Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to revisit a familiar book. Rereading something
Speaker 1: you enjoyed in a different phase of life can reconnect
Speaker 1: you to that time, or you might see new things
Speaker 1: in your current phase of life that you couldn't before.
Speaker 1: I have noted in the past on this podcast that
Speaker 1: we are only going to read so many books in life.
Speaker 1: If you live for fifty more years and read fifty
Speaker 1: books a year, that is only books. And frankly, for
Speaker 1: many of us, those are both fairly optimistic assumptions. So
Speaker 1: rereading a book seems like a waste, and yet I
Speaker 1: have found myself doing it recently, partly as a way
Speaker 1: to get back into the reading habit after the inevitable
Speaker 1: baby year's slump, and also just for curiosity's sake. I
Speaker 1: have revisited a handful of works and found new things
Speaker 1: during this rereading that makes even classic works feel new
Speaker 1: and like a good use of time. For instance, this year,
Speaker 1: I'm reading through all the works of Shakespeare. I have
Speaker 1: read or seen a number of his plays in the past,
Speaker 1: and so some are familiar but we approached them in
Speaker 1: different ways. For instance, when I first read Romeo and
Speaker 1: Juliette in high school, as everyone probably does, I was
Speaker 1: drawn to the romantic love struck teenagers. Now, as a
Speaker 1: mother of kids that age, I am rolling my eyes
Speaker 1: at how over the top Shakespeare makes their brash, adolescent emotions.
Speaker 1: Romeo moves from his previous love interest to Juliette at
Speaker 1: a moment's notice. The tale is tragic, to be sure,
Speaker 1: but some of it reads like farce, which is something
Speaker 1: I didn't see so much of before, or in a
Speaker 1: completely different genre. I recently reread The Seven Habits of
Speaker 1: Highly Effective People. I remember reading Stephen Covey's classic self
Speaker 1: help book many years ago before I had kids. I
Speaker 1: thought it was good and I got some practical ideas
Speaker 1: about planning and such from it. Reading it now, I'm
Speaker 1: fascinated to see how much his experience with his nine
Speaker 1: kids permeates his writing. His was a very traditional family,
Speaker 1: and I know his wife managed much of the household work,
Speaker 1: and yet the needs and joys of small kids are
Speaker 1: there in his time in a way that many other
Speaker 1: authors just don't acknowledge. How do we accomplish big things
Speaker 1: in the world while managing our relationships with a house
Speaker 1: full of young people. It's a good question, and it's
Speaker 1: certainly one I care about now with a house full
Speaker 1: of young people myself. And sometimes we just revisit works
Speaker 1: to revisit good prose. I recently reread Pilgrim at Tinker
Speaker 1: Creek to be reminded of how Annie Dillard captures the
Speaker 1: wildness of the natural world. I reread Virginia Wolves to
Speaker 1: the Lighthouse every few years because it's just the most
Speaker 1: perfect novel. It is everything about humanity in two hundred pages. Now.
Speaker 1: To be sure, not every book bears up to revisiting.
Speaker 1: I have decided not to revisit a few books I
Speaker 1: read in childhood because I am pretty sure they won't
Speaker 1: be as good as I remember them, being best to
Speaker 1: keep the happy memory rather than see the flaws. But
Speaker 1: many books do stand the test of time. If you
Speaker 1: have found yourself in a reading slump recently, or even
Speaker 1: if you haven't, but you are struggling with the question
Speaker 1: of what to read next, try revisiting a familiar book
Speaker 1: if it's been a while. There may be things you
Speaker 1: have forgotten that will be interesting. Maybe you didn't see
Speaker 1: something the first time through, or maybe you'll approach the
Speaker 1: story in a different way now that you are a
Speaker 1: different person. Good literature can stand up to all of
Speaker 1: this and you'll have a great reading experience. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's b E the
Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i
Speaker 1: heart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward
Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of
Speaker 1: I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,
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Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.