Old Friends

Comfortable books.  Old friends.  The tried and true.  Favorite reads.  Those authors that you keep track of in anticipation of their next volume.  Sometimes we get on a reading treadmill and it feels like we can't keep up nor are we able to get off.  Those of us who earn our keep staying current on the latest popular authors, genres, and other book trends are in a never ending reading race.  However, it would be foolish of us to forget about old friends whose meaning and message have not faded with time.
I don't know how many times I've read Pride and Prejudice (or some variation of it).  I am not ashamed to say that I have read several Jane Austen books multiple times.  My favorite fantasy books are still J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy followed closely by C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia.  According to a close friend, Ender's Game is above and beyond the best science fiction book ever written which is why he tends to read it again at least once a year. 
Gone with the Wind, The Red Badge of Courage, and The Killer Angels are books I revisit for a taste of the Civil War.  One of my all-time favorite historical books is The Autobiography of Henry the VIII written by Margaret George.  This book is written from the point of view of the court jester who has an interesting take on the various intrigues of Henry the VIII's court.  On a visit to my parents when I ran out of my own books to read (gasp!) and was tired of re-reading Agatha Christie, I was introduced to Caleb Carr's The Alienist.  
Come to think of it, most of my "comfort books" came to me through my mom.  I introduced her to The Help and she gave me Bernard Cornwell.  She leaves books like David McCullough's 1776 and Hampton Side's Ghost Soldiers at my house and I recommend Stephen Ambrose and Sarah Vowell to her.  Last time she visited, I sent a battered copy of Sarah's Key home with her for her plane ride as the fictional companion to Caroline Moorehead's A Train in Winter which she read at my house for two days straight.
Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that being in the business of books is not about how fast you can read or if you can remember the hottest new author.  Reading for pleasure and connecting with other readers is about finding the story that means something to you personally.  It may be that the book you need at the moment is NOT the latest and greatest but an old friend who will take you on a journey through the back roads of your memory to a familiar place you've visited before.  Like grandma's house, the smell of fresh chocolate chip cookies, a favorite sweater, your comfortable jeans, a hug when you need it most, a "comfort read" is the old friend that you can still relate to and want to share with others.