A rich inner life

I am not as well read as my sisters (especially Caroline) because I like rereading books too much. I was still reading my favorite children's books (not picture books, but books you'd give to a third-grader, like Trumpet of the Swan) well into middle school, and my sisters would occasionally sit me down and force-feed me new books. In this way, I read A Wrinkle In Time and Catcher In The Rye.

Here's why I like rereading books so much. (We're about to get a little self-pitying here, folks.) When I was little, people teased me a lot and I didn't have many good friends, so, as the cliche goes, books became my friends, and I read the same ones according to my mood. I've never really outgrown this practice, although now my repertoire of books is somewhat more mature. (But only somewhat.) I'd like to share with you, dear readers, my list of books and the moods to which they correspond. There will not be a test.

When I need to live vicariously through someone: The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

When I'm missing Emily: A Big Storm Knocked It Over, Laurie Colwin

When I'm missing Caroline: Franny and Zooey, J. D. Salinger

When I'm missing both of my sisters: I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith

When my faith in humanity needs restoring: Happy All The Time, Laurie Colwin

When I'm feeling pretentious: Le Petit Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery (yes, in French)

When I'm not appreciating my sinless existence: Portrait of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde

When a romantic entanglement goes south: The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams

When it feels like entropy is closing in: Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons

There are a lot more, of course, but those are the greatest hits.