When the Suck Fairy flits.

[sartorias]

I maintain that there is a perfect time for most books. Then, yeah, the Suck Fairy lands.

But what about the times when the Suck Fairy goes away?

Come talk about when old faves suck and old stinkers unsuck!

Comments

[mamculuna]

Happens to me a lot! I tried Catch-22 many times and hated it until finally I read it and loved it. I think it took getting past the first few pages and getting into what he was trying to do.

More recently, tried a reread of Katherine by Anya Seton and was horrified at how little I liked it (last read when I was 14, I think, but always remembered)--I've just read so much better historical fiction since then, and now it's really hokey and boring, although I love the characters.

A book that never fails me, though, is Matthiessen's Far Tortuga. I've reread it several times since it came out (70's?) and it always has the same spell--the great language, the heroic but real characters, the doomed setting.

[sartorias]

I haven't tried Seton again. I suspect I would feel the same.

It's so wonderful when a book one loved reveals new layers that causes one to fall in love all over again. That is my definition of a great book. Forget the lists compiled by the Stern Male Gaze.

[houseboatonstyx]

I came too late for the early layers of Cold Comfort Farm, having already read A.J. Cronin, Hardy, etc.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe did get much better on later reading, knowing its context. On first readings I thought the author was copying a religious story because he'd run out of ideas. That chapter still seems a flaw, a dull cold gray lump in the middle of an otherwise good story. But now I know just to skip it. ;-)

[sartorias]

I've come to appreciate the humor in Lewis that escaped me as a kid.

[mamculuna]

Have to say that my own religious changes have made Lewis difficult to take, even with skipped chapters. I do like the magic and the humor, but Aslan...

[houseboatonstyx]

I agree....