What are you currently reading?

[RonClinton]

That Straub experience is why I’ve been too wary to reread GHOST STORY, a novel I have very fond memories of and a book I consider an essential classic and Straub’s finest work, right up there with King’s early classics.

I’d rather just let that belief stay frozen in amber.

[brlesh]

That's the reason I'm wary about rereading favorite books of which that I have especially fond memories...sometimes you just can't go home again, and the shattering of those memories is really unfortunate. Sure, maybe a particular book was a phenomenal read two or three decades ago, but I was a different person, a different reader, back then, so is is the book that has changed or is it me? Safe to say it's the latter, so sometimes it's just best to leave pleasant memories in place and try not to revisit them. One notable reread I had that led me to this conclusion was McCammon's SWAN SONG...yes, it's still a great read, but it's not the Top Five read that I remembered it to be...a book that was a stunning solid 9 or 9.5 back in the late eighties or early nineties became an entertaining read whose obvious mechanics and melodrama brought it down to a 7.5 or 8 when I reread it a few years ago...still quite good, but no longer the work of genre genius I remembered it to be. I got a friend to finally read James Cain's THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, definitely a book in my Top Five, and he mentioned that the court scene that makes up a good portion of the second third of the book was a bit slow and ponderous...and I didn't even remember the court scene. :-/ Time has a way of preserving that which we loved about something and downplaying or forgetting the rest.

I’ve had both positive & negative reactions to books on rereading.

Positive - Weaveworld by Clive Barker. I originally read WW in the early to mid 90’s, and at the time thought it was OK, but didn’t get what all the hype was about. Some kind of war in a magic carpet.

About 20 years later I reread WW & was absolutely blown away. Thought it was great. To this day it’s my favorite read from Barker.

Negative - back in high school I read Straub’s Floating Dragon and at the time it became one of my favorite books.

I reread FD around the same time I reread Weaveworld, and had a completely different reaction.

30 years later I found FD to be a slow & ponderous read. I struggled to finish it. I was so looking forward to rereading it, and was so disappointed.

More recently, I’ve reread both Revival by King & Horns by Hill, and my estimation of both books went up upon rereading them.

I have been meaning to reread Swan Song, one of my all time favorites, though it’s been a good 25 years since my initial reading.

B

[brlesh]

Finished Lovecraft’s Legacy, a centennial anthology from 1990 marking Lovecraft’s birth.

It was OK.

Decent stories by Lumley & Gahan Wilson, a very good story by Graham Masterton (‘Will’) and F Paul Wilson’s classic, ‘The Barrens’.

After LL, started Dust Devils by Jonathan Janz.

20 pages in, and so far so good.

B

[RonClinton]

Rereading . . . I wished I hadn’t done the reread.

That's the reason I'm wary about rereading favorite books of which that I have especially fond memories...sometimes you just can't go home again, and the shattering of those memories is really unfortunate. Sure, maybe a particular book was a phenomenal read two or three decades ago, but I was a different person, a different reader, back then, so is is the book that has changed or is it me? Safe to say it's the latter, so sometimes it's just best to leave pleasant memories in place and try not to revisit them. One notable reread I had that led me to this conclusion was McCammon's SWAN SONG...yes, it's still a great read, but it's not the Top Five read that I remembered it to be...a book that was a stunning solid 9 or 9.5 back in the late eighties or early nineties became an entertaining read whose obvious mechanics and melodrama brought it down to a 7.5 or 8 when I reread it a few years ago...still quite good, but no longer the work of genre genius I remembered it to be. I got a friend to finally read James Cain's THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, definitely a book in my Top Five, and he mentioned that the court scene that makes up a good portion of the second third of the book was a bit slow and ponderous...and I didn't even remember the court scene. :-/ Time has a way of preserving that which we loved about something and downplaying or forgetting the rest.

[bookworm 1]

Rereading So g of Susana. I’m working my way through the whole series again. I forgot how much I enjoyed these books.
I’m also reading Maus in my year long journey to read at least one banned book a month this year. This is a great read and I encourage everyone to get a copy.
I also just finished a reread of all 6 volumes of The Books of Blood. 3 stars. A few of the stories still hold up well for me it most didn’t. It was one of those things where when I was done I wished I hadn’t done the reread.