#AmReading – And Again,

My wife loves reruns. She’ll watch her favorite shows and movies over and over and over. Some of them she can do the dialogue right along with the actors. I like watching old favorites but I need some distance between viewings. The same goes for my favorite books. It will be years between readings. I need to forget a few of the details before I read them again.

As you can see from my reviews, I read all the time. What you see in the reviews is only part of my total reading for the year. The goal is to review one book released in the last year (often prior to their release), and an older book each month. In between those books I’m often reading familiar titles as a way to relax and refresh my mind. About a year ago, I discovered that the joy of reading was disappearing. As reading is one of my all-time favorite activities, that was a huge problem. If reading was a job, where would I go for relaxation? To salvage my enjoyment, I changed the way I read for this blog.

Two books a month. One new, one old. With a preference for something “classic” in the old category.

As with all plans, sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t. In January of 2020 I ended up with two books from the last couple years. They were both a genre that I don’t read on a regular basis, the “cozy mystery”. That’s a mystery that is short on blood and mayhem. It often has a stronger romance element to it than most mysteries. It was happenstance that I read the two books in short order, but it seemed like a logical grouping for the month.

Each “category” offers me ups and downs. At times I discover wonderful stories that I’ve never read before. Other times I end up disappointed in the book, even when it’s a “classic”. Reading Robert Louis Stevenson’s work, or Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol” were wonderful surprises. Reading “Humboldt’s Gift” by Saul Bellow was one of the least rewarding reading experiences of my life. Most readers can share similar stories.

The goal is never about the number of books I read. It’s about finding a balance between familiar story genres and ones that stretch both the writer and the reader. I’ve talked about it a lot over the last couple years, but Stuart Turton’s “The 7 1/2 Deaths of” is a book that takes a variety of familiar ideas and combines them in a way that was fascinating and new for me. Reading F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short stories and “” challenged me as a writer to create the kind of crystal clear worlds that he did almost a century ago. There were many times when I had to stop reading to experience some of his writing with care. When a phrase or an image demanded I stop and consider it in depth.

New discoveries, and old favorites. As with so much in life, it works best in balance.

Reading one of the old favorites is a visit with an old friend. It’s an easy slide into a familiar place and relationship. While much of the reading will come easily to mind, I often discover details I’ve never noticed before. This is reading that is comfortable, which the other reading often isn’t.

Every once in a while, you will see a post titled “From My Shelves”. That’s a review of an old favorite, a book I have enjoyed in the past and choose to keep in my personal library. Even here I will sometimes discover that a book I loved in the past hasn’t aged well.

How often do you go back to read your favorite books? Or is it all new books all the time?