.png)
For the third day of Ring in the New Reads, we've selected a range of comforting books to see you through the cold months. These books aren't just for winter though — they are a joy to read all year round!
Reading in itself is so often a comforting thing to do, and there are so many books which could easily fit today's topic. We've opted for a variety of books which bring comfort in many different forms, from long loved classics to books which inspire hope. We've highlighted five below, and you can see our full list of 52 comforting reads via the link at the end of the post. We hope that you find the perfect read to curl up with during the quiet evenings of January, and whatever you read brings a little joy :)
*All book descriptions have been taken from the blurb as displayed on Bookshop.org pages. Book reviews by Pickering Book Tree will likely follow in the future, and will be linked to each section as available.
Book 1 of 5: And Everything Will Be Glad to See You, Compiled by Ella Risbridger and Illustrated by Anna Shepeta
A forceful, passionate and uplifting collection of poems by women and girls that is guaranteed to inspire, delight and empower.
From well-loved poets, including Maya Angelou, Wendy Cope, Lucille Clifton and Christina Rossetti, to newer voices such as Amanda Gorman, Yrsa Daley-Ward and Ada Limon, this outstanding collection from talented anthologist Ella Risbridger has poems for every mood and every moment. Ella's selection is wide-ranging but accessible and will appeal to poetry lovers both young and old alike.
With sumptuous finishes including cloth binding, full colour illustrations throughout, textured paper jacket, ribbon marker, and head and tail bands.
This is the perfect gift to begin a lifelong love of poetry.
Book 2 of 5: Saving Missy by Beth Morrey
​Seventy-nine is too late for a second chance. Isn't it?
Missy Carmichael is prickly, stubborn - and terribly lonely. Until a chance encounter in the park with two very different women opens the door to something new. Something wonderful.
Missy was used to her small, solitary existence, listening to her footsteps echoing around the empty house, the tick-tick-tick of the watching clock. After all, she had made her life her way.
Now another life is beckoning to Missy - if she's brave enough...
Book 3 of 5: We Are the ARK: Returning Our Gardens to Their True Nature Through Acts of Restorative Kindness by Mary Reynolds and Illustrated by Ruth Evans
​From the acclaimed author of Garden Awakening, We Are the ARK urgently advocates all home gardeners to bring nature back to their yards and to be an active part of positive environmental change.
The loss of biodiversity is rapidly reducing the ability of the earth to maintain clean air and water and to provide food and habitat for all her creatures - including us. We must take direct action to alleviate the unjustifiable stress on the individual plants and animals and other life forms we share our planet with. But how do we do it?
In We are the ARK, award-winning garden designer Mary Reynolds provides an answer: by restoring nature to our home gardens and public spaces through acts of restorative kindness (ARK). Reynolds details exactly how home gardeners can play a role, no matter the size of their space.
Readers will be inspired to take part in positive environmental change and equipped to do so at home.
We Are the ARK is equal parts advocacy and instruction. Reynolds cogently and passionately explains how gardening can make an impact on the environment and instructs home gardeners on how to do so on their own property.
Book 4 of 5: The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams
​A faded list. Nine favourite stories. For two strangers, friendship is only a page away . . .
When Mukesh Patel pops to the local library, forgoing his routine of grocery shopping and David Attenborough documentaries, he has no idea his life's about to change.
He meets Aleisha, a reluctant librarian and the keeper of a curious reading list - just a scrappy piece of paper with the names of 9 stories. It doesn't seem anything special. Yet something tells her to keep it close . . .
Story by story, Mukesh and Aleisha work their way through the list - their worries slipping away with every encounter, with every world discovered in their unlikely book club of two.
A fresh chance at life, at friendship, wasn't on the cards for these lonely souls - but every story starts somewhere . . .
Book 5 of 5: A Street Cat Named Bob: How one man and his cat found hope on the streets by James Bowen
​The uplifting true story of an unlikely friendship between a man on the streets of Covent Garden and the ginger cat who adopts him and helps him heal his life.
When James Bowen found an injured, ginger street cat curled up in the hallway of his sheltered accommodation, he had no idea just how much his life was about to change. James was living hand to mouth on the streets of London and the last thing he needed was a pet.
Yet James couldn't resist helping the strikingly intelligent tom cat, whom he quickly christened Bob. He slowly nursed Bob back to health and then sent the cat on his way, imagining he would never see him again. But Bob had other ideas.
Soon the two were inseparable and their diverse, comic and occasionally dangerous adventures would transform both their lives, slowly healing the scars of each other's troubled pasts.
The Full List
You can find the full list of 52 comforting, hopeful and inspiring reads on the Bookshop.org shelf below.
We hope you find comfort and joy if you curl up with any of these suggested reads.
Coming up tomorrow: New Books for the New Year.