A Wrinkle in Time

By Madeleine L'Engle

Some people find solace in comfort food. I have a habit of looking for solace in comfort books. A Wrinkle in Time is the literary equivalent of Mom's mac & cheese.

A Wrinkle in Time is the first book I remember reading. I remember loving Where the Wild Things Are and anything by Richard Scary but those were books that were read to me. I'm sure I read other things first, but Madeleine L'Engle's was my guide on my first solo trip into literature (or at least my first foray into grown-up "chapter" books.)

Even without any clear recollection of the plot, I remember being absolutely in love with A Wrinkle in Time and I decided, perilously close to 20 years on down the road, that I'd indulge my nostalgia.

Mom's Mac & Cheese may not impress many gourmet chefs and Madeline L'Engle's tale of a misunderstood girl doesn't compare to the great works of fiction, but like all great comfort foods, it doesn't pretend to be anything more than what it is. And it's delicious. Soft, warm and Soul-affirming, A Wrinkle in Time takes you back to being curled up under the blankets in your childhood bed.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

By Susanna Clarke

'Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell' is in many ways more a piece of historical fiction than it is a Tolkienian fantasy. There is no wand waving or lightning and fireball battles between wizards. There is no epic 'good versus evil' battle at the end. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is a character driven story about jealousy, ambition, and loss. The magic is almost incidental.

Ms. Clarke crafts an alternative version of England at the beginning of the 19th century - the twist being that magic has returned to England - that is so wonderfully immersive that you can nearly smell the damp earth and musty libraries.

Ms. Clarke has structured the book as a sort of post-action record compiled for posterity. This structure gives Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell it's most remarkable feature - its footnotes. These glorious footnotes explain bits and pieces of magical history to help us, the reader, understand references made by Strange, Norrel, and others. Each one is a jewel of compressed storytelling, a tiny window into the wider magical world beyond the confines of this book.

You get the feeling Ms. Clarke could write he own version of The Silmarillion, filling out a complete history of the world she's created.

Though the book starts off slowly, the writing is rich enough and the characters intriguing enough to get the reader into the meat of this book. Once there, read slowly to savor the world Ms. Clarke created. The end of the book comes much quicker than one would expect from an 800-odd page novel.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell masterfully mixes action, drama and comedy into a attention-consuming whole that left me with a wonderfully satisfied feeling.

Jeeves and the Tie that Binds

By P.G. Wodehouse

'Jeeves & The Tie That Binds' was assigned reading for a college 'Humor in Lit' class. As so often happened to me in college, I managed to get through the class without doing the assigned reading.

What a mistake!

A week ago I happened to pick 'Jeeves & The Tie That Binds' up off of my bookshelf. I rarely so much as chuckle when reading, but P.G. Wodehouse's bumbling Bertie Wooster and his arch-English Butler Jeeves had me laughing out loud.

The story is a whirling cacaphony that includes Bertie's friend Ginger Winship standing for Parliment, money troubles, the Junior Ganymede club book (and it's dangerous contents), engagements, disengagements, theft, and every other manner of absurdity. Not that the plot really matters. P.G. Wodehouse's comic genius is in his wordplay and comic timing.

If you really want to delve into Wodehouse, you would find the ever present English obsession with class but you'd also be ruining a wonderfully light hearted piece of writing through over-examination. At only 208 pages, it's the perfect book for an airplane flight or a train ride.