My Friend the Book

I am a reader. I love a good book. Whether fiction or non-fiction, a good book stimulates, satisfies and opens my mind to worlds I'm not familiar with.

Recently I found the following post on books as I perused another's blog site. This quote began Mary's post: "A book reads the better which is our own, and has been so long known to us, that we know the topography of its blots, and dog's ears and can trace the dirt in it to having read it at tea with buttered muffins>" Charles Lam, Last Essays ofElia, 1833.

Mary Carroll, at www.dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com begins her thoughts:
"Do you have a favorite book, battered and dog-eared, that you read again and again, for the sheer joy of it? You know the sort I mean--the one where you slip gently into the story as if visiting with old friends. Just the act of opening such a book can sweep us away to another world. There is a line from one of my favorite movies--You've Got Mail--where the main character wonders whether her quiet life has been a timid one: 'So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around?'

"As someone who has also led a 'quiet life,' I'm not sure if I'm the right person to answer that question. I quite like my quiet life. But I am an enthusiastic visitor to other places and times through my favorite books. And it seems to me that a really good book can lead us to discover our own inner landscapes as well."

What is your favorite book? Are there many that capture your attention and draw you to them at different times? I like Mary's words, " . . . slip gently into the story as if visiting with old friends." And it indeed feels like that. It is surprising how much you miss in the first reading,and find in the second or third reading.

what are you reading?