Thursday, February 10, 2011

Old Books Are Like Old Friends

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” - C.S. Lewis


“No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally - and often far more - worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.” C.S. Lewis


“A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.” - C.S. Lewis


“I can’t imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once.” - C.S. Lewis



Well, I’m not fifty and beyond, but I am reading Anne of Green Gables yet again for I’ve lost count what time this will be. It’s one of my all-time favorite books and one of the reasons I can really relate to Mr. Lewis’s sentiments that I’ve shared up there. Those sentiments of his are probably why he wrote his Narnia books so well and why they are a series I have also lost count of how many times I have read as well.


For all the good books out there I have yet to read, there is something comforting and familiar about picking up a cherished old favorite once in a while, kind of like reuniting with a long, lost old friend. And I love the gentle and whimsical world of Anne’s and how I can almost see how achingly beautiful the world looks through her eyes. I love the story of how Marilla and Matthew take in the poor little orphan girl who had never been loved and immediately fall in love with her and give her a home and how she just blossoms there and finds so many ‘kindred spirit’ friends whose lives she touches. And Gilbert Blythe....watching their friendship grow is wonderful too. I can’t wait until my little girl is old enough to read this book together and I can share it with her. But for now, I’m going to curl up and enjoy it another time this winter.


“Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It’s splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.” - Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery


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