Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Re-reading Favorites

 Elizabeth Strout has a new book out, The Burgess Boys. Amazon and Barnes and Noble and other bookish places are sending me emails and offering special pre-order prices. 

 This just makes me want to revisit Olive Kitteridge.

I loved it the first time I read it and now as I think about re-reading it, I am filled with...trepidation. Will I love it as much? What is I get disappointed? Why don't I just leave it the way it is?

Strange that I don't feel any excitement about discovering something else to love. 

Can anyone relate to this?    

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love re-reading favorite books. It's almost always a joy - either a comfort, in the case of something like Little Women, or a new discovery, as in the case of Emma by Jane Austen, where the "shadow stories" come clearer as you see the clues being put out in front of you that you TOTALLY MISSED the first time (or three).

Davin Malasarn said...

Just think, if you don't like the book as much, it could be a sign that you are growing as a writer! :)

I feel this way with the books I loved as a kid. I'm pretty sure if I revisited some of them I wouldn't like them as much. But I tend to avoid them for that very reason.

Strout also has a book out called Amy & Isabelle, I think.

Yat-Yee said...

When I was in high school, I re-read everything several times. I think I must have read my two favorites then: To Kill A Mocking Bird and Pride and Prejudice more than a dozen times each. I never grew tired of them.

In the last few years, I re-read a couple of my favorites and was disappointed.

I hope you're right, Davin, about growing as a writer.

Yes, she did write Amy and Isabelle. Haven't read that yet.