Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created
by The Broke and the
Bookish
May 25:
Ten Books I Feel Differently About After Time Has Passed (less love, more love,
complicated feelings, indifference, thought it was great in a genre until I became more well read in that genre etc.)
I’m
not sure I’ll come up with 10, but #1 is easy.
1. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: I first read this when I was about 10, and I
thought it was the dumbest thing I’d ever read. (I guess I imagined myself
well-read at 10.) Anyway, 30+ years later and I reread and loved it. More about
this HERE.
2. I’m just going to say any
novel written in stream-of-consciousness, to include most works by Faulkner,
Woolf, Joyce. I hated Ulysses by James Joyce, my first experience, but the more
I read of this style, the more I get used to it. Still not a favorite, probably
never will be, but expanding my universe – all that.
3. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens: I loved this the first time,
but enjoyed it even more with a recent reread. There is a good deal of
foreshadowing that I missed the first time, that was very obvious with the
reread.
4. The Call of the Wild by Jack London: Another one, where the different
feelings are due mostly to reading as a child and then reading as an adult. As
a child, I wanted Buck to remain with Thornton, his first kind and loving
master; I didn’t really understand the point of the story: the primal call. As
an adult, I was satisfied when Buck answered the call.
Those are the only ones that I
can think of where there was a major shift in my feelings. There are many that
improved somewhat with a second read. Conversely there were none that I liked
less with a reread.
I might even give Ulysses a
second chance someday.
I definitely agree that Dickens gets better and better with every reading. I've not re-read David Copperfield (although technically I did read an abridged version when I was little, then the full version in my teens), but I did re-read Great Expectations quite a few times, and there was a lot of subtlety in there that I missed the first time I read it.
ReplyDeleteGood to know. I have a few other Dickens rereads coming up.
DeleteI am still not sure about Ulysses...I did not like it the first time and could not even complete it the second time...but I am encouraged by your words and may give it a shot again...SOON!
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure I won't love Ulysses with a reread, but I think I may appreciate it more.
DeleteWuthering Heights. I first read this as a teenager and loved it. Probably every teenage girl loves it. On rereading it as an adult, I could only wonder how I didn't see what self absorbed miserable people Heathcliff and Cathy were. Couldn't do it again. I agree with the stream of consciousness writing. I've only read one...Mrs Dalloway. I really struggled with it. Although I can see why people think she's a great writer, because she did show a tremendous gift for language. But I don't think I'll try any more. And I still need to read The Little Prince.
ReplyDeleteI hated WH the first read, but I didn't read it as a child...doubt as a boy I would have liked it either, though I can see to young girls it might have some appeal. Totally agree with about Heathcliff and Cathy...blech.
DeleteInteresting comment about David Copperfield. I loved it as a teen and read it a couple of times, but I enjoyed it even more as an adult and recently reread it knowing it wouldn't be the last time I would do so.
ReplyDeleteI also agree about stream of consciousness writing. I am officially over trying to read anything by Virginia Woolf!
I have still never read The Little Prince...someday I will.
Little Prince - Must Read for anyone with a soul.
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