Guest Bloggers

Joys and discoveries when re-reading books.

Do you feel guilty when you re-read a book (on purpose, not because you forgot you previously read it)?

Juan Vidal wrote a thoughtful essay about the joys and discoveries one makes when re-reading.

“Returning to a book you’ve read multiple times can feel like drinks with an old friend. There’s a welcome familiarity — but also sometimes a slight suspicion that time has changed you both, and thus the relationship. But books don’t change, people do. And that’s what makes the act of rereading so rich and transformative.

The beauty of rereading lies in the idea that our engagement with the work is based on our current mental, emotional, and even spiritual register. It’s true, the older I get, the more I feel time has wings. But with reading, it’s all about the present. It’s about the now and what one contributes to the now, because reading is a give and take between author and reader.”

Excerpted from: “You Can Go Home Again:  The Transformative Joy Of Rereading,” by Juan Vidal, NPR, April  17, 2016 NPR. KQED Public Radio.

Bono.What Have We Here

What books have you re-read?

Note from Marlene:

I have re-read so many favorites, it would be a long list.

One of my all-time favorites to re-read is What Have We Here,  by Susan Bono.

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One comment

  1. Pat Tyler

    I love Susan Bono’s What Have We Here. I keep it in my car so it’s always handy when I’m waiting in the doctor’s office, or waiting for a kid, grandkid, or great-grandkid. It’s a great book if you’re on the move!

    My historic favorite which I just recently re-read is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Every time I re-read it I discover some little nuance I missed the first (or second, third, or fourth) time around. It’s a great read for adults and it’s great fun to read to children. It’s also a great gift for any young reader because the characters are so well drawn and the plot keeps you in suspense until the very end.

    Try it! I’m betting you’ll like it!

    Pat Tyler

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