{"id":17350,"date":"2018-08-29T13:33:10","date_gmt":"2018-08-29T21:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=blog&p=17350"},"modified":"2023-07-10T10:44:31","modified_gmt":"2023-07-10T17:44:31","slug":"paperback-throwback-favorite-comfort-books","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/paperback-throwback-favorite-comfort-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Paperback Throwback: Favorite Comfort Books"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s something about a paperback book, that fading feel of a flexible, tangible book, of buying one used and finding weird notes scribbled in the margins, the musty smell after it sat in a garage, or an old bookstore, There’s something about the fact that we will keep certain books around despite them having water damage, yellowed pages, coffee stains.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why? Because certain books provided us comfort in our youth and all these things, the words, the story, the smells, the feel, bring us back. (I say this as someone who has embraced e-books to an extent, as better for the environment and cheaper, but there is undeniably something lost by shifting to electronic books.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Austin-based writer Jonathan Poritsky told me, “<\/span>I love folding back half the book; love pocketing it, or at least squeezing it in somewhere. Versus an eBook: a physical page tends to offer better recall for me. I\u2019ll know a detail was on the left side a small stack of pages back.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Megan in San Francisco adds one thing she prefers about paperbacks is “<\/span>How the pages turn a little crackly and yellow, and smell just a bit musty. But a good musty. [I] still have a bookcase full of old paperbacks, including my faves: Steinbeck’s <\/span>The Grapes of Wrath<\/i><\/strong> and Sinclair’s <\/span>The Jungle<\/i><\/strong>.”<\/span><\/p>\n

We all do have that particular favorite book that we keep returning to in times of stress, needing the comfort of the familiar, of favorite characters, passages, and stories. For me, one of those books is my faded copy of Douglas Adams’ comedic sci-fi novel <\/span>Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy<\/i><\/strong>, which I still pick out once in awhile when needing a laugh. That and <\/span>To Kill a Mockingbird<\/i><\/strong>, and multiple classic <\/span>Peanuts<\/i><\/strong> collections round out my nostalgia trifecta.<\/span><\/p>\n

Along those lines, I took a survey of a bunch of different folks out there, with a little help from Twitter, as well as wonderful bookstores like Green Apple Books in San Francisco assisting in querying readers, to find out what books people loved when younger and still find comfort in as an adult. <\/span><\/p>\n

Interesting aside in the results of this very unscientific, small sample size survey, is how many people favor genre fiction–sci-fi, fantasy and horror. Perhaps not that surprising, as those genres often provide for children the most imaginative and fanciful entry into the world of reading. <\/span><\/p>\n

Here are some of the responses sent my way. Feel free to post your own favorites in the comments below. <\/span><\/p>\n\"Boy\n

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Paperback Favorites<\/u><\/h3>\n

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Marilyn Ferdinand\u200f, writer, Chicago<\/h6>\n

“Margaret Atwood’s The Edible Woman<\/strong><\/em>. She autographed it for me, and it cheers me up to know that I met such a talented and savvy woman.” As for the look and feel of book formats, she adds: “Aside from the lower cost and better portability, I like the illustrated covers. Dust jackets [on hardcovers] always need to be removed, leaving a bland cover in most cases. The pulp covers are always so great! How can you not love this?”<\/p>\n\n\t\t