I resolved to read all new books this year. Normally I reread a great deal. Why?
1. I learn something new every time, even if I have read a book 900 times. Like Gone with the Wind or The Fifth Sacred Thing.
2. I know that I like a book because I have liked it already. I hate being disappointed by new books, so I go back to what I know. It’s the literary equivalent of sex with the ex. It’s a little pathetic, but nostalgia and comfort are hard to pass up.
3. Rereading recalls to me the first (or other) times I have read a book before, and so I relive them a little. I gauge how much or how little I have changed since then in how I relate to the book. It’s a self-reflective practice with an assist from fiction.
Bearing all this in mind, I resolved anyway. There are too many good books I haven’t read to keep reading in my same old ruts. So here’s the list with dates and a basic rating system. Maybe some comments.
1. Lamb by Christopher Moore. 3/5. Moore settles for clever where he can’t be good. It’s funny in some places, not in others. Terrible ending. 1/10/2013
The 800-page novel I just finished waited until the last page to be all, Everybody dies. I literally threw the book on the floor in disgust.