Re-reading

I've always been a big re-reader. Originally I did it for fun, for enjoyment. But I've found it invaluable as a writer. Re-reading allows me to deconstruct a text, to detect the seeds of foreshadowing, to watch how a character was built. Sometimes I don't recognize symbolism or the repetition of an image until the fourth or fifth reading. Some things fly over my head through several reads and finally land inside my brain during the umpteenth time.

The best works stand up to multiple re-re...