Not only do I read a lot, but I also re-read a lot. For instance, so far this year I've re-read the sonnets and a few plays by Shakespeare, three novels by Victor Hugo, the complete poems of Emily Dickinson, several Plato dialogues, and a few of my favorite children's books (The Wonderful O by James Thurber and The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton O. Juster); plus I'm in the midst of re-reading The Importance of Living by Lin Yutang as well as the Tao Te Ching.
Why revisit books you've read before? And which books make for the best kind of re-reading?
Let me use Emily Dickinson as an example. I've read her complete poems four or five times, over a span of more than twenty years (my first blog post about her was written in 2001). Early on I preferred poems of hers that are brighter, happier, or more immediately striking, such as "I'm nobody! Who are you?", "Tell all the truth but tell it slant", and "Touch lightly nature's sweet guitar". As I've grown older, I've come to treasure many of her darker, sadder, quieter poems, too. Indeed, she has helped me appreciate and accept the significance of phenomena such as death and heartache, about which she wrote repeatedly, almost obsessively. I likely wasn't ready for those poems in my early thirties, but by sticking with Emily I've been able to learn from her.
Naturally, this wouldn't have been possible if she weren't such an amazing poet. One doesn't typically stick with an author if she isn't very good.
However, that doesn't mean one must restrict one's reading to books that are considered to be the greatest of all time; how much an author resonates with you is far more important than the grandness of their reputation. I prefer Hugo to Tolstoy and Thoreau to Kant, and I don't give a whit about their reputed differences in quality.
One caveat: what resonates with you can change over time. I didn't like Plato when I was 20 years old, but now I find his dialogues quite fascinating. Although I doubt that I'll revisit the impenetrable Kant, I won't rule it out.
Finally, I do also regularly expose myself to authors who are new to me. Perhaps I'll write a post about the value of literary and intellectual exploration...
(Cross-posted at philosopher.coach.)
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