By Bill Spiegel, Byline Editor
Let’s face it: we don’t always want to read to learn or be inspired. Sometimes, we want to read just to escape. Drilling down further, sometimes re-reading a book is like visiting an old friend.
Challenge yourself this year to read a book of your youth; one that takes you back to when you were young, full of imagination and energy.
Maybe it’s Anne of Green Gables, the 1908 novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery, that takes you back to a simpler time. Or To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. I have adult friends who still read The Outsiders, by SE Hinton, once a year.
On the online platform Medium, writer Sufyan Maan says “…re-reading feels like catching up with an old friend. I know the main points or plot of the novel, but I observe new details and get fresh insights because I’m seeing it through a new lens.”
In Tea and Ink Society, Lisa Varner argues that re-reading an old favorite can teach us to love it in new ways as we experience different seasons of life. And like seeing old friends after time apart, we get to re-learn the characters. They have changed a bit over the years, as have we all. “R-reading allows us to assimilate a character’s qualities into our hearts and minds, so we have a greater chance of actually growing in their likeness.”
And finally – well, re-reading books is nostalgic. You may be taken back in time and place, like comfort food for your soul.
Resolve to pull out that old copy of Where the Red Fern Grows, Charlotte’s Web or The Catcher in the Rye. It’ll do you good.
-Spiegel writes for JB Spiegel Inc.