Quote:
Originally Posted by tempest@de
many times a book that I loved when I first read it now is just ok, I find that some books are tied to memories and that is part of what made them memorable then, and sometimes it is beter to leave them there and still think fondly of them than reread and think «why did I love this book?»
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I also don’t reread much; mostly because of the “so many books” syndrome. But I also can mostly tell in advance if a reread will be pleasurable or whether it will just destroy fond memories. That is to say, I don’t have to expect to think a reread will be good or that I’d like it if I read it now. Sometimes it’s fun because I’m channeling the younger me and I can read it on two levels, what I thought then and what I think now. Sometimes it’s fun just to find the flaws in something I liked before I reached my current level of discernment.
However, sometimes there’s not enough heft to stand picking flaws. Worst is when it’s a book I loved but I have the sense of having gone to the well too often and a reread would be the proverbial camel-back-breaking straw. When the New Leaf Book Club here read
Anne of Green Gables, I knew it was probably going to be a bad idea for my fond memories and it was. I thought it mostly terrible; love had flown. Similarly, I can’t bear the
Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder any more. It’s not even the weight of the godawful and ridiculous tv show, which I ignored. But I now know too much about Laura, and Rose, and their politics, and how the books were written as an expression of that and where they diverged from the truth* to enjoy them. Usually background info and depth of knowledge adds to my appreciation; in this case, it killed it.
*In fairness to LIW and RWL, the books were written and sold as fiction. For the sake of my fond memories, it would have been better had they remained so instead of the foundation of the huge industry that’s grown up around them.