Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Prompt 2- Blog
I would consider myself as a rereader, especially when it comes to articles and essays. For me, reading a text once isn’t enough to fully grasp the concept that the author is trying to get across. Sometimes I find myself at the end of the writing and not having fully read and understood what it was trying to point out. Rereading isn’t just for those who don’t understand the writing during the first read through. Actually, I sometimes reread to get more information that I might have missed the first time around. I usually read a piece of writing the first time to try and get a feel of what I’m about to dive into without getting too overwhelmed. When I reread the text, I start to pick out interesting points and statements that I might have not caught the first time. Sometimes, I’ll even read a third time to fully understand what the author’s purpose is without interrupting his writing with my own thoughts and objections. With reading novels, I treat rereading differently. Most of the time I hate to reread books. Just like I hate to watch movies I’ve already seen, with the exception of Frozen and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. But when it comes to rereading a novel, I feel like I can’t dive back into the story line without corrupting it or ruining the ending for myself. I find some books better not be opened again, to keep the story line and the character’s lives sacred. It might be because I don’t know how to reread novels properly to enjoy them. Just this past year I tried to reread one of my favorite books, The Glass Castle, and couldn’t get passed the first 30 pages without getting bored or irritated with the ending all over again. Just as I said before, maybe it’s because I might have not properly grasped how to reread in order to enjoy a novel the second time around. On the other hand, I find rereading essays, documents, and articles very beneficial. While rereading those pieces of writing you find yourself understanding more points and information then the first time you read through, which makes rereading important.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think many would agree that rereading is most often necessary for non-fiction as you indicate. However, really good fiction has much to say beyond the surface as well. Grapes of Wrath is a great example.
ReplyDeleteSBL
I understand what you mean about rereading novels. Sometimes it truly is the dullest thing to do when you already know the ending. Other times, I’ve found, my reading experience is heightened by the rereading, especially when the author has placed little clues throughout the book or series. Plot points and twists that did not mean much at first but did near the end. Characters that were introduced and then mysteriously forgotten only