Re-reading is Great
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Just me on Tuesday, August 12, 2008 10:33 PM
I have been visiting old friends this past week, and enjoying it immensely. More specifically, I am re-reading L.M. Montgomery’s Anne books. Nearly everyone has heard of Anne of Green Gables
I know there are people who don’t re-read books. I had a friend in college who thought me crazy for doing so - why waste the time on the book when I already knew how it would end? But if my friend thought I was a little crazy, then I was in turn a little bit sorry for her. How sad not to know the joy of books as companions, of the characters as old and beloved friends!
The Anne books are especially precious to me because I read them for the first time when I was only eight or nine years old, and have been delving back into them at intervals ever since. In a real way I have grown up with these books. At one point my dreams were the dreams of childhood and I understood Anne of Green Gables best. I grew into adolescence and reveled in the romance of Anne of the Island. After some struggles in early adulthood the coming-of-age story Rilla of Ingleside - which had previously been my least favorite of the books - became meaningful and valuable to me. Now that I am married and in the early stages of motherhood Anne’s House of Dreams is most likely to induce tears of sympathy and joy when I read it, and I am sure that as my life moves on I will understand the older Anne better, and get even more out of the stories of her life.
I have read these books so many times that I when I read some passages the words come into my mind before my eyes even see them. Some people - my college friend included - would think it ridiculous that I keep picking up the books anyway. I seldom let three years go by without re-reading the whole series. But despite the opinions of people who think re-reading is silly, I know that my life is richer because these books are accompanying me through it.
I have other favorite re-reads too, of course. The works of Maud Hart Lovelace, P.G. Wodehouse, and Dave Barry (!) are the most well-worn on my shelves. They are all dear friends for whom I reach when I’m in need of a pick-me-up. If I could only have new, previously unread books for solace, I’m afraid I would not find nearly so much of it in reading!
Are there any books that are old friends to you?
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