/lit/ - Literature

What are some reads that are certified comfy? Doesn't have to be high brow: not too hard to read, easily could sit with for hours. Maybe the character goes on a quest or journey. Memorable side characters

The day started off without a hitch and all he could do was fawn at blue skies, lazy and dull, the hazy white mixing with the sinking blue – Eric was lost in it.
“You ever think we’re alone?” said the voice long ago. Eric remembered it like it was the pale blue of yesterday. “Like,” said the voice, “out of all the galaxies and intricacies and stars out there - could we possibly be only one in the universe?”
The summer tinge of red in her hair set a flame in his heart, a long charcoal snapped in the fireplace as he reminiscent of the scent of cinnamon in the folds of those superficial extensions.
How long ago was it since he had sex?
Not long enough, apparently.
There was lousy rain outside. The grey hue of the sky had forgotten it was summer break, and Eric sat by the sofa chugging his days with tomato soup, entranced by the dancing of the flames in hopes they will kindle the warmth again.
Summer was going to be short indeed, but where else could he go but here?
Little Savannah was a small off-the-coast place in rural America, like some kind of ghost town in a horror movie you’d be hard pressed to find any of it’s services on the yellow pages, much less pin it down on Goggle Maps. It’s partly known for the Cape Cod and for some the local cola factory, but not much else, you’d be more intrigued to find one of Elvis’ first nose hairs the next town over than something like this dust bin, and dust bin was indeed the correct word: it collected dust, a town falling apart because all the mechanics left for the city, and the few that did stay were either too old to leave their pensions, couldn’t bother, or both. What little attention was left for this rickety old town was from the kids at Baskerville the next state over when they ran out of jobs for the summer break, and even for them coming here was a last resort.
Summer fever was always an excuse to leave a town of winters blue. When it wasn’t cold it was cloudy, and when it wasn’t cloudy it was damp, and when it wasn’t damp it was cold. A never ending cycle of blues - one would think this town was the birthing place of jazz or American slavery, funny being this was once a famous battle ground from the great civil war, namely, a confrontation between two confederate forces that couldn’t decide wether they wanted to free their slaves – because they were too inferior to fight, or to keep them – because they’d be too outnumbered to fight against the much larger union forces.
Sometimes Eric thought the same – not the slavery part, of course – but in the letting go part. Some part of him just wanted to leave this inferior town behind, but another part of him knew that he couldn’t really make it out in the big, wide world without anything else except this dump.
Perhaps some chains are worth keeping.