Yes

Hi Kurt,

Like you I am an avid, but slow reader. Other people would read 3 novels in the time it takes me to read one. But I love reading. And I love rereading. Also, like you, there are so many books on my wish list, that I know I will never read all the books I want to read. I know I will die one day with some great book unread.

So it seems antithetical to my deisre to read as much as I can, to reread. I already know the story, right? So why reread?

I think the reason I do is because the story, or plot is only one aspect of the book. Probably the most important aspect on the first reading. For some books, that really is the only reason to read it. Some authors can have great stories, but nothing else to bring you back. For instance, I would never reread The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo, or any other Steig Larsson books. I'm kind of sorry I read them in the first place to tell you the truth. The only thing those books had going for them was plot. Certainly not the writing. Maybe it lost something in translation, or maybe it was just a bad book. But I digress.

On the other end of the scale is a book I've reread four times, and will probably read again; Moby-Dick. Even the first time I read this book I knew the story before I read it. Crazy ship captain chases a giant whale around the globe. Practically everyone dies at the end. Big deal, right? But reading this book, like listening to a favorite song, is so pleasing. I don't get something new out of every reading, neccesarily. I don't get something new out of anything else I enjoy and repeat (playing with my kids, riding a bike, etc.) While I could be reading something else and enjoying the newness of the story, I could also reread Moby-Dick and have all the enjoyment of the great language, allusions, and humor in that book. The act of reading it is a joy. As enjoyable as reading a new book. More so even. The last time I read it, I simply read a chapter a day while I read whatever else I happened to be reading. I thought this was a great way to reread a book.

And even though the example I used is a "classic", I also have reread The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy many times for the same reasons.

Art

Minneapolis, MN