I'm wondering whether there is a class of books you could call 'fireside reading'? I mean, imagine you are in a warm room with the glow of the fire and the play of the flames, lamps to give soft pools of light, all is cosy and comfortable - would there be certain books you would reach for as just fitting that mood?
The room's hospitality might make the perfect atmosphere in which to read ghost stories - you'd have the right buffer for the chills given off by the pages! If that appeals, I'd recommend Susan Hill's books, The Woman in Black and The Mist in the Mirror. I have a collection of Edith Wharton's ghost stories waiting on my tbr pile, but I shall choose my evenings carefully for The Demanding Dead, and not open it when I'm on my own.
I asked Mr. C. what he would have to hand to read by the fire, and without hesitation he named Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories "because they are so familiar". Any other suggestions of good fireside reading would be gratefully received and duly noted.
