What are the books that soothe you? I was thinking about this the other day when I picked up The Comfort of Crows and read a few of its gorgeous naturalist musings by the fireplace. We keep this book out in our family room year-round, and I’ll pick it up and read it in little sips every now and then. It’s as though I intuitively know when I need its centering quiet, and it always delivers. Short essays structured around the turn of seasons, the book reminds me that everything carries a rhythm and a flow; everything is in constant state of rewriting, including us, and that’s OK. Not only OK, in fact, but magical and generative and illuminating. I love the way Renkl models quiet observation and the ethos of living “care-ingly”; her words, her way of being, make me feel as though I’m sitting with a wise older sister, and she is gently nudging me toward insight.
I found a similar warm blanket feeling while reading Small Things Like These. The book grapples with a dark history but gently, gently — the prose draws us to its heart with hugging arms. (I intend to re-read this book next Christmas.) Meanwhile, any time I’m in the dentist’s chair, I’m listening to Laura Dern read Little Women or Tom Hanks read The Dutch House. Both books and their narrations offer me deep comfort. And Mary Oliver — especially her book Owls and Other Fantasies — is my forever comfort.
I polled Magpie readers on Instagram for other books that soothe the nervous system, and the top recommendations were:
Wintering by Katherine May
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
The Shell Seekers by Rosamund Pilcher
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
(Shop the full list here.)
I completely agree with all of these and have leant on them myself! I’ve written elsewhere about that magical afternoon my children were running amok and I put on an audiobook of The Wind in the Willows in my bedroom while folding the laundry, and they joined me and laid on the bed and settled themselves into quiet. It was a near-chemical reaction! They had been a flash of wing and beak all morning, and then the book came on, and they settled softly into themselves. I also absolutely love Wintering, Anne of Green Gables, and Bird by Bird — I’ve listened to all three on audiobook as well, actually, while driving around during the holidays in years past — and find they deliver that same soothing big sister energy I also find in Renkl, and Alcott, and Patchett, too. Wise women reminding us in beautiful ways that this, too, shall pass. (Don’t miss the Anne of Green Gables narrated by Rachel McAdams! Charming!) The only title I’d not read was The Shell Seekers, which I know Magpies have recommended in years past. I ordered it immediately and plan to read in the waning week of December.
I’ve added all of these titles here in case you want to shop them! The Comfort of Crows would make a gorgeous last-minute gift for a friend, sister, mother, naturalist-lover, quiet-seeker, older-sister, wise-woman type. The cover art is lovely, and it is a gift that will continue to give.
What other books quiet you when you’re in a time of stress or strain?
Post-Scripts.
+More of my favorite audiobooks.
+What are your kids into these days?
+Favorite family movies, and favorite book-based movies.
+ My book, Small Wonders, is now available for pre-order! This is a collection of essays, musings, and list poetry on the art of paying attention, noticing love in its smallest denominations, and finding the miraculous in the mundane. It is an extension of the writing here on the blog, and is organized around the themes we often discuss here: the dance of motherhood, inheritances and intimacies, the natural world, and the wide world of language. I am so proud of it and hope you will find it a worthy companion for your legato-style mornings.
Shopping Break.
+Veronica Beard relaunched its extra 30% off sale promotion — you know my thoughts on their blazers/jackets (you’ll be shocked at how often you reach for them as an outfit-maker, and this has an iconic Chanel vibe that will instantly elevated jeans and a tee), but other standouts include this dark rinse denim dress (was just writing about this trend last weekend!), this striped rib knit, and this silk gown, somehow $209 (down from $748…!)
+Two fab athleisure outerwear finds: this fleece pullover and this houndstooth puffer. Reminder that JEN25 gets us 25% off at Rhone! There’s still time to get your husband one of the “retired athlete” sets…
+How I’d style the puffer for a winter birding outing — including the fancy birding binoculars Landon bought me for Christmas and which I accidentally tore open (and have been loving). (Whoops!)
PUFFER (25% OFF WITH JEN25) // MY BIRDING BINOCULARS // RHONE LEGGINGS (25% OFF WITH JEN25) // BEST AND WARMEST BASE LAYER // SIBLEY’S BIRDS BOOK // CURRENT BOMBAS OBSESSIONS // ADIRONDACK BOOTS
+Last minute holiday glam: this velvet coat to wear with anything (jeans, trousers, leather pants!), and this spectacular burgundy maxi. I own the latter in a different color and the silhouette is perfect.
+Love the look of Spanx’s AirEssentials turtenecks and their new mockneck long-sleeves!
+Best plush robes for everyone. While you’re there, love these personalized golf towels or gym towels (“spin!!!”) as an add-on gift (or treat for self!). Meanwhile, these are the towels we keep in our powder room this time of year!
