I have inadvertently read a couple of books twice. Just finished one in fact. By about page 30 I realised that I was familiar with the story, and remembered the ending. However, I carried on reading, and their were great swathes that I had no memory of at all - including the central character murdering someone.
I've only done so inadvertently done so a couple of times, as you say you usually pick up on the details fairly early on, but I did recently read one and it was not until about 50 pages from the end that I realised I had read it before. It had been at least 15 years, but it was very much not a good sign.
Like mercator I don't always remember some significant details of books, which might be seen as a criticism of the book but can be helpful to repeated readings. I struggle to remember the names of main characters very quickly after reading a book, which can make it seem like I've forgotten everything, but I can usually cover the main points.
I’m honestly trying to think of a single book I’ve read more than once, other than Ulysses
The Highway Code doesn’t count
Can’t think of a single one. I’ve reread funny passages. Or beautiful pages. Wodehouse or Ruskin. But whole books? Nope
I’ve read a few books twice but largely ones that I loved when young/school such as the Italo Calvino books where I’ve read them twenty to thirty years apart for nostalgia but also you react differently as have had many life experiences since the first reading that change how you understand or imagine things.
My greatest re-reading pleasure was The Count of Monte Christo as my understandings of vengeance, love, pain etc are infinitely greater and so you feel the story more.
I can watch Shakespeare plays multiple times as they are often interpreted so differently.
There are some series that I’ve watched a few times such as Narcos as they are a good romp and you notice different things or take a different view of characters each time.
Music I can listen to the same song sometimes multiple times on repeat if I love it or it’s capturing a mood I’m strongly in at that moment.
I rewatched breaking bad a 2nd time. Now that was good.
I often watch films multiple times. The first time to get the gist then after that to savour the detail, nuances, cinematography etc. I watched "Perfect Days" recently on consecutive nights, and will watch it again I am sure. Fiction books I rarely re-read, as the investment in time is too much.
Shutter Island is a definite consecutive nights candidate. Watching it again knowing the twist is extraordinary. It's a different film, like that optical illusion of the guy in the gorilla suit among the basketball players.
Really liked that film.
So follow my advice. It's on netflix if you have that.
From what I have heard of him this absolutely has to be worth a paltry £8 on kindle
His death affected me badly. I feel great guilt in our starting very much from the same place and I devoted my life to the pursuit of money whilst he just did huge good for others. He was such a great chap.
My last meeting with him was very funny where we got suitably stewed at a bar and reminisced about bad things we had done at school and how he admired my complete disregard for the rules. A funny, intelligent and good hearted man.
Even his last acts were for other people as the royalties go to palliative care charities in Africa where he had worked for overseas aid organisations.
Of course you are fellow islanders
I shall buy to read on my voyage into the Maghreb.
He reminded me he used to indirectly get dope via me at school as I was one of the few people who was fine with going to sketchy places to buy it in Winchester. I was glad I was such a positive influence!
I’m honestly trying to think of a single book I’ve read more than once, other than Ulysses
The Highway Code doesn’t count
Can’t think of a single one. I’ve reread funny passages. Or beautiful pages. Wodehouse or Ruskin. But whole books? Nope
I’ve read a few books twice but largely ones that I loved when young/school such as the Italo Calvino books where I’ve read them twenty to thirty years apart for nostalgia but also you react differently as have had many life experiences since the first reading that change how you understand or imagine things.
My greatest re-reading pleasure was The Count of Monte Christo as my understandings of vengeance, love, pain etc are infinitely greater and so you feel the story more.
I can watch Shakespeare plays multiple times as they are often interpreted so differently.
There are some series that I’ve watched a few times such as Narcos as they are a good romp and you notice different things or take a different view of characters each time.
Music I can listen to the same song sometimes multiple times on repeat if I love it or it’s capturing a mood I’m strongly in at that moment.
I rewatched breaking bad a 2nd time. Now that was good.
I often watch films multiple times. The first time to get the gist then after that to savour the detail, nuances, cinematography etc. I watched "Perfect Days" recently on consecutive nights, and will watch it again I am sure. Fiction books I rarely re-read, as the investment in time is too much.
I've read Less Than Zero by Brett Easton Ellis a few times simply because once I start I just keep going (due to the zingy prose) and it's short.
I hope I don't do it again though. Only way to make sure of that - don't open it.
How come some art forms can be enjoyed again and again - yet others are consumed once and that’s it?
I don’t reread novels. The only novel I have ever read twice is Joyce’s Ulysses, it’s the only one good enough to be read more than once
Yet I will reread favourite poems multiple times
I don’t rewatch plays. Once and that’s it. Yet I will look at a favourite painting quite a lot
I seldom rewatch tv or movies. Maybe twice if they’re really good
Yet a fantastic piece of music is indestructibly repeatable. I can listen to Strauss’ Im Abendrot or Michelle Shocked’s Anchorage again and again and again without loss of joy. The joy maybe grows
Why?
