Thursday Thoughts...

"A story can always break into pieces while it sits inside a book on a shelf; and, decades after we have read it even twenty times, it can open us up, by cut or caress, to a new truth." 

Andre Dubus

I oftentimes wonder about which books to keep on my shelf. Which books might I re-read? Which books should I say I have read you once and that is all I need? These words suggest that perhaps I should keep them all and regularly re-read them! I doubt that I could, but I do agree with the sentiments that suggest that even after a very long time, book can be re-read and utterly shatter us.

So much of the joy and wonder of reading is the equation that a book = author's words plus reader's perceptions. And each and every one of us brings our experiences and thoughts and beliefs to the reading of a book; and of course, these change over time. 

I love the phrasing here of how, after re-reading, a book can open us up by cut or caress - it can wound us or enfold us. So true, depending on where we are and where we have been in the intervening years.

Also the notion that what we had thought of as "the story" can itself, break into pieces and be re-formed or re-shaped into a new story based on who we are now.

Sigh, so many big ideas, and so much to think about and consider about the process of reading and re-reading.