I read the way most folks listen to music, so there's an awful lot of rereading. Often, a book deserves a second try or even multiple readings. Or, I'm not the same man, not the same reader, that I was twenty or thirty years ago. And, who listens to a great song and never listens again, right?
I have been thinking about the books I have reread again and again, and I think they fall into four or five categories.
No, I'm simpler than that: two or three.
Distraction, direction, and devotion.
I reread to be taken away from current events, current pressures, or I want background "music".
I reread for traction and to carry myself forward, to motivate myself, to pump up or to shake it all loose.
I reread as an act of prayer, as homage to great craft and vision and story. I reread as a commitment to what the word can do beyond any other media. I reread to explore and to embrace, to be exposed and to expose myself--all the nerve endings of mind and heart and soul--to story and character and action in the best senses. I don't really have words myself for what I'm seeking, but it is a sacrament I seek daily, hourly, constantly. Or, if not sacrament, at least immersion. I reread to dive deeper, to swim beneath the surface of things, and to drown--if need be--in story. (I hold my breath well, I must add.)
Background, motivation, and/or concentration. Exposure. Immersion. Perhaps, an addiction?
All joy in various measures.
All fun in multifarious modes.
I read and reread the way most folks listen to music. The way I listen to music. The way I'll bet you listen to music.
Why don't you join me, if you don't already?
Sometimes, it can. That's the magic.
