The fear of rereading365postcardsMarch 26 2010, 14:01:08 UTC
I used to reread a lot - I am quite sure I have read "Huckleberry Finn" or "Flowers for Algernon" or " White Fang" dozens of times, to bring up just some examples I assume you would have read, too.
But my rereading came from necessity rather than choice - new reading material was hard to come by, so I just kept rereading.
Then there was more access and less time to read and rereading fell to wayside.
Then I did it again - to help out my children with their literature courses and sometimes to read in original what I had first read in translation.
I was often surprised by what I found out and this change of perception fascinated me so much.
And yet - I stopped rereading, as I do not want to lose the impression I carry with me. I would like my perception of my old favorites to remain comfortably familiar, not to find out (again) that one cannot step into the same river twice ...
Re: The fear of rereadingsartoriasMarch 26 2010, 14:10:50 UTC
This is true. Some books do run dry on one. A lot of my old faves as a kid are now memories, and I don't dip into the pages any more. There are some other old faves that I revisit very, very infrequently.
I do remember what it was like having limited access. Before we moved when I was twelve, the library was several miles away and my mom hated driving there, especially since it meant a drive back a week later to return the books. So I had only what was at the school library (which was tiny) and at home. I reread everything even books that I came to hate, like Alice in Wonderland until I finally figured out I didn't have to reread that thing any more, I'd just write more stories.
But anyway, yes, access makes a difference. I'm lucky now that I have far more than I could ever read right at hand. Yet I still go back to certain favorites, and reread them with ever deepening pleasure.
When I like a book--fiction or non--I read and reread it practically to death or I used to. This is a habit I'm trying to break so that I can enjoy books longer.
When I read something, I usually forget most of it except very basics of plot and general impressions. If I wait long enough, I even forget plot basics and just have general impressions like whether I enjoyed reading it or not. This makes re-reading almost like reading for the first time for me, except that I tend not to re-read books that I remember disliking the first time, and sometimes I'll have this nagging feeling that I know *something* important is going to happen soon, but I can't remember what it is.
I think sometimes I read so fast, I don't give books enough time to really sink in very well. I know they're in my brain somewhere, but after a certain period of time has passed, I just can't access the details anymore unless I have the right trigger. This even happens with books I've re-read many times. It doesn't even have to be a long period of time before I start forgetting details of what I just read, especially if I've already moved on to reading the next thing, which I usually have.
Rereads = only of favourites, they're comfort food. When I emotionally don't feel secure enough to follow unfamiliar territory, I need to reread and enjoy the deepening pleasure.
Sometimes follow-up books in a familiar world with familiar characters can have the same effect with a first read, as I'm just at the moment finding with Elizabeth Moon's Oath of Fealty.
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But my rereading came from necessity rather than choice - new reading material was hard to come by, so I just kept rereading.
Then there was more access and less time to read and rereading fell to wayside.
Then I did it again - to help out my children with their literature courses and sometimes to read in original what I had first read in translation.
I was often surprised by what I found out and this change of perception fascinated me so much.
And yet - I stopped rereading, as I do not want to lose the impression I carry with me. I would like my perception of my old favorites to remain comfortably familiar, not to find out (again) that one cannot step into the same river twice ...
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I do remember what it was like having limited access. Before we moved when I was twelve, the library was several miles away and my mom hated driving there, especially since it meant a drive back a week later to return the books. So I had only what was at the school library (which was tiny) and at home. I reread everything even books that I came to hate, like Alice in Wonderland until I finally figured out I didn't have to reread that thing any more, I'd just write more stories.
But anyway, yes, access makes a difference. I'm lucky now that I have far more than I could ever read right at hand. Yet I still go back to certain favorites, and reread them with ever deepening pleasure.
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When I like a book--fiction or non--I read and reread it practically to death or I used to. This is a habit I'm trying to break so that I can enjoy books longer.
Reply
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I think sometimes I read so fast, I don't give books enough time to really sink in very well. I know they're in my brain somewhere, but after a certain period of time has passed, I just can't access the details anymore unless I have the right trigger. This even happens with books I've re-read many times. It doesn't even have to be a long period of time before I start forgetting details of what I just read, especially if I've already moved on to reading the next thing, which I usually have.
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Sometimes follow-up books in a familiar world with familiar characters can have the same effect with a first read, as I'm just at the moment finding with Elizabeth Moon's Oath of Fealty.
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