Obviously there will be an element of personal preference, but I think Foxy's point about time investment can play a part, as well as volume of new content produced.
I'm sure there's just as much new music produced as new novels, but the former don't take up as much time, if you go back and relisten you barely notice the time. I'm just guessing but I suspect poetry, at least that which penetrates through to the mass market, is much rarer so harder to come by, people will find it easier to stick with old favourites.
I rewatch films and tv shows a lot, in fact in the last 5 years I rarely invest time in new tv shows. I have read many books multiple times over, though again in the last 5 years I have done so a lot less, not so much on time as I read very quickly, but because I have been reading new things.
But interactivity and collectivity may play a part too. Plays, books, films, you just watch, each in their own way. Music you might dance, sing, or hum to, which though level is still more mentally engaging perhaps.
LIkewise video games (which I have played less of in recent years) you might replay for hundreds of hours, so despite their time commitment their interactivity keeps it fresh.
I listen to Spotify audio books whilst running (music bugs me whilst running, for some reason) but only nonfiction books that I've actually read via hard copy. My reasoning is if I zone out and miss a few facts, it doesnt really matter and I won't have to skip back to find out what facts I've missed. My current listen is Midnight In Chernobyl, which would be hard to follow if you missed a few minutes while contemplating on the merits of chugging an energy gel or not!
The infinite repeatability of great music is surely proof that it is the supreme art form, only really matched by the domestic psychological thriller set on, say, an island or a lonely beach with a female protagonist in her mid 30s and at least one spooky child
After that perhaps great poetry?
The west has largely lost the art of oral storytelling, so music is probably the oldest art form, followed by painting (caves).
If it was the supreme art form though, why is most of it so recent (comparatively) ?.
Talented as she may be, I don’t think Taylor Swift is the Zenith of art.
Welcome Telstar, btw. Named after a great bit of music. My mum tells the story of returning to England from 18 months in the Middle East aged 11 in 1962 (ish) listening to that on the ship. I can picture her, as a little girl in an optimistic age, looking out at the Red Sea, nervously wondering what the next stage in her life would bring.
How come some art forms can be enjoyed again and again - yet others are consumed once and that’s it?
I don’t reread novels. The only novel I have ever read twice is Joyce’s Ulysses, it’s the only one good enough to be read more than once
Yet I will reread favourite poems multiple times
I don’t rewatch plays. Once and that’s it. Yet I will look at a favourite painting quite a lot
I seldom rewatch tv or movies. Maybe twice if they’re really good
Yet a fantastic piece of music is indestructibly repeatable. I can listen to Strauss’ Im Abendrot or Michelle Shocked’s Anchorage again and again and again without loss of joy. The joy maybe grows
Why?
I think it's because those things are plot driven. And once you know what happens there's less in it. However, I quite like rewatching some TV programmes. They wrap around you like a comfy blanket. Much the same as songs.
I think the first chapter of "Going Postal" by Pratchett is the finest piece of comic writing I've read, and it concerns a hanging. And I love Wodehouse, S J Perelman, Damon Runyon, Alan Coren and many others.
I’m honestly trying to think of a single book I’ve read more than once, other than Ulysses
The Highway Code doesn’t count
Can’t think of a single one. I’ve reread funny passages. Or beautiful pages. Wodehouse or Ruskin. But whole books? Nope
I’ve read a few books twice but largely ones that I loved when young/school such as the Italo Calvino books where I’ve read them twenty to thirty years apart for nostalgia but also you react differently as have had many life experiences since the first reading that change how you understand or imagine things.
My greatest re-reading pleasure was The Count of Monte Christo as my understandings of vengeance, love, pain etc are infinitely greater and so you feel the story more.
I can watch Shakespeare plays multiple times as they are often interpreted so differently.
There are some series that I’ve watched a few times such as Narcos as they are a good romp and you notice different things or take a different view of characters each time.
Music I can listen to the same song sometimes multiple times on repeat if I love it or it’s capturing a mood I’m strongly in at that moment.
What about books you can read different ways?
Money Dick is a thriller about a lunatic quest. A pile of good writing. An exposition on the human condition. And an info dump on 19th Cent knowledge of whales.
I’m honestly trying to think of a single book I’ve read more than once, other than Ulysses
The Highway Code doesn’t count
Can’t think of a single one. I’ve reread funny passages. Or beautiful pages. Wodehouse or Ruskin. But whole books? Nope
I’ve read a few books twice but largely ones that I loved when young/school such as the Italo Calvino books where I’ve read them twenty to thirty years apart for nostalgia but also you react differently as have had many life experiences since the first reading that change how you understand or imagine things.
