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Smiling Shelves

Reading for the First Time - You Only Get One Chance

8/18/2016

6 Comments

 
Think of your favorite book. It may be one from your childhood, or one you just picked up last week. Either way, you've read it by now. You know the ending. You've seen how all the parts connect. You can only reread it next time, rather than experience that first reading full of "aha!" moments.

The fact that you can only read a book for the first time once was brought home to me a couple of weeks ago when Harry Potter and the Cursed Child came out. It had been nine years since I had last held a new Harry Potter book in my hands. I've read the original series so many times that the details have become second nature to me. What would it be like to have a fresh, new Harry Potter experience? New plot, new characters, new piece of that world.

And the most important question - do I rush through or savor the experience? (I aimed for the second one, but ended up doing the first. It was such a fast read that it was over before I knew it!)

This got me thinking about other books I wish I could experience for the first time again. I'd love to read Pride & Prejudice without knowing the happy ending and how they got there. Can you imagine being on the edge of your seat for Elizabeth and Darcy, rather than knowing exactly how they're going to get to walk down the aisle? The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is another book I'd love to read with fresh eyes. My mom read it to me as a child, and I've read it so many times since. But I wish I could read it again for the first time, not knowing what was going to happen to Aslan.
What books do you wish you could read again for the first time?
6 Comments
Kate @ Mom's Radius link
8/18/2016 09:23:27 am

I hear you! I would love to read Harry Potter again for the first time. Although I'm not sure if it would be the same reading it at 36 as it was reading the first three books at 19 or 20.

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Julie @ Smiling Shelves link
8/21/2016 09:00:15 pm

Harry Potter is definitely one I would like to experience again for the first time, but I agree that it would be a different experience now than when I first read them in high school! :)

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Jade @ Reading With Jade link
8/19/2016 10:58:57 am

This is such a great thought provoking post, Julie. I do love a good reread, but there really is nothing like that first initial experience of a book. There are a lot of children's classics I'd like to read again for the first time I think - Little Women, The Railway Children etc.

You've definitely made me think about how I read, and I'm sure going forward I'll savour those first reads a tad more.

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Julie @ Smiling Shelves link
8/21/2016 08:59:20 pm

I'm glad my post has made you think, Jade. Reading a book for the first time is such a unique experience, one you can never get back. There are a lot of books from my childhood I'd like to read for the first time again, like you said. :)

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K Tobias
8/19/2016 06:03:03 pm

Witch of Blackbird Pond, Wrinkle in Time from childhood; Elizabeth George's first mystery, zillions of others. Very interesting idea!

Reply
Julie @ Smiling Shelves link
8/21/2016 08:56:42 pm

Ooh, A Wrinkle in Time is a good one!

Reply



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    My name is Julie, and I own a lot of books. As in, they are stacked on the floor because I've run out of room on the shelves. And those shelves? There are so many books on them that they smile -- not sag; smile. This blog will cover book reviews and all manner of other bookish things.

    You can contact me at julie@smilingshelves.com.

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