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?