Top Five Friday: Readers in the Storm

A good book on your shelf is a friend that turns its back on you and remains a friend. 
~ Author Unknown

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 ednesday’s post made me think of my favorite books to read while the wind is howling and the rain is pounding and the thunder is snarling and the lightening is stabbing.

I love storms, can’t you tell?

Well, at least ones that don’t uproot trees and kill people.  I like excitement with a hint of danger, not a full blown massacre!  So here are the books that show up on my bedside table on a dark and stormy night.

Endless Night – Agatha Christie

A man, a house, the woman he loves, and a curse. I just read this one during this last storm.  What a gifted writer!  And the ending!  Well, I won’t give it away ~ I hate spoilers. If you like mysteries, you’ll love this one.

And of course, anything that Dame Christie wrote.  A remarkable storyteller.

The Complete Sherlock Holmes – A. C. Doyle

Really, is there any greater detective than Mr. Holmes?  No matter how many times I’ve read them, the stories are always fresh, the mystery always thrilling.

Eight Cousins – Louisa M. Alcott

None of Alcott’s stories ever grow old.  And talk about reading about life off the grid!  It certainly had its moments of romance!  And what can I say, I still harbor a liking for granny boots. 

The one book many don’t know about ~ for what reason I don’t know ~ is A Rose in Bloom which is the sequel to Eight Cousins.  Ahh, the romance of bygone era.

Anything by Emilie Loring

No, that’s not the name of the book.  I mean, literally any book that Emilie Loring has written.  They’re light, very old-fashioned romances, written mostly in the 1930s and 1940s.  Her heroes patriotic, manly, and usually from New England.  Her heroines are patriotic, loyal, and usually from New England.

I’m noticing a pattern here.  Well, they do say write what you know.  So I’m going to say that Loring was a New Englander.  With a fondness for light and fluffy rolls.  Her characters are always eating them!

Anything by Jane Austen

Confess.  This last doesn’t surprise you, does it?  Ovation was just replaying the A&E version of P&P.  Even though I own it, plus the soundtrack, plus the sheet music, I watched it anyway.  And like Alcott’s writing, I never tire of reading her.

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

What do books do you read by candlelight on a stormy night?  Take one off your shelf and share it with us!