I'm sure you're right. I did reread Lolita about a year ago, after reading it 30 years before, and was thunderstruck by its greatness...but I also reread the Master and Margarita, which for years I considered "one of my favorite books", and just couldn't get into it this time around. So I guess rereading holds great surprises and great disappointments...like everything else. Strangely, the article I linked to at the Millions makes no mention of Patricia Meyer Spack's new book "On rereading" - I'll add a link...
Once again, I pressed "publish" before thinking it properly through. I should have added the following reservation after "else": "Although, come to think of it, not everything...some things, like oatmeal, may be pretty much as you remembered them."
Rereading can be a real pleasure:-) You should try it some time!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you're right. I did reread Lolita about a year ago, after reading it 30 years before, and was thunderstruck by its greatness...but I also reread the Master and Margarita, which for years I considered "one of my favorite books", and just couldn't get into it this time around. So I guess rereading holds great surprises and great disappointments...like everything else. Strangely, the article I linked to at the Millions makes no mention of Patricia Meyer Spack's new book "On rereading" - I'll add a link...
ReplyDeleteYou find that *everything* holds great surprises and great disappointments?!
ReplyDeleteIs that true of, for example, oatmeal?
Once again, I pressed "publish" before thinking it properly through. I should have added the following reservation after "else": "Although, come to think of it, not everything...some things, like oatmeal, may be pretty much as you remembered them."
ReplyDelete