The Joys of Re-Reading
I once dated a guy who read voraciously, but only nonfiction. He claimed to have read only five novels in his lifetime, but he had complete and total recall of every character and plot point in all five.
Henry delighted in giving me a hard time. “This crook reminds me of Jerry Cruncher.”
“Who?”
“The grave-robber in Tale of Two Cities. You call yourself an English major? I thought you loved Dickens!”
Henry could never understand why someone who claimed to adore literature as I did couldn’t retain all the particulars of a favorite novel. I explained that since I’d read thousands of novels, the details—even of my favorites—tended to become a little blurry over time.
That’s why God—or readers—invented re-reading. When you re-read a favorite book, you don’t have to waste time wondering it you’re going to like it or not. You can focus all your energies on discovering why you enjoyed it so much to begin with.
Right now I’m re-reading Beautiful Ruins. I first read it last October and loved it, so I was excited when my book group selected it for our August read. Now I would have the pleasure of sharing and discussing this great book with my friends. However, the book has a large cast of characters and many interwoven plot lines and I knew I wouldn’t be able to fully participate in the discussion if I didn’t reread the book to refresh my memory. I’m happy to report that I enjoyed Beautiful Ruins even more the second time around. Since I already understood the plot, I was free to focus on the great writing and the many thought-provoking themes about dreams and ambition and the quirks of chance that change our lives.
Last year, I reread Jane Eyre, a book I’d loved as a twelve-year-old. As a kid, I identified with the plain little bookworm who went to a school even worse than mine, defeated bullies even meaner than the kids who picked me last for softball, and got to spend her days in a big, creepy mansion instead of a bland, cramped split-level. Rereading Jane Eyre as a middle-aged woman, I greatly admired Jane’s keen understanding of human nature—men in particular. I was also pretty impressed by my 12-year-old self. Had I really waded through all those long, preachy passages that began, “Gentle reader”? I must’ve been more patient then than I am now!
Making time for re-reading is hard when you have a TBR shelf that’s over-flowing with books you’ve never read. Consequently, I don’t revisit my favorite books as often as I should. But I’m going to try to reread some classics that I loved in my undergraduate days—maybe Middlemarch or Women in Love.
How about you? What books do you want to re-read?
Henry delighted in giving me a hard time. “This crook reminds me of Jerry Cruncher.”
“Who?”
“The grave-robber in Tale of Two Cities. You call yourself an English major? I thought you loved Dickens!”
Henry could never understand why someone who claimed to adore literature as I did couldn’t retain all the particulars of a favorite novel. I explained that since I’d read thousands of novels, the details—even of my favorites—tended to become a little blurry over time.
That’s why God—or readers—invented re-reading. When you re-read a favorite book, you don’t have to waste time wondering it you’re going to like it or not. You can focus all your energies on discovering why you enjoyed it so much to begin with.
Right now I’m re-reading Beautiful Ruins. I first read it last October and loved it, so I was excited when my book group selected it for our August read. Now I would have the pleasure of sharing and discussing this great book with my friends. However, the book has a large cast of characters and many interwoven plot lines and I knew I wouldn’t be able to fully participate in the discussion if I didn’t reread the book to refresh my memory. I’m happy to report that I enjoyed Beautiful Ruins even more the second time around. Since I already understood the plot, I was free to focus on the great writing and the many thought-provoking themes about dreams and ambition and the quirks of chance that change our lives.
Last year, I reread Jane Eyre, a book I’d loved as a twelve-year-old. As a kid, I identified with the plain little bookworm who went to a school even worse than mine, defeated bullies even meaner than the kids who picked me last for softball, and got to spend her days in a big, creepy mansion instead of a bland, cramped split-level. Rereading Jane Eyre as a middle-aged woman, I greatly admired Jane’s keen understanding of human nature—men in particular. I was also pretty impressed by my 12-year-old self. Had I really waded through all those long, preachy passages that began, “Gentle reader”? I must’ve been more patient then than I am now!
Making time for re-reading is hard when you have a TBR shelf that’s over-flowing with books you’ve never read. Consequently, I don’t revisit my favorite books as often as I should. But I’m going to try to reread some classics that I loved in my undergraduate days—maybe Middlemarch or Women in Love.
How about you? What books do you want to re-read?
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Elizabeth
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Aug 28, 2013 05:03PM
I would like to re-read once in awhile but I have too many tbr as you mention. Keep finding new series all the time that I just have to start and favorite authors keep writing new books in their series.
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Elizabeth wrote: "I would like to re-read once in awhile but I have too many tbr as you mention. Keep finding new series all the time that I just have to start and favorite authors keep writing new books in their se..."Yes--so many books, so little time! Still, rereading an old favorite can be more rewarding than reading a new book in a series that's starting to run out of steam.
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