The perfect rainy day read... What's yours?

Mine would probably be an Austen or a Hardy... or maybe even some Tolkien. How about you?

(We've got the remnants of Barry being dumped on us as I type, but I'm already well into another book, and I don't want to set it aside!)

We've got the remnants of Barry being dumped on us as I type

I didn't even know Dave Barry died. :(

Har har.
:o)

I meant Tropical Storm Barry.
;o)

"It was natural that the conversation should turn to the subject of murder. Nothing goes so well with a hot fire and buttered crumpets as a wet day without and a good dose of comfortable horrors within. The heavier the lashing of the rain and the ghastlier the details, the better the flavour seems to be." Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers

Perhaps that is why I usually pick up one of my favorite murder mysteries on those days. Just wish I had a Bunter to toast and butter crumpets for me. :(

Ummm... What's a Bunter?

Great quote, BTW!

A bunter is someone who can't slug one out of the stadium. I don't follow sports at all, and even ~I~ know that!

In this case, Bunter is a "faithful manservant."

Oh well, yeah -- there's ~that~ too.

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie and Doyle's The Hounds of the Baskervilles-Both great stormy night reads.

Very funny, whole house. What's a ball player doing with Mrs. lee's butter-knife? Oh! It's a murder mystery! Death by butter-knife!

A lot depends on my mood, sometimes I find it hard to concentrate when its raining. But I usually keep with whatever I'm reading. If I had to choose it would probably a gothic romance/murder/spy thing

When it's raining, and awful and storming, I pull out a cliche: Sherlock Holmes. *blush*

Naw, that's a perfect choice, Peabee. All you need is some fog.

Mine would probably be Sunshine by Robin McKinley, or (if I knew where my copies were) the Griffin and Sabine trilogy and the unrelated but also wonderful Venetian's Wife by Nick Bantock

As Ms. Smith said, it depends heavily on mood. If I want some "comfort reading," I'll go back to one of my favorites, such as Ursula LeGuin, Guy Kay, or Gene Wolfe. If I'm feeling more adventurous, a rainy day is a good time to read something I remember reading and enjoying a while back, but don't remember all that well.

And if it's not thundering, there's this really cool Web site at which I've been spending way too much time...

I knew Bunter unexplained would give you all food for thought. I think I just felt lazy. Thank Morph for setting them straight, though they were on their way to a great comedy mystery. :)

We had three drops of rain today, so I called it a reading day. Two mysteries and a lot of non-fiction I'm working through.

*edited to say that I didn't finish all those books, just read in them.*

I think the perfect rainy day read is something that is short enough to be read entirely on that day. I love being able to sit and read a book straight through, and sometimes rainy days are the only ones that allow that.

Rainy days... Hmm, nearly everything really. But a detective by Ngaio Marsh would do very well. Now I forgot the title, but they dig a body up in a rainstorm. I love it when somebody else gets wet while I'm sitting inside next to the central heating ;-).

27 days until I'm once again start as a bridgekeeper and have loads and loads of time to read again (and a good chance of getting rained on ;)

#18 Bridgekeeper? Like in a tollbooth? Of more like a troll lurking under the bridge, ds_61_12?

after thinking about it, a rainy day is when I like to read magazines and clip recipes, I'll never use and tips, i'll never use, and articles to inspire me later that never do. hehe

LOL, polly. Maybe you should give that particular hobby. :o)

I don't find rainy days different reading from any other day. I'd love to have the excuse to read for an entire day, but rain doesn't seem to manage to provide that for me...

The only time I get to read all day is when I'm ill, like I am now. I have a wicked chest cold. Problem is I felt so crappy yesterday I didn't even want to read. That's how I know I was sick.

Clam, Have a hot toddy - whisky, ginger, lemon, honey and hot water. Always works for me (Even when I'm not ill ;-))

Maybe I should go out into the rain* to get ill enough to stay in bed and read all day, but not so ill that I don't want to read. You're right that's a good indicator that one really is ill.

