I read books several times if I enjoy them. In fairness, I rarely finish a book I dislike, but I’ll read one that’s good over and over again. What I’ve found, especially if that second or third reading doesn’t happen for a while, is that I gain a greater level of comprehension than I did the first time.
A first reading is a rollercoaster ride of jumbled emotions
and unpredictable twists. Since I don’t
know what’s going to happen, I find myself a little more on edge, and that
means I miss stuff. However, when I
already know the basic outline of a story, I feel able to relax a little more
and appreciate what I missed the first time.
I rediscovered this with Heir To The Empire. I love Tim Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy, but I
hadn’t read any of it in more than a decade.
I picked it up again on a whim while waiting for something to arrive at
my house, and I found myself enthralled again.
Yet this time I picked up on nuances I failed to notice previously. I could better imagine the crypt on Wayland
and the guards who shot at Thrawn. And
better seeing the meeting between Talon Karrde and Mara Jade came off easier in
my mind(I’d overlooked completely it was a dinner meeting). Seeing those things was a reminder that
stories shouldn’t die once they’re over the first time.
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