"No story is the same to us after a lapse of time; or rather we who read it are no longer the same interpreters".
George Eliot
I think I have pondered quotes like this before - about how when we re-read a book we often bring a different perspective to it; a different angle and I still think that is true. I am quite often astonished to find that a book that I thought was life changing and brilliant, on a re-read seems pretty ordinary or not so amazing after all.
I guess that perhaps its is also about the time at which it was written and/or when you read it. Perhaps both the times and the the person have changed in between readings.
This happened to me recently when I was feeling like I needed a really good inspirational and thinking-about-art-and-life book; and one that I had raved about, I turned to re-read and couldn't for the life of me understand why.
And I didn't finish it which utterly astounded me. I flicked back and forth trying to find the hook that had reeled me in last time, and just couldn't find it. Perhaps I have moved well beyond what it was saying or teaching; perhaps I am no longer in a place where it resonated.
George Eliot knew a thing or too and she certainly knew this!
Not the same book.
Photograph of me cleaning my ink rollers on the weekend.
George Eliot
I think I have pondered quotes like this before - about how when we re-read a book we often bring a different perspective to it; a different angle and I still think that is true. I am quite often astonished to find that a book that I thought was life changing and brilliant, on a re-read seems pretty ordinary or not so amazing after all.
I guess that perhaps its is also about the time at which it was written and/or when you read it. Perhaps both the times and the the person have changed in between readings.
This happened to me recently when I was feeling like I needed a really good inspirational and thinking-about-art-and-life book; and one that I had raved about, I turned to re-read and couldn't for the life of me understand why.
And I didn't finish it which utterly astounded me. I flicked back and forth trying to find the hook that had reeled me in last time, and just couldn't find it. Perhaps I have moved well beyond what it was saying or teaching; perhaps I am no longer in a place where it resonated.
George Eliot knew a thing or too and she certainly knew this!
Not the same book.
Photograph of me cleaning my ink rollers on the weekend.
have read some books over and over and get something fresh and new out of them every time, others are best left to the memory of how they transformed my life at the time & then there are all the books on the wish list still to read in this one lifetime
ReplyDeleteThe perfect summary Mo - some books just keep giving; others were right at one point but not again; and then there is all the rest yet to be read! Go well.
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