Health & Fitness
With Plans to Stick Indoors, Grab a Comfort Book
After you have your batteries, water, flashlights and other essentials, make sure that you have a good book to take you through the storm.
The Suffolk County Office of Emergency Management has a number of recommendations for how to prepare for a hurricane. One of the tips is to stock up on comfort food. Finally a good excuse to eat cookies!
When I am faced with a potentially stressful situation I turn to books. A comforting book (along with some of those cookies) can bring your blood pressure down and help you to breathe through a storm. Some people find comfort in religious books, others in books about meditation. I have my own personal list of comfort books that take me away, make me smile and give me a few minutes of peace.
Little Women always sends me back to my childhood. Suddenly , all you care about is whether Jo will become an author or Amy will get in trouble at school. This is a timeless book that is perfect for women of all ages and the occasional brave man. While reading Little Women, you will not even hear the wind howling about you.
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Anything by John D. MacDonald will take your mind off the storm. MacDonald’s books always have colors in the titles: A Tan and Sandy Silence, A Purple Place for Dying, The Dreadful Lemon Sky. Travis McGee is the coolest “Salvage Consultant” that ever lived in fiction. A slightly seedy, James Bond type, Travis always solves the crime and gets a girl or two along the way.
Barbara Pym was an English author of the 1950’s through the 1970’s. She wrote a number of books that took place in small English villages and London suburbs. Not much happens in these books. There are misunderstandings, country customs and endless cups of tea. There is an occasional romance, but they are so gentle that they barely happen. If you abandon yourself to the world of Excellent Women, you may not care that your patio furniture just blew toward Nassau County.
Find out what's happening in Westhampton-Hampton Bayswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Whatever your comfort book may be, I suggest you keep one or two on hand for a bad day or a hurricane. Stock up on candles, matches and flashlights, so that you can read a page or two while the wind rages. Be safe, take all necessary precautions and I will see you on the other side of the storm.
You may buy these books and other great books from The Open Book located at 1 Glovers Lane, Westhampton Beach, New York or visit us online at www.theopenbookwhb.com
