It's Comfortable

Everyone has that book that they read over and over and over again.  It's your comfort book; the book you go to because it's an old friend and sometimes, you just need something familiar.  Today, Alex and I are going to tell you about our favorites.  Our favorite book that makes us feel warm and fuzzy.  I won't go so far as to say it's our favorite book (because, I don't know about Alex, but I have a hard time picking just one) but it's a book that we come back to often.  

While Peeps is a book I do continually revisit, I figure I probably shouldn't pick that one since we're reviewing it this week.  Instead, I'm going to throwback to a classic: Pride & Prejudice.

It's interesting, because the first time I read this, I actually wasn't a big fan.  I was in high school, when you're forced to read a lot of things that you're probably not really ready to read.  I got lost in the language and it was just a little rough.  However, I took another shot at it in college, in between my senior year.

Really, Austen knows how to weave a love story.  It's exciting and romantic and the language is poetry and I love nothing more than curling up under a blanket and reading about Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.

If you ever get the chance, I really recommend picking this up.  It's a wonderful read.

There is one book I used to tell people I read at least once a year. Now, it's more like I read parts of it all throughout the year. It's called The Martian Chronicles and it's by Ray Bradbury.

It's a collection of short stories, in chronological order, about man and Mars. The stories are beautiful and amazing and creative, some sad, some happy.

The reason I got this book in the first place is the penultimate* story in the book. It's called "There Will Come Soft Rains" and it has been republished in high school English textbooks for ages, because it is packed with fantastic examples of imagery. It's a story-slash-description of a high-tech house that has outlasted mankind, and continues to do its prescribed jobs without anyone to do them for. I loved the story when I read it in school, and I unfortunately didn't think about tracking down its original source until after the school year when I read it. It took a while, but I finally found it somehow, and I was completely taken with the entire book.

That's probably the story I re-read the most often (to the point that I have large sections of it memorized word-for-word) but I also really love one that I believe is called "Earth Men." It's about the third expedition of Earthlings to come to Mars (the first two having met mysterious demises, as far as these men know) and they are met with something less than enthusiasm from the native Martians. I can't possibly give away the big twist, but it's amazing and you should read it.

My copy is nearly ten years old, and it's holding up pretty well for a well-loved paperback. It's in my car, so that whenever I want to read a story or just kill a few minutes, I can pick it up and start from anywhere. Despite the depressing nature of most of the stories, this is my warm-and-fuzzy book, and I love it.