John Ostrander: Old Friends
There are so many books yet to read – classics, mysteries, SF, fantasy, history, biography, comics and so on. All unread, so many of them of such high quality and I really want to read them. There are, however, only so many hours to the day and so many things that need doing in those hours, including writing this column.
Yet I often find myself returning to books that I’ve read before. For several years, right around Memorial Day, we’d go to a mass out by where my father was buried and that would be a key for me to start re-reading Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. There was the return to Middle-Earth and all the locations, all the characters – good and bad – that inhabited it. I’ve often returned as well to A. Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories and Victorian/Edwardian England.
I watch a lot of movies over and over again, but I think books are different. There’s a greater investiture of time in re-reading a book, usually, and it demands a greater investiture of me. Don’t get me wrong; I love movies but it is a more passive activity. You have to use your imagination more with reading; you have to be actively engaged. You’re translating two-dimensional words on a page (or screen these days) into images in your mind, into a sensory experience. You control the pace of the storytelling to a degree; you read fast or you linger. You go back or maybe skip forward, sometimes to the end if you’re cheating and want to know that first. They’re very different experiences.
When I read something for a second time, it’s a different experience than the first. The first time, I want the story. I want to know What Happens Next, how is it all going to turn out. It’s fresh, it’s new, and (if the story is good) exciting.
On subsequent reads, unless I’ve forgotten the plot (which happens more and more as I grow older), I know all of that. I may discover a bit I had not gotten before or the story yields a new pleasure that I had missed in my rush to find out What Happens Next.
So why keep going back when I can keep reading something new, get that first time feeling over and over again? I think its because the story stays with me and it was well told. I’ve never gone back and read a book I disliked or even one to which I was simply indifferent. I had to love that story. I go back, not expecting the same pleasure I had the first time, but simply because it’s a friend. I had a good experience with that friend and I enjoy being in its company. For me, the fact that it’s a repeated pleasure simply deepens that pleasure for me.
I try to balance out the two; reading something new along with reading something familiar. It keeps me sane – or what passes for sane these days. I think I’ll go find an old friend this summer and renew my acquaintanceship. It’s a good time to do it.
On a different note: since this is Memorial Day Weekend, we should remember the reason why the holiday exists. It’s not simply the start of summer, it’s about remembering those who served their country, especially those who died. Our respect and our thanks.
And if you’re traveling, safe journey.
MONDAY MORNING: Mindy Newell
TUESDAY MORNING: Emily S. Whitten
John,
Your article was perfectly timed! At least for me. I just finished reading (for the second time) Bram Stoker’s Dracula and started reading The Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison’s classic). Three things: we often re-discover what makes these books ‘classics’ (great story-telling, incredible writing craftmanship, and universal themes); many were read when we were young and they were assigned to us — so we didn’t appreciate them as much; and, many of these great works are exposed to us or remembered from their adaptive genres (like) movies. Don’t get me wrong: many of the movie adaptations were wonderful, like Legosi’s Dracula, but they pale in comparison to the original written word.
A note to your readers: so many of the ‘classics’ are available for free on apps for your phone or tablet. Read them! You’ll discover how incredible Tarzan of the Apes really is or (in my opinion) why Dracula is one of the best written books of all time.
Oh, man, John, I’m constantly rereading books that I love!!!! THE MISTS OF AVALON, by Marion Zimmer Bradley–I can’t even tell you the number of times I’ve read it. So much, in fact, that I had to go out and buy a new copy because the spine of the old one had fallen apart. I’ve reread GIANT by Edna Ferber, but I’m very careful with that one, because it’s an original version which my parents got through when it first came out. GONE WITH THE WIND a zillion times, because I find it SO much more satisfying than the movie, which, let’s face it, portrays Scarlett as a one-dimensional bitch (because Victor Hugo took over from George Cukor, although Vivien Leigh and Olivia DeHaviand continued to meet Cukor on the sly for direction and advice.) MY NAME IS ASHER LEV, by Chaim Potok, which I consider his masterpiece, waaaay better than “THE CHOSEN.” I could go on and on….
good post john. I think that comic book fans tend to read more than any other ‘group’ of people and to re-read favorites,because we tend to read faster and absorb more than you’re average reader. I some times just have a need to re=read a RAH book generally “citizen of the galaxy “or “stranger in a strange land” to keep my sanity and to remind me the direction I want to move in this life. as I tell my grandsons,Read-Read-Read and then DO.
I was bored the other day.
Nothing (that i knew of) that i wanted to see on teevee.
No new books lying around.
Did all my online stuff.
So i picked up Tamora Pierce’s Trickster’s Choicw.
I got about a third of the way into it and some new books showed up.
I am now happily about a third of the way into Wen Spencer’s latest…
I recently had to reread Deadshot #1 (for maybe the 100th time) because for the life of me I can never get his response of “Orlando Furioso” out of my head. I remember reading it as a kid and not getting the reference but that the reference stuck regardless. Fast forward years later to when I can google any reference instantly and I find it adds another layer to the character. This is going to sound like fan-boy gushing a little more than I intended, but just know that while you go back to Tolkien and Sir Arthur some of us are going back to you.