So that's my dream. That and some stuff about cigars and a tunnel.

Faith ,'Get It Done'


Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.

There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."


Dana - Dec 04, 2020 5:17:37 pm PST #26299 of 27939
"I'm useless alone." // "We're all useless alone. It's a good thing you're not alone."

Robin McKinley.


Sophia Brooks - Dec 05, 2020 12:00:22 am PST #26300 of 27939
Cats to become a rabbit should gather immediately now here

I second the cozy mysteries and early Alice Hoffman. I agree that her language seems magical. My favorite childhood reread is The Old Fashioned Girl, but I also find The Boxcar Chilren and The Five Little Peppers very soothing. Although thinking about it as an adult the Boxcar Children and The Five Little Peppers has terrible trauma in their lives and the older children had too many adult responsibilities! And the gender roles are very heteronormative. But sometimes I just want to live in a Boxcar and make it pretty with a cracked cup I found in the dump, and eat baked potatoes cooked in a fire with not enough utensils!


meara - Dec 05, 2020 9:16:59 am PST #26301 of 27939

Aww, yes I loved the boxcar children as a kid. Any story about kids managing to fend for themselves—my side of the mountain was another fave.


DavidS - Dec 05, 2020 9:41:00 am PST #26302 of 27939
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

Any story about kids managing to fend for themselves—my side of the mountain was another fave.

I love that genre too. From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler was one I read and re-read.


megan walker - Dec 05, 2020 6:17:38 pm PST #26303 of 27939
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist

From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler was one I read and re-read.

One of my faves. I think that is why I love the film Easy Living so much. There's an automat!


meara - Dec 05, 2020 7:31:35 pm PST #26304 of 27939

Oh yes, Mixed Up Files was definitely a favorite!!!


Sophia Brooks - Dec 06, 2020 7:15:04 am PST #26305 of 27939
Cats to become a rabbit should gather immediately now here

I somehow did not get to mixed up files until I was an adult. I think maybe I didn’t care for the cover? I also started reading from the adult section at a fairly young age, although it was a lot of mysteries and non-fiction (I was obsessed with a book that examined whether Napoleon died of arsenic poisoning and also Lucy about the discovery of Australopithecus). mostly until I was older. I also once had an idea that I would start with “A” authors and just read all the books. I am pretty sure I fizzled out a Louis Auchincloss, which is why I didn’t read Austen until I was an adult.


Volans - Dec 06, 2020 9:41:53 am PST #26306 of 27939
move out and draw fire

Any story about kids managing to fend for themselves

Yes this!

I second Dana's rec for Robin McKinley. Very calm soothing.

My comfort reading is The Name of the Rose (it just is, I don't know why), any Lloyd Alexander, any Rosemary Sutcliffe.


-t - Dec 06, 2020 10:41:30 am PST #26307 of 27939
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration

Taking note of the Robin McKinley recs! I have somehow never read her


-t - Dec 06, 2020 12:06:30 pm PST #26308 of 27939
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration

I recently slipped sideways from my historical murder mysteries to historical romances by the same author and they are pretty good but the conflict is always about how society is keeping these lovers apart and also generally sucks in various systemic ways and that is not soothing at all, even with a specific resolution for this particular couple