Stuff for the Teen Age
Comfort Reading, Watching, Listening, & Eating
When we need a morale boost, we often turn to things that comfort us. But comfort means different things to different people. Sometimes we’re comforted by familiar things that remind us of home, or of childhood. We can be comforted by funny books, or scary movies, or podcasts that immerse us in other people’s stories and make us forget about our own lives for a while. We can be comforted by food that we share with others, either in person or virtually.
Over the last several weeks that I’ve been isolating at home and worrying about the future, I’ve found myself looking for things that will cheer me up. I’ve been reading YA novels and graphic novels that pull my mind into their plots and distract me from the news. I’ve been watching way too many Perry Mason episodes, because when I’m watching them, I relax into the familiar patterns of the black-and-white stories.
I listen to comedy podcasts at night, listening to my favorite episodes over and over again until the words lull me to sleep. When I’m not ordering food to be delivered from my local restaurants, I’m cooking things like brisket, chicken noodle casserole, and the chili that my mother used to make when we were kids. All of these things give me comfort in different ways.
Here are some suggestions for comfort reading, watching, listening, and eating, from the New York Public Library and beyond. Explore these links if you want to boost your morale, give yourself a change of perspective, or just get out of your own head for a while.
Then tell us in the comments: What does comfort mean to you? And what are your comfort reading, watching, listening, and eating recommendations?
Reading
- Uplifting Comfort Reads For Days When You Just Can’t
- Comfort Reads For Anglophiles
- What Would Your Pet Read?
- Popular Books You Keep Meaning to Read (All Available as E-Books, Too)
- You’re Not Alone: Mental Health Reads
- Explore Your NYC Neighborhood … Virtually
- Selections From Our 125 Books We Love List That You Can Access From Home
- New York Public Library’s Top 10 Best Kept Online Secrets
- Get Spirited Away by Books About Magic & Magicians
- Escape Reality and Earth With These E-Reads
- End of the World As We Know It: Apocalyptic, Post-Apocalyptic, and Dystopian Worlds
- 19 Books to Read When You Have a Lot of Alone Time
- Bringing Hogwarts to You: Harry Potter at Home
Watching
- JustWatch Streaming Search Engine (Movies & TV Shows)
- What’s Your TV Comfort Food While You’re Stuck Inside?
- What to Watch While Stuck at Home -- and How to Stream It
- 20 Sci-Fi Movies and TV Shows to Binge Watch on Netflix Right Now
- Kids Stuff That Doesn’t Suck: Family-Friendly Movies to Stream During Quarantine
- Watch: This DIY “Back to the Future’ Sequel Made in Quarantine by 300 People Across Nine Countries
- Check out the Tiger King documentary series on Netflix, and then follow up with our blog posts:
- I Watched the ‘Tiger King’ Documentary Series In One Day. Then I Needed to Learn More.
- Captivated by ‘Tiger King’? These Outlandish True Tales Are For You
Listening
- The Librarian Is In Podcast [and make sure you check out Ep. 142: Comfort Reads!]
- Audio Books to Try While You Work From Home
- Feast Your Ears on Audiobooks, Audio Magazines, Concerts, Classic Radio, and More to Keep You Busy If You Don’t Read Standard Print
- 10 Best Bookish Podcasts for Distancing Yourself From the News
- These Are the Best Podcasts Teens Will Actually Want to Listen To
- Take Your Mind Off COVID-19 with Relic Radio Vintage Radio Podcasts
- Books Written by Beloved Podcast Hosts
- Children's Story Podcasts
- The "Short Bursts of Joy to Change Your Mood" episode of Pop Culture Happy Hour
- Missing Sounds of New York
Eating
- “Comfort Food” E-Books
- Booklist: Cooking From Pantry Staples
- 101 Best Comfort Food Classics
- 86 Comfort Foods for Cold Nights, Broken Hearts, and Wednesdays
- The 98 Most Delish Healthy Comfort Foods
Images CC0 Public Domain from PXHere
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