October 19, 2006
Books we thought we had read
Have you ever picked up a book you had last read years before, only to find it nothing like what you remembered?
You don't step into the same book twice.
Bit by bit, I'm trying to revisit all those great works that I haven't read since high school or college -- books which, if asked, I can no longer honestly claim without qualification to have read.
This would be an excellent theme for a book club: classics, revisited. I've been discussing what works would be the most suitable, but I suppose it would depend heavily on the readers -- what they read in school, what they read (or didn't read) since. And though in many cases the passage of time will allow for a deeper appreciation of a masterwork, it would be equally interesting to see how many works held up as canonical in decades past fail to retain their resonance today.
Posted by David on October 19, 2006 8:30 AM
A good example from my own experience: Lorna Doone by R D Blackmore. I've read it three times, I think. First at a very young age, loved romance, really liked it. Then at about twenty, thought it was a lot of sweet-sweet trash. Then again some twenty years later, liked the glimpses of history AND the story.
Posted by: Kai on October 19, 2006 2:23 PM
cronaca.com