Fulghum.

Funny short story about the Fulghum book: There is a story in there called the MOTB (Mother of the Bride) who was the Mother from the Netherworld according to the story. Anyway, my sister was having this kind of meddlesom trouble from her future mother-in-law (Changing all of her plans, attempting to reorder her choice of cake, rejecting my sister's choice of wedding band, down to the jewelry she wanted to wear). She was very upset throughout the last days, often crying. I remembered this silly chapter in the book, sent it to my sister who laughed uproarisly. The story talked about how all the mother's meddling and changing failed in the end when the bride got sick at the alter from drinking too much pre=wedding champaigne and how the groom still held his bride in his arms, stroked her hair and said his vows. He also stated that this couple was still married 20 years later and the MOTB has gotten out of the wedding planning business (at least until her granddaughter is old enough). It gave my sister the strength to call her up and say, "It's my wedding."