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.
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?
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