This past Friday, I was packing my bags for a weekend trip. I lined up my clothes, zipped up my bag, and was almost ready to go. The last thing I needed to bring was a book for the train ride: I’ll run out and buy a new one, I thought-- the only book I could find in my backpack was a book I had to read for an English class in high school. I liked the book (maybe even loved it) but why would I read it again when I could just buy a new book instead?
Of course, I left my packing until the last minute, so by the time I got myself together to run to the store, it was closed. Well, I guess this book will have to do. I shoved the book that I already read into my bag and was set to go.
When I got on the train the next morning, I pulled out the book from my bag and started to reread. At first, I kept wishing it was a new book. I kept thinking I know exactly how this ends. But, I stuck with it. And after about ten pages, I realized that even though I knew exactly how it ended, I was taking so much, and so many different things, out of this book; a book I thought I knew.
Like I said, I kept thinking: I know exactly how this ends. And I was thinking of this in a negative way.
I knew how the book ended; I knew the big picture. And I think that’s the exact beauty of rereading.
When you first read a book, you’re on the edge of your seat (hopefully). It’s unfamiliar, and you’re trying to wrap your head around where the story is taking you.
When you reread a book, you already know the big picture. And while I thought that was a bad thing, it’s actually a great thing. You have the opportunity to slow down and pay attention to detail. You have the opportunity to let the words affect you in a different way. You have the opportunity to change your mind.
As time passes, we change. And while the books we read (and reread) technically stay the same, they teach us drastically different lessons each time.
“The most familiar books reveal more about themselves when we attend to them anew. And our growing experience allows us to approach our favorites from different angles. In a sense, rereading the same book produces new insights because the reader is a different person. Indeed, a good book is very much like a mirror: The glass is the same year after year, but the reflection in it changes over time.”- Christopher Nelson
Why reread? Because books change as we do.
