North Short Musings by Mike Lubow
“The same book twice”
They say you can’t step into the same river twice, and maybe that’s true. But you can read the same book twice if you want.
It’s a smart idea, as long as the book is good, and you liked it the first time around.
This opinion provoked disagreement and disapproval over deep dish pizza the other night in a North Shore restaurant. Friends said: “C’mon there are a million unread books to discover, why backtrack?“
Their argument almost worked but not quite…
Recently, you found yourself recommending a novel to a friend who got an e-reader and wanted to start with something fail-safe.
The book you described was an old favorite of yours. It sounded so compelling that you looked it up again yourself. After scanning the first page you couldn’t help reading the second…then the whole thing.
How do you justify this? The answer hit with the feel of an epiphany: hey, you’ll listen to a piece of music more than once, right? Say you like the Beatles or the opera Carmen. You wouldn’t say, “Been there, heard them, never again.” No. You’ll listen, and like them, time and again whenever you’re in the mood.
This is probably a matter of taste, sure. But speaking of taste, here’s the best argument for re-reading something you liked: take that slice of pizza you just ate as an example. Can you imagine yourself saying, “Yeah, I had pizza once. Really great, but I’d never order it twice.”
A pretty lame and limiting way to treat the fun things in life. Same goes for books. If you want to read a good one, get an old favorite and enjoy.