Reading Friends

I am fortunate to have several friends who are as passionate about books as I am. We discuss books, pass books on to each other, exchange book recommendations, give each other books for birthdays and holidays, and go to bookstores together. But most especially: we talk, talk, talk about books. The best, longest running, most continuous book conversation I have had is with C., a close friend whom I have known and discussed books with for 39 years. Although we haven't lived in the same city or even on the same coast since grad school, we manage to talk about books by phone, mail, e-mail, and in person often. Our tastes in books are not exactly the same, but overlap substantially. We understand the kinds of books each other likes. We send each other books. When we ARE in the same place, one of the things we often do is go to bookstores, browse, and point out recently-read books to each other, giving thumbnail summaries and reviews as we go. When I saw her last month in her city, that is exactly what we did, and we enjoyed it thoroughly. I value C.'s recommendations highly, I treasure our years of conversations about books, and I love the way that books form one of the major bonds between us.