Sick literature: what to read when you’re ill – Picking the right books to read when you’re feeling awful is a serious business. I completely agree with the article’s author when she says: Firstly, and most importantly, do NOT attempt to read anything new. Just as the point at which you’re lying feverish and fretful in your bed is not the moment to send out to the brand-new super-spicy curry house round the corner, so it is not the moment to essay an untested novel, either. Georgette Heyer got me through appendicitis, Eva Ibbotson helped me through pneumonia, and the sagas of Diana Gabaldon and R.F. Delderfield have seen me through many cold and flu seasons over the years. What do you read when you’re ill?
Can a computer ever give good book recommendations? – The latest and most ambitious attempt to turn literary taste into an algorithm
Jason Goodwin’s Top 10 Books about Turkey – Encompassing poetry, history, fiction and even cookery, the author picks his favourite reading about this ‘elusive and contradictory’ country
Angela Thirkell gets me through surgery and down times. Perfect reading.
When I was ill a couple or more years ago I read my childhood favourites, Lorna Hill’s ballet books, starting with A Dream of Sadler’s Wells … I didn’t need to concentrate and I was returned to my happy childhood, they are for me the comfort blankets of literature.
Agatha Christie gets me through illness and then Enid Blyton.
What a coincidence, Georgette Heyer got me through appendicitis as well – The Quiet Gentleman, still my favorite. Angela Thirkell is also good, and Elizabeth Peters (mysteries without too much mayhem).
I always enjoy Friday Potpourri…lots of good information. Thanks for posting!
I like to return to Laura Ingall Wilder’s “Little House on the Prairie” series when I am not feeling well and need a comfort read.