The Year of Re-read
At the start of the year, I realized something interesting. I watch movies over and over again, re-watch whole seasons of tv shows, memorize albums’ worth of songs. But I almost never revisit books, not even the ones I love.
I felt that I might be missing out on the pleasures certain books have provided, not to mention missing out on some understanding of subtler themes, characterizations, foreshadowing, whatever. I was missing out. So I decided this year would be the year of the reread.
Granted, of the 22 books I’ve read this year, only 9 have been rereads, so it hasn’t been a very concentrated effort. But that’s 9 more than usual.
Below is the list of books I’ve re-read this year. Some books I fell in love with all over again, some I could read a little more analytically when I knew what was going to happen. In one or two the experience wasn’t quite as enjoyable the second time around, since a closer look can often reveal faults. And though whenever I pick up a book for a second time, I’m thinking about all the millions of books I haven’t read even once, the experience has been good enough that I’ll look to reread for the rest of my life.
- Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
- Sum; forty tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman
- Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
- Everything is Illuminated by Joshua Safran Foer
- Best American Short Stories 2006 edited by Ann Patchett
- A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
- How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu
- Paper Towns by John Green
- Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
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