This month I am participating in Jane Austen July and the group readalong is Northanger Abbey (1817). I read this book for the first time in 2020 and for me it was a bit of a let down. But now reading it again for Jane Austen July I am having a better experience. Participating in a readalong helps because other readers are pointing out things I missed in the novel the first time.
And finding out new things can be true of rereading even without a group read. Maybe 20 years ago for example I read Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte. I didn't care for it. But since that time I have had life experiences that have changed how I look at things. I have also gone on to read Anne Bronte's masterpiece The Tennant of Wildfell Hall and a book about her life and so I came to Agnes Grey this year with a new perspective and I enjoyed the book the second time around.
Rereading doesn't always go so well though. Sometimes we pick up a book that meant so much to us and when we reread it the magic is gone. For me rereading Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck was just such an experience. I had loved this novel when I was a teenager. I quickly went on to East of Eden and Grapes of Wrath which I didn't particularly care for but that didn't matter because Steinbeck would always be a favorite of mine thanks to Of Mice and Men. But decades later Of Mice and Men didn't hold up for me upon rereading. That said, I am not giving up on Steinbeck and am planning a rereading of The Grapes of Wrath. It's Steinbeck masterpiece and I probably first read it when I was too young.
Rereading confirms how we feel about a book in good ways too. I read Pride and Prejudice in my twenties and my forties and loved it even more the second time around. I was also quite pleased that my rereading of The Good Earth by Pearl Buck held up so well. The same is true for A Separate Peace which I first read in high school. I knew it was a book about jealousy, guilt and regret set in 1942 at an elite New England boy's prep school. But what I had missed as a teenager when I first read the book is what a big role World War II plays in this novel. The boys at the prep school are 16 and 17 and upon graduating they will be enlisting and going overseas and it gives A Separate Peace a sad and haunting quality.
Going forward I plan another rereading of Pride and Prejudice and I plan to reread Wuthering Heights and Crime and Punishment. Crime and Punishment is a masterpiece and along with Pride and Prejudice ranks as one of my all time favorite books. I also need to reread Wuthering Heights. I recognized the brilliance of this book the first time I read it decades ago but I have never been sure of what the deeper meaning was and what Emily Bronte was trying to say. Maybe a second reading will make things clearer.
Rereading is so important and if anyone has books they reread and either loved, hated or learned new things from the reread I would love to hear your experiences.
I'm a proponent of rereading, but I have had it backfire on a few occasions. Most often, though, I have the experience of coming away from a reread feeling as if I'm reading a book for the first time because of the numerous new things I pick up on a second reading. It's surprising to me how much can be missed on a first read because I was enjoying the book so much that I couldn't wait to turn that next page. I've finally gotten comfortable with the slower pace I consciously adopted earlier this year, and I've already noticed that I'm getting much more out of each completed book than I ever got before.
ReplyDeleteA great deal can be picked up on a reread and the book doesn't even have to be a classic. One piece of advise someone gave when reading a great book is to keep a journal and every two or three chapters to write down one or two observations and that really enhances the reading process. I am going to try that and agree slower reading is very important too.
ReplyDeleteI am a veteran rereader, having reread so many books that I'm not sure how many I've reread over the years. Some books are those that I return to again and again, like Jane Eyre, while some are books that I did not appreciate the first time I read them but had a different experience the second read. Pride and Prejudice is one of those, which I did not like when required to read it as a high school senior, but discovered a couple of decades later what a great novel it was, filled with humor and charm. I've become a fan of all of Austen's work. Most of my favorite books of all time I have reread more than once, for many of the same reasons that you illuminate in your commentary.
ReplyDeleteHi James, Jane Eyre is a brilliant novel and I am due for a reread. And then as you say there are classics where we didn't enjoy them the first time and wondered what all the fuss is about and often those books require a reread. I read The Great Gatsby a few years back for example and I am still wondering what I missed that other people saw. Not sure if I will reread Gatsby but I need to try another Fitzgerald novel, possibly Tender Is The Night.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post, Kathy. It reminds me that I need to make more time for rereading.
ReplyDeleteI reread for many reasons. I reread the Rex Stout books over and over because I just enjoy them so much. There are some series that I have saved all my copies because I know I will enjoy rereading them later; mostly those are spy fiction series. I also have saved some classics to reread, to see if I change my mind about them on a second read.
These are some authors I have reread some books by: Margery Allingham (I am planning to reread all of her Campion series, if I can); Emma Lathen; Jill McGown (a wonderful police procedural series and not too long); Charles McCarry (spy fiction); and Patricia Moyes. And Jane Haddam's Gregor Demarkian series.
I wish I had time to reread more books, because often on a reread I notice things I missed before (or forgot about).
Thanks Tracy, Rex Stout is someone I have to go back to. Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin are such a great team and the NYC setting makes things even better. Right now I am rereading Northanger Abbey and I am enjoying it much more. I missed so much the first time around.
ReplyDeleteI think my previous comment fell into the spam abyss. Did it?
ReplyDeleteHi Lark, It did fall into the abyss because I didn't see it and thanks for letting me know. I always love hearing from you. Rereading is important. For example I just reread Northanger Abbey and it was much better for me the second time around.
DeleteI agree with you about rereading. And it can go both ways. I've had books that I loved the first time around but when I reread them I suddenly couldn't quite remember why I loved them so much; but with other books I seem to see more in them the second time around...like with Henry James' The Awkward Age. Or with Jane Austen's books. I really want to reread Emma sometime soon. :D
DeleteEmma's on my books of summer list. I am going to put some space between her and Northanger Abbey.and I hope to get to Emma by the end of August.
DeleteHmm. You make many good points about rereading. I once wasn't always a fan of rereading because there are so many books to get to in one's life etc. and it can be anti-climatic since you already know things about the book's plot etc, but now I feel that any books that I really loved in decades past are interesting to read again to see how they hold up in the present etc. I'm trying to think of an example, but I recall reading Donna Tartt's The Secret History twice a decade or two apart and that it mostly held up. There are many books I'd like to read again whether Steinbeck's or Somerset Maugham's or Dostoevsky's. So good luck on your quest. You can learn new things about each.
ReplyDeleteHi Susan, I agree there are so many books we haven't gotten to yet and so rereading, particularly as we get older, has to be selective. But as you say when it comes to books we really loved they deserve a reread. The risk is that we may not love the book the second time around. But for me the benefit is that if i love the book as much as I once did then that's a signal to read other novels the author has written that I may not have gotten to yet.
ReplyDeleteI've only ever read one book by Jane Austen and I *hated* it. I refuse to even try again. I'm not super into classics to be honest. I also won't reread a book I didn't at least mostly like.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked it better the second time around!
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Hi Ash, I hear you in that reading is very subjective and we all like different authors. One thing I would say though about Jane Austen is that if you've never read Pride and Prejudice that one is worth a try. I say this because if I had not read Pride and Prejudice first but instead had read Persuasion, Northanger Abbey or even Sense and Sensibility I would not have wanted to go any further with Austen. I was bored by Persuasion and Northanger Abbey was better the second time around but for me Pride and Prejudice is Austen's masterpiece but it may not be for everyone.
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