Comfort Reading or What I did this summer

With all the books in the world is it a sin to reread an old favorite?

Answer: NO.

It’s been a while and it’s not that I haven’t been reading, I just haven’t been reviewing. Maybe it’s the fall or maybe it’s the crop of books I can’t wait to get lost in, but I’m feeling refreshed and ready to get back into sharing. First, though, how about look back?

I think of rereading as comfort reading – reconnecting with old friends and familiar situations. I rarely remember everything in a book anyway and it’s interesting to note what I recall and what I forgot. Since I’ve embraced audiobooks in the last couple of years, I listened to most of these vs. reading the physical book. In some ways it made the experience that much different – a good narrator can take the story places that your mind and inner reading voice might not.

It started with Stephen King. I saw that his new Fall release is called Holly and features Holly Gibney, his offbeat heroine. That made me want to revisit the books she’s in: the Mr. Mercedes / Bill Hodges trilogy and The Outsider. Holly also makes an appearance in one of his short stories called If It Bleeds. Here’s what I said about it in this review: https://bookthrasher.com/2020/12/03/the-story-king/

If It Bleeds brings back Holly Gibney, about as quirky and likeable a character as King ever created. She first showed up in the three Mr. Mercedes / Bill Hodges novels (also an Amazon series). Then she came back in The Outsider (also an HBO show). And now she’s the star of this short story. The title refers to the old journalism saying If it bleeds it leads – as in, if the story is bloody and tragic it takes the top spot on the newspaper or newscast. Holly’s on the hunt for a monster who feeds on fear and panic and the story unfolds perfectly.

From there I listened to one more by SK: Finders Keepers, a reread that I completely enjoyed as if it was the first time. It’s one of his stories about books and writers and their obsessions and it’ll get your heart rate up.

I fell back into Harry Bosch’s orbit after finally watching the Amazon series called Bosch and the spinoff Bosch Legacy. The shows are so. freaking. good. I read most of Michael Connelly’s Bosch series but stopped when Renee Ballard was introduced, I just didn’t like her character at all. But this summer I had much better results. I caught up with four more in the series: Desert Star, The Dark Hours, The Late Show, and Dark Sacred Night. Bonus: Titus Welliver, the actor who plays Bosch, narrates these books and naturally he’s fantastic at it. Try these if you want tight, righteous stories featuring hard-nosed, hard-ass LA detectives.

I warmed up to Ballard this time around and realized something about the character and about myself. Ballard is a lot like Bosch: riding the edge of the law, quick to anger, and inclined to hold a grudge. I noticed that while I was ok with these characteristics in Bosch, I held them against Ballard. Sexist? Perhaps. At least I recognized it! Now that I know more of her backstory I understand her attitude.

Barry Eisler is another author I revisited although the books I read were happily new to me. His John Rain books are among my favorites of all time. I’m just gonna say it: John Rain > John Wick. It’s a matter of finesse. Rain is a half-Japanese half-American killer who is good at making it look natural. He’s a tormented stone-cold mechanic who has trouble fitting in and figuring out where he belongs. Throughout the series he connects with a few fellow spies, killers and contractors and establishes a family of sorts. One of them is a badass woman named Livia Lone.

I read All the Devils first which features Livia, and then went back to the first book that details her sad story, Livia Lone. Let’s just say there’s a reason she’s intensely focused on stopping child traffickers. Eisler’s books are action-packed and always filled with little tidbits of spy craft and personal safety measures – things you might tuck away and use one day IRL. His fight scenes are so perfectly described that you can see it all happening in your mind’s eye. I’m glad I remembered to check on what Eisler’s been up to.

Have you seen Will Trent on ABC? The writer’s strike put everything on hold, but the first season is in the books, and it is so well done. Of course, it’s not exactly like the novels but that’s ok. Karin Slaughter can write circles around most other crime and suspense authors. Because of the show I went back and reread her first book featuring Trent, Triptych (published in 2006, it holds up). Then I reread Cop Town, her standalone and Edgar-award nominated novel. I recommend Cop Town all the time; it’s intense and violent and a testament to women living in a man’s world. Listening to it this time was a revelation, supremely entertaining on many levels.

Speaking of authors writing circles around others, I went back to Tana French’s first novel, In the Woods. Listening to it was sublime, pure poetry and lush storytelling. This is a GREAT book and a gripping mystery and you should try it. There’s a show based on these Irish detectives, called Dublin Murders, but I haven’t watched it yet.

Finally, I reread Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies but via the audiobook this time. The show (SO GOOD) is set in California, but the book is set in Australia. The narrator has the perfect accent and delivery for each of the women in the novel. It’s an elevated beach read, where serious matters like domestic violence are dealt with honestly but there’s also a lot of laughs and stinging social commentary.

What do you think? Are you a fan of rereading or are you a one-and-done? Have you listened to an old favorite vs. reading the pages again and do you agree that it puts a new spin on it? Variety may be the spice of life, but familiarity tastes good, too. The important thing is to keep filling up on books.