Rereading

Well, thanks to Google, I stand corrected. I always thought it was Thomas Jefferson who said that if a book wasn't worth reading twice, it wasn't worth reading the first time. Apparently, it was Winston Churchill. Either way, how true.

Several years back—probably 7 or 8 now—I realized I had so many books it was highly unlikely I'd ever be able to read them all again. And that idea depressed me so much that I promptly started on the task of rereading my entire library. Remember, 7 or 8 years ago. I now have only a shelf and a half left! (Probably another year or two worth of rereading.) I've accumulated a bunch more books since I started the whole project, which means I'll have to reread again once I finish this go-round. I figure maybe I can read every book in my library at least once a decade. It takes a lot of organization to make sure I get them all, but it's worth every single moment.

Some people may wonder why bother? You've read it once, the story doesn't change and neither do the words. But of course, that's not entirely true. Every time you read a book, you pick up on nuances you didn't see before. Sections that maybe you skimmed over or that didn't jump out at you with the same significance before you knew where they were leading. Plus, the person reading the book isn't the same twice. A book you read at 20 is going to say something different to you when you reread it at 30. Or sometimes at 21, depending on what happened to you in that year! Plus, I feel there's a fair amount of arrogance in the idea that one read-through (maybe it takes you a day, a week, even a month) is enough to really experience and ingest the artistry that took the author 6 months to 10 years to create.

But lofty pronouncements aside, I reread for one simple reason—to revisit old friends. The places, the people, even the pages themselves of my favorite books, are all very much like home to me. I'd miss them very much if I never went back.