The Comfort of Repetition

     There are certain films we never tire of watching. There are certain books that we read again and again. There are certain pieces of music that never grow old to our ears, especially if we listen to different artists perform them. The sheer repetition of enjoying these things serves as a kind of comforting anchor in what can often be a hectic, confusing, and stressful life. Each of these films, books, and musical compositions can bring us back to a happier moment, renewing old sensory reactions as well as producing new ones. Sometimes listening to a certain song from my adolescence can actually evoke the scent of that period of my life; the very air around me feels different, and I see things through a hazy, sepia scrim. Listening to a certain piece of music stirs feelings in me that are impossible to articulate and impossible to duplicate by any other means. In watching a film for the nth time, I take note of something in the scenery or cinematography, or perhaps catch a hitherto unnoticed nuance in an actor's facial expression or the delivery of a line. If it's a particularly fine piece of work, I'll always discover something new with each viewing.
     Here are SOME of the things that have carved a permanent place of honor in my life, things I will never tire of watching, reading, or listening to.

FILMS
     The Philadelphia Story
     All About Eve
     Brief Encounter (1945)
     Enchanted April (1992)
     Little Women (1994)
     84, Charing Cross Road
     Persuasion (1995)
     Sense and Sensibility (1995)
     Shadowlands (1993)

MINI-SERIES / TV FILMS
     Pride and Prejudice (1995)
     Anne of Green Gables (1985) / Anne of Avonlea (1987)
     Emma (1996)
     The Forsyte Saga (1967)
     The House of Elliott

BOOKS
     Little Women
     The Secret Garden
     Persuasion
     Pride and Prejudice
     Jane Eyre
     Sue Barton, Student Nurse

TV SERIES
     The Mary Tyler Moore Show
     Frasier

OPERAS
     Le Nozze di Figaro
     Don Giovanni
     Dido and Aeneas
     Ariodante
     La Boheme

OTHER VOCAL WORKS
     Messiah
     The Fairy Queen

PIANO WORKS
     Mozart Concerti
     Mozart Sonatas
     Anything by Bach
     Anything by Chopin

ORCHESTRAL / INSTRUMENTAL
     Anything by Corelli, Handel, or Bach

NON-CLASSICAL ALBUMS
     Sgt. Pepper
     Rubber Soul
     Ladies of the Canyon (Joni Mitchell)
     Wildflowers (Judy Collins)
     Recollections (Judy Collins)
     Oggetti Smarriti (Enrico Ruggeri)
     Teaser & the Firecat (Cat Stevens)