If a book read when young is a lover, that same book, reread later on, is a friend. […] This may sound like a demotion, but after all, it is old friends, not lovers, to whom you are most likely to turn when you need comfort. Fatigue, grief, and illness call for familiarity, not innovation.

Anne Fadiman (b. 1953) American essayist, journalist, literary critic, teacher

Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love, Foreword (2005)