My greatest re-reading pleasure was The Count of Monte Christo as my understandings of vengeance, love, pain etc are infinitely greater and so you feel the story more.
I can watch Shakespeare plays multiple times as they are often interpreted so differently.
There are some series that I’ve watched a few times such as Narcos as they are a good romp and you notice different things or take a different view of characters each time.
Music I can listen to the same song sometimes multiple times on repeat if I love it or it’s capturing a mood I’m strongly in at that moment.
I rewatched breaking bad a 2nd time. Now that was good.
I often watch films multiple times. The first time to get the gist then after that to savour the detail, nuances, cinematography etc. I watched "Perfect Days" recently on consecutive nights, and will watch it again I am sure. Fiction books I rarely re-read, as the investment in time is too much.
Shutter Island is a definite consecutive nights candidate. Watching it again knowing the twist is extraordinary. It's a different film, like that optical illusion of the guy in the gorilla suit among the basketball players.
Really liked that film.
So follow my advice. It's on netflix if you have that.
Ah no I don't. Don't have any streamers except for sport.
How come some art forms can be enjoyed again and again - yet others are consumed once and that’s it?
I don’t reread novels. The only novel I have ever read twice is Joyce’s Ulysses, it’s the only one good enough to be read more than once
Yet I will reread favourite poems multiple times
I don’t rewatch plays. Once and that’s it. Yet I will look at a favourite painting quite a lot
I seldom rewatch tv or movies. Maybe twice if they’re really good
Yet a fantastic piece of music is indestructibly repeatable. I can listen to Strauss’ Im Abendrot or Michelle Shocked’s Anchorage again and again and again without loss of joy. The joy maybe grows
Why?
10 Novels to read more than once: Bleak House, Wuthering Heights, Dance to the Music of Time, Dubliners (The Dead is a novella so it counts), The Masters, Phineas Finn, Great Expectations, Sinister Street, Emma, The Power and the Glory.
Music to listen to less than once: Haydn's Baryton Trios. Almost everything since the death of Shostakovich.
Otherwise 100% agree.
Reasons for why you are right: ??is to do with how brains work, different forms engage different bits. Some do repetition more than others.
Oh come, come, come.
What about Millions of Women are Waiting to Meet You?
It's on the pile by the bed, next to The History of Concrete and 101 Cures for Insomnia.
I’m honestly trying to think of a single book I’ve read more than once, other than Ulysses
The Highway Code doesn’t count
Can’t think of a single one. I’ve reread funny passages. Or beautiful pages. Wodehouse or Ruskin. But whole books? Nope
Books which I have read more than once over the past year or for the second time include "The Prince", "The Shortest History of Democracy", "On the wealth of nations", (PJ O'Rourke summary, not the original) and "Black mass : apocalyptic religion and the death of Utopia". Unfortunately also "The good state: on the principles of democracy" by AC Grayling, which I don't recommend.
The infinite repeatability of great music is surely proof that it is the supreme art form, only really matched by the domestic psychological thriller set on, say, an island or a lonely beach with a female protagonist in her mid 30s and at least one spooky child
After that perhaps great poetry?
Here's a thing for you. I read the Mars Trilogy (Red, Green, Blue) by Kim Stanley Robinson while listening to the Bryan Adams album Reckless on repeat.
Now, when I listen to the album I also feel the descriptions of the Martian landscape, and vice versa. It certainly adds something to the experience of rereading the novels.
It would have to be a really perverse result for Harris to win the popular vote by 5% but still lose the EC. Massive vote build ups in California and New York and Massachussets maybe?
Comments
Like mercator I don't always remember some significant details of books, which might be seen as a criticism of the book but can be helpful to repeated readings. I struggle to remember the names of main characters very quickly after reading a book, which can make it seem like I've forgotten everything, but I can usually cover the main points.
Do you:
A. Read it again?
B. Leave it behind on the train?
NEW THREAD
I hope I don't do it again though. Only way to make sure of that - don't open it.
(music bugs me whilst running, for some reason) but only nonfiction books that I've actually read via hard copy. My reasoning is if I zone out and miss a few facts, it doesnt really matter and I won't have to skip back to find out what facts I've missed. My current listen is Midnight In Chernobyl, which would be hard to follow if you missed a few minutes while contemplating on the merits of chugging an energy gel or not!
But it’s undeniable that there have been several ‘boom’ moment with recent polling, starting with that Selzer poll.
Now, when I listen to the album I also feel the descriptions of the Martian landscape, and vice versa. It certainly adds something to the experience of rereading the novels.