Loved That Book? Never Read It Again

Nearly everyone has experienced the joy and satisfaction of finishing an excellent book—but for "rereading evangelists," who tend to gravitate toward the classics, "one time through, for the great books, is not enough." Oscar Schwartz says we should maybe rethink that, writing for the Paris Review that he became introduced to "the correct and virtuous way to read" ("rereading") when he began studying literature, and at first he bought into the concept. He acknowledges that it's easy to miss details on the first read, and that a granular reread, pushed by such literary greats as Vladimir Nabokov, can help someone gain a deeper understanding of the text and become a more active participant in the absorption of it. "Going over a text many times allowed me to fine-tune my initial intuitive judgments into something more comprehensive," Schwartz writes.

But the more Schwartz did such rereading, the less enamored he became of it, comparing it to "a punishing self-improvement regime." "I also felt, quietly, that rereading was not really reading," he writes. "There was an immediacy, intensity, and complete surrender involved in the initial experience that could never be repeated and was sometimes even diminished on the second pass." Schwartz also had an even more relatable reason: "It could also get boring." Instead, he now believes it's better to simply relish the experience you have with a book the first time around, as "falling in love with a new book might be one of the adventures left ... available to us as the flesh weakens." He adds that "for those who do not reread, a book is like a little life. When it ends, it dies—or it lives on, imperfectly and embellished, in your memories. There is a sense of loss in this death, but also pleasure." More here. (More reading stories.)