I've been thinking about books and such that I enjoyed many years or even a couple decades ago. I feel reluctant though to actually go back and reread them for fear that they won't be as good as I remember. I know my reading tastes have changed over time, and that I'm a much more analytical reader than I used to be, and I'm much more prone to finding plot holes or questionable writing even in stuff that I like. Not to mention the age old question, has my taste simply gotten better?
by twbrn
3 Comments
Time and nostalgia are probably going to leave books you read long ago in a more positive light than going in today with a critical eye looking for holes.
Honestly for some books possibly, but for most i reread them cause i feel like nothing currently out fills the void like these old books did. Some of them make me wish i could reread them for the first time again cause i miss the giddy-ness i felt at the new information.
i don’t know about worse or better, but i used to read keats in high school, and now i’m reading frieda mcfadden.
i did go back and read Little Women and Catcher in the Rye, and i wish I had not. they meant so much to me when i was younger, and going back to them has ruined those memories.
otoh re-reading The Bell Jar as an adult was an eye opener, and I’m so glad i did. i hated it when i read it in my early teens though.
“and that I’m a much more analytical reader than I used to be, and I’m much more prone to finding plot holes”
that happened to me with little women! the book begins with the girls coming up with all the ways to make marmee happy at their own expense, and when marmee comes home, the first thing she does is tell them a passive aggressive story intended to show what ungrateful spoiled brats they are, on top of making them give up their breakfasts so she can play lady bountiful. like i would never do this to my (hypothetical) children if i had any, and i don’t even wants children.