+Just ordered this intriguing lip product from brand EADEM: “combines the exfoliation of a gentle lip peel, moisture of an intense lip mask, and reflective sheen of a gloss.” Sounds like exactly what I want during this winter season. I was unexpectedly charmed by their two limited edition colors: “croissant au beurre” (clear shimmery gold) and “pain au chocolat” (caramelized brown with shimmery pink)! I ordered both to try. I couldn’t help myself! The lip product is Eadem’s bestselling item, followed by this “rescue spray.”
+Reminder that Shopbop is offering 30% off fab finds — just added this gorgeous LBD to my list!
+LOVE this cashmere polo. (Reminder: this tee is the absolute best. My code MAGPIE15 gets you 15% off.)
+Did you see Julia Berolzheimer’s collection with Jennifer Behr? Love this tassel necklace!
+Stocking stuffers for kids here! I’ve been updating with new finds!
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I’ll add: An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler, a slim volume of Pablo Neruda love poems, A Week In Winter by Maeve Binchy, The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss.
Love these – thanks!
This might be a bit me-specific, but I love rereading the Christmas break section of my favorite book, David Mitchell’s the Bone Clocks, during this time of year. The character is a mild sociopath that’s up to no good, but the backdrop against which he’s making his plans is so familiar and richly textured – the pre-Christmas excitement and the between-the-holidays doldrums of the pre-New Year period. The beats all feel so familiar to me that I find it soothing.
I love this niche rec / re-read!! I’m so intrigued! Thanks!
Jen! I can’t tell you the perfect timing of this post! Firstly I agree with all of those comfort reads (except Anne of Green Gales which I can’t get into for some strange reason!). Wintering is superb, almost anything by Rosamund Pilchard is a comfort but especially the Shell Seekers.
But, but – I just finished Claire Keegans Small Things Like These. It was so recommended by yourself and others, but I delayed reading it as I was a small child in Ireland during the time period the book is set and worried that it might be triggering in some ways. Ireland during those years was in a deep economic depression coupled with emerging discomfort to clerical abuses. The book was amazing, Claire Keegan is amazing, and the book gave me a broader perspective of that time which has been doubly comforting for me – so the opposite of triggering? I’m not sure! Anyway my question to all non-Irish people who read and love the book is this – Keegan uses so many colloquialisms – did you have to look up what plasticine was (it’s playdough!) or what ‘Leanabh’ meant, or does the work flow so that the meaning is implied and it’s specificity doesn’t matter? Sorry for the word salad but this may have been the most meaningful to me book I’ve ever read so my brain is whirring!
Hi Deirdre, your comment resonates very strongly with me. Growing up in Ireland in the ‘70s and ‘80s, I was largely unaware of the appalling history of the Magdalene Laundries. As an adult and a mother, I realized that one such “mother and baby” home had operated in the town I grew up in (it closed in the ‘60s). If anyone has seen the movie “Philomena” (beautiful but heartbreaking) with Judy Dench, the home she was placed in was in Roscrea, my home town. It turns out the doctor who delivered my sister would travel to the US with babies from the home, who were then adopted by American families. I too have consciously avoided “Small Things Like These”, both the book and the movie, but your comment has inspired me to order it.
Jen, I wonder if you might enjoy another book by Claire Keegan called “Foster”. It is a quiet, gentle story, but I loved it. It was made into a movie a few years ago called “An Cailín Ciún” (The Quiet Girl), which was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Movie Oscar (the movie is largely in Irish). I highly recommend it.
Thank you so much for sharing your notes/context for “Small Things Like These.” Such a deeply troubling subject and history but I found the way she writes about it, the way her protagonist responds to it and why he does profoundly uplifting and hopeful. A big, beating heart to it.
Thank you also for the other rec! I will read!
xx
I recently read Small Things Like These as a non-Irish person. I didn’t feel the need to look up any of the colloquialisms BUT I did need to slow down/double back on some of the dialogue, because a lot of the phrasing was so different from American English that it took me a second to catch the meaning. I was mostly struck by the fact that they were still heating their homes with coal stoves during that time period.
I was also struck by the phrasing – a lot of dialogue had differently ordered words / inversions compared to how we’d express it in the US! xx
Hi Deirdre — Thanks so much for sharing your perspective, and so interesting that you found the book comforting/anti-triggering in spite of its tender subject matter for you. It deals with such sad and dark topics but in such a beautifully uplifting and hopeful and warm way. Something about the prose just felt like a warm, radiant hold. I’m so glad you felt similarly.
I did look up several of the words to confirm my contextual understanding!
xx