I have recently made a major discovery about getting old

[hyphenate]

On Saturday, I read a book that I had finished once already not that long ago. I've gone back to re-read the books, as they are part of a series, and with so many things happening in the later books, I thought I would start back on the oldest ones to see if anything that happens in the more recent books was in any way hinted at in the earlier ones.

Unfortunately, there was a snag in the plan--as I was reading the earlier book, I was turning pages and finding that some things had happened that I don't recall reading the first time around!

I began to laugh about it this afternoon, and decided growing old has its advantages--when your mind starts getting rather holey, and you begin to forget things, you will begin to look at old books as new again. You will be able to maintain a smaller library, because you can keep re-reading the same books, and since you will forget what you already have read, it will always appear to be a new book you're reading!

I thought perhaps that was why GWB has read The Hungry Caterpillar and My Pet Goat so many times--he can't remember reading them hundreds of times already!

When I hit 40 (oh-so-long-ago), I was told I would begin suffering from CRS (can't Remember Shit); instead, it became a much worse ailment called CRAFT (Can't Remember A Fucking Thing). It seems it took over 10 years to manifest itself, but yeah--it's like a Timex watch (takes a lickin', but keeps on tickin').

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. I have an older friend who says "Every time I read a novel, it's the first time"

no matter how many times she's read it.

And she loves that she can pick up any novel in her library and it feels like the first read.

:rofl:

[hyphenate]

3. It's a wonderful feeling

sometimes, but when you want a re-cap on a book, it's hell! I think I'll head back to the Harry Potter books when I'm done with the current series--I've read them enough times that I have started to remember things! :rofl:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

2. You got it right

I'm a writer, the published novelist kind, and a friend, in a letter, quoted something that I found quite compelling. I asked him where he got it, and he told me that I had written it.

[hyphenate]

4. That's kind of neat

Everything old is new again. You might want to re-read it again, and take notes.....just in case you decide to write a sequel! :)

[davsand]

5. When you get older you can do your own Easter Egg hunts.

It is something to look forward to, I think.

:hi:

I keep my books and read them over and over again if I like them. Some things I drag out and re-read every so often just because (Lord of the Rings is one of those. I read that trilogy about once a year...)

I was amazed to realize that not everyone does that same thing.


Laura

[hyphenate]

7. I do it too

just not a regular basis. Last summer, when Harry Potter 7 came out, I read all the novels through a couple of times, seeing the flow and plotlines starting to come together. The last three are more emotionally charged, and I read them more.

I re-read the Chronicles of Narnia for the first time in many, many years, and sadly, it left me somewhat cold. The Narnian books are highly narrated with an omniscient POV, but little emotionally impact. It wasn't necessarily any major religious overtones in them, merely the impersonal tone in them.

Lord of the Rings does overshadow Narnia because it does get inside the head of some of its characters, and that is great. If you are in the market for another series which parallels LOTR to a similar degree, you might want to read Tad Williams's trilogy, The Dragonbone Chair, The Stone of Farewell, and To Green Angel Tower. Epic fantasy, very nice, different in some striking ways from LOTR, but just as compelling.

The series I'm on right now is the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. It's considered contemporary fantasy, about a guy who is a wizard in modern day Chicago. It's got a few things which bug the crap out of me, but it's not too bad.

I like series because I spent a lot of time in my bedroom this past winter because of the cold--space heater, electric blanket, etc. Reading a series kept me reading beyond the normal time I used to spend with books, and helped time go a little faster.

[LynzM]

12. Heya hyphenate...

Have you read Tad Williams's "Otherland" series? I'd also highly recommend those, if you haven't. I haven't yet read the series by him that you mention, but I'll definitely look it up! :hi:

[hyphenate]

14. I've got the first book in that

series, but I haven't read it. I think I did start it, but got sidetracked. I did begin another one he wrote that was a single book, Caliban's Hour, I believe, and I was bored. Tailchaser's Song is a beautiful book, but I will not read it again--it's very, very sad.

In the meantime, I have to begin collecting the Xanth series again, from Piers Anthony--I read them over 10 years ago, so they should feel brand new again now. :)

There are some series which looked daunting years ago which probably won't this time around. And I definitely recommend buying as many of a series as you can at once, because you retain more from one going right into the next, instead of waiting a year or more to get to the next one.

[sammythecat]

6. That's a fascinating subject.

I sometimes annoyingly forget the most basic things, like a co-worker's name, or I suddenly need something from the store, go there and buy a bunch of stuff, come home and realize I forgot to get the very thing that made me go to the store in the first place. That happens almost regularly, yet sometimes I'll amaze myself and come up with some inconsequential detail from 40 years ago that I know hasn't come to mind any other time in all those years. Even then it was almost meaningless, and yet there it's been, ready to go at a moments notice, for 40 years.

Like, how in the world did I remember THAT, and WHY in the world was that taking up space in my brain?

[hyphenate]

10. Oh yeah

Been there. I have an amazing capacity for what some might euphemistically call trivia, while others will tell me my head is full of junk.

A lot of TV trivia. Not so much any more of current stuff, but go back to the 60s, 70s and 80s, and I'm there. Especially character actors or those who guest star. I recognize faces easily, and come up with the actor's name a few seconds later. When I lived in L.A. and worked at Universal, I got to meet some of these people, and it's nice how they respond to you--a little gratitude that someone has seen their work.

And about words--my vocabulary is fairly large, and as a writer, I like when I can mesh a thought with a specific word. I would hate to be unable to come up with the one word which fills my need, and just use the same words continually.

[texas1928]

8. I'm sorry what were we talking about?

*scratches head.*

[hyphenate]

13. heh, heh

Sometimes I can't even remember what time of day it is. About a week or so, I woke up, and it was about 6:00. I didn't know if it was 6 a.m. or p.m. because they're both light now. It was 6 in the morning, I discovered, and promptly went back to sleep.

[zanne]

9. You should try that with poetry!

I still have my old college poetry books. T.S.Eliot's poetry means something completely different to me when I read it now. I've also found that there are some poems I never really understood in the first place!

[hyphenate]

11. Yup

We learn things in our lives that when we return to something from our youth, we can appreciate it more. I really feel sorry for my nieces and nephews, because when though most of them are out of school, none of them picked up the love of reading that I have. I was a huge British poet fan--Alfred, Lord Tennyson, William Wordsworth, Byron, Blake, Browning....

Still am. The "wisdom" and knowledge we've garnered over our lives gives us more insight to the poems themselves. I really DID hate when we went to English class and many of the poems were done to death in terms of analysis, and I still hate that. Some poems just need to be read and imagined, without all the excessive stuff.

[seaglass]

15. It started for me with books when I was much much younger.

I'm sure that it has to do with my speed reading, I skip a lot of adjectives. Unfortunately it's a bad habit I started when I was a pre-teen, I read books like I'm eating a fast food meal - satisfying while I'm doing it, but soon forgotten.

I have bought books many times that I already have and have read - it pisses me off. I'll pick up a book in the bookstore by an author I like, read the back cover to get the gist of the story, thumb through some of the pages to make sure I don't remember the characters and then I'll get home and find I already have it and have read it :-(

You did make me laugh hyphenate, my husband would be thrilled if I never bought another book and just feasted on the ones I already have. :-)

[applegrove]

16. I read a book last week - loved it - and for the life of me cannot remember

anything about it.