Sometimes for me, rereading old books is like visiting familiar places on vacation. Sometimes, when you’re there, it sparks a memory or reignites a long-buried memory you’d forgotten. For me, the Mitford series by Jan Karon does that.

I’m re-listening to the audio books, narrated by John McDonough and featuring some of the most unique, idiosyncratic characters ever put to the page. Each time I read about Father Tim or Rose or Sadie, I feel like these are more than people I’m reading about. I feel I’ve known these people and could almost recognize them if I ran across them in the street.

Mitford is a lot like Mayberry in a lot of ways. There’s the small town charm on every page. There’s no violence or gratuitous sex or profane language. In a lot of ways, it feels like an escape from an increasingly explicit reality yet it also seems more real because the characters and the settings seem so real.

I almost wish Mitford were a real place I could drive to and visit for a weekend. I could walk around and visit the local haunts and talk to the people. The problem is that I probably wouldn’t ever want to come home. But I can always go back to the books. That for me is a very good thing.