* if we had any - it's wonderful sunshine recently, almost to hot to read in for any prolonged period

#24 - That sounds heavenly, r_f, but it will have to wait until bedtime. I have things I have to make myself get accomplished today. So it goes.

Um, was that fresh ginger root, or powdered?

Clam, it sounds disgusting but this always helps me: take a tin of coke, bring it to boil, chop a root of ginger into chunks and put it in the boiling coke

Believe me its the best thing against cold, and brings you through the day!

P.s.: Old chinese medicine recipe.. first they did it with ginger and brown sugar, but coke works even better ;)

ah, reading fox was faster with the ginger ;)

just don't forget the whiskey! That makes all the difference! Rum works too.

1> Holy crap, Clam, those are probably my top picks too: Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, and J.R.R. Tolkien are all perfect rainy-day reads. With tea. Lots of tea.

Terry Pratchett is also good because Terry Pratchett is always good.

...I would think it funny that all my favorite rainy-day authors are British, but come to think of it, I think most of my favorite authors period are British, so perhaps that isn't noteworthy.

I'd go for Appleby's End by Michael Innes - English country houses and eccentrics, lots of rain, nefarious deeds, gloriously silly plot. Perfect.

When I've finished that - because it's not very long - then anything really fat I haven't read for a while.

British authors are right for rainy days, of course, it's in our souls. That and tea.

Winnie-the-Pooh :)
perfect for reading while snuggling with a blanket and listening to rain fall.

Stephen King or Neil Gaimann or any good fantasy book

#29 - You obviously have great taste, thecynicalromantic! ;o)

I'm laughing here, because Austen and Hardy were both listed by some people as being 'tough to slog through' in that other thread. And here I am going on about how they are perfect for a rainy day.

I like anything historical set in England - it helps me picture grey, wet, rainy days. Any book I am reading at the time, however, will do!

I like the gothic and classic mystery too. My favourite is my copy of The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales which is great fun. But good ol' Sherlock is delightful on a grey, rainy day too.

And yes MrsLee, I'd love to have Bunter bring me my tea and crumpets - he's such a pet :-)

I haven't read any Dorothy L.Sayers in ages, might be time for another visit with Lord Peter soon I'm thinking.

Dickens (Charles, that is)

I like a good fantasy for a rainy day.

I'm with the Victorian novelists camp, although I prefer Austin or Trollope. Maybe a Patrick O'Brian.

These days it'd be a Bond novel, since they're short and I;m rereading them in order. I can plant myself on the couch and finish it in one sitting, so it's perfect for a rainy day.

I love a good Tolkien on rainy days/nights, especially The Fellowship of the Ring...kind of my "cozy book". On rainy days I love thick books, so lets see...a book of poems usually...also a good Redwall book...a classic, usually The Secret Garden or something British totally fits.

Moby Dick

:)

Stephen King's Dark Tower series. And since the rainy season just started here in Ethiopia, I get a lot of those rainy evenings.

Not Austin for a rainy day...well, maybe Sense and Sensibility. For me, Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers. Jeanette Winterson is also good for a rainy day.

A Pleasing Terror by M. R. James. :)

Or the Green Knowe series by L. M. Boston

-Kushana

I agree #29 Terry Pratchett is always good, but especially for rain are any ones that include Death. :-)

I'm also a sucker for curling up with a Clive Cussler (aw, shucks, I'm a sucker for a hero in a wetsuit!)

Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier

I've read this countless times, but its perfect for a rainy day and wintery day read.

I just get really stuck in to whatever my current read is....which is exactly what I'll do tonight, what with the thunder, lightning and torrential rain we're having in London today! Hurrah!

I've reread Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell a couple of times on rainy afternoons; find it tends to fit my moods those days.

Mike Mignola's Hellboy TPB's are always fun - dark, moody and quick reads

Georgette Heyer works for me.

When it rains I'd read H.P. Lovecraft or Ian Fleming or even Neil Gaiman. I am not one who thinks that rain is a downer, you might have heard that down here in Australia there's a drought, and we need all the rain we can get. Besides, I like rainy days :)