Reading Roundup #60: Familiar Fantasies

It was another quiet reading week, revisiting old favorites and checking out a couple that were on my reading list for years. There’s something very comforting about genre books, whether they are romance novels or children’s stories — the familiarity, the simplicity of the story, is something you can trust. You know what you’re reading for and you can reasonably expect to get it.

The Viscount Who Loved Me (Bridgertons #2) by Julia Quinn: Like many, I’d been looking forward to season 2 of Bridgerton and had fun bingeing it over the weekend. And despite changes to the plot, it was a good time! But it also really made me want to reread the book, as Kate and Anthony are one of my favorite Bridgerton couples. I picked up this gorgeous edition (available only at Target — lucky I was already planning a run!) and had a wonderful time revisiting the story and my favorite scenes (I can never get enough of Pall Mall).

The Chronicles of Narnia #5-7 by C.S. Lewis: And this concludes my journey through Narnia! I actually hadn’t read The Magician’s Nephew or The Last Battle before, having gotten stuck during the former when I was reading as a child. But I enjoyed them this time (even if The Last Battle made me rage-message some friends in the middle of the night, ha), and I especially enjoyed hearing the audiobooks narrated by the likes of Kenneth Branagh and Patrick Stewart (my little Trekkie heart nearly burst). And I was so glad to find that The Horse and His Boy held up, as that was always my favorite — and remains so.

What are some favorites you find yourself rereading when you need something simple and comforting? Are there particular books or genres as a whole that you reach for?

—b