We read to know we are not alone.
It’s December. Every December I re-read a book. This is a big deal for me because my life consists of reading things for other people, and as a result I very rarely get to read things for myself. And there are books that I just want to revisit sometimes, like old friends. Many times they contain lessons I need to remember, or just represent a comforting place to rest for a while.
This year I’m re-reading The Time Traveller’s Wife- arguably my favourite romantic story ever. This is a very telling statement about my opinion of romance. For me, love is just as it’s portrayed from Claire’s point of view in the book: longing, waiting, patient, and ultimately sort of futile. Never something one can quite rely on or feel safe with. A bit tragic, but worth it anyway, just to have experienced it, for the moments that one did get to have. I love this book because it is a poignant, visceral description of my own experience of love, and it makes me feel less alone in that.
If you could re-read any book this December, what would you read and why?