What I Like to Read, Part 2
“Heartwarming”. Hmm…surely there’s a better catch-all term for these books. Country fiction? No. Family fiction? No. Small-town fiction? A bit closer but not quite. Christian fiction? Some authors and titles fit but others don’t. Southern fiction? Again, some titles fit while others don’t. Women’s fiction? Sort of, but there is a lot of so-called women’s fiction that I’m not especially fond of and I also don’t want to put a gender box around it. Americana? Nope, some of my favorites are British. Old-fashioned? Yes, in many ways. Anyway, you can see I have a problem. I’m a book professional; I’m supposed to be able to describe this stuff accurately.
What sort of books am I talking about? Well, there’s Jan Karon and her Mitford series, sadly no longer active. Then there’s the 
Miss Julia series by Ann B. Ross, about a senior citizen in North Carolina with a very active life. The Cape Light series created by artist Thomas Kinkade and written by Katherine Spencer revolves around a small town in coastal New England while the Dearest Dorothy books by Charlene Baumbich feature an elderly citizen of a small town in Illinois.
James Herriot (a pen name) wrote the most wonderful stories of his life as a veterinarian in Yorkshire, England, but
not enough of them before he died in 1995. Back in New England, the economically stressed citizens of Dorsetville are bound together by St. Cecilia’s Catholic Church in Katherine Valentine’s books and a Quaker Meeting is the center of Philip Gulley’s series set in a town called Harmony, Indiana. The Pacific Northwest is the setting for the quaint little town of Lumby in Gail Fraser’s ongoing tales.
Patrick Taylor writes the charming Irish Country books about a young doctor who starts his career in Ballybucklebo, a town in Northern Ireland—who can resist tales set in a village with a name like that? The Elm Creek Quilts novels by Jennifer Chiaverini revolve around a group of women in a modern version of a quilting bee and, while the action sometimes takes place elsewhere, a Pennsylvania college town is “home”. Staggerford, Minnesota, is the fictional setting for Jon Hassler’s series—I haven’t read them yet but the first is sitting on my TBR pile just waiting for the right moment.
Mossy Creek
Mossy Creek is probably my favorite place to visit in my reading travels. Published by BelleBooks, these books are collaborations by a group of southern writers who take turns chapter by chapter and I have come to recognize the style of each and always look forward to the next adventures in this fictional Georgia town. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’d like to live in Mossy Creek.
Please excuse me—Critters of Mossy Creek is calling my name.
January 20, 2010
Posted in: Tales of a Bookseller
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One Response
How about comfort fiction? It’s a catch-all term that can encompass multiple genres, depending on your tastes and what makes you feel “comfortable,” just like one person thinks of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich as their comfort food, while another prefers instant mashed potatoes.
It’s been several years, but I’ve read a few of Hassler’s books and remember enjoying them. If you haven’t read any by him, you might like Kent Haruf’s books as well.
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