Today’s Musing Monday question over at Should Be Reading is: Have you ever reread a book and found that your opinion changed?
Yes, but mostly books that I loved in high school. Distance fogs the mind, I think. LOL
Plus, I think I have less patience now. Less time, too, which may translate into less patience. LOL
So, yeah. And my inner editor is a lot stronger than she used to be and sometimes makes reading a difficult experience on occasion. Note, only on occasion. Mostly, my editor leaves my reading activities alone and only comes out to play when it’s a book I’ve heard a lot about and really want to like.
Anyway. I think I have become a less patient, more critical reader since high school. I see awkwardness I didn’t before; I can’t ignore large, confusing tracts of prose anymore; plot holes are both more obvious and annoying than before; I can’t ignore words that drop in from no where, completely out of wack with the character and setting. It’s easier to see clichés, easier to predict where the story is going and what’s going to happen.
It probably helps me become a better writer, but a better reader? I am not sure.
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I’ve had this experience before. I’ve gone back and read stories I loved as a kid and now go “wait…this is awful!” Sometimes it’s a content thing…realizing that there’s glorification of violence (especially towards women) or ideologies I’ve grown to feel opposite towards. I think the biggest one is going back and re-reading Anne McCaffrey books…she was who got me INTO fantasy as a middle schooler, and now when I read them, all I see is violence towards women (and just generally really anti-feminist characters), weak writing, whacked out science, and the flattest characters ever. I only continue to re-read them purely for nostalgia. Sigh.
But it does make me both a better reader and writer though, I think. When I read, I pick up on “wow, that doesn’t work AT ALL” and “that works great!” So it’s a toss up.
LOL I loved Anne McCaffrey when I was younger. I still do. But it’s easier to see how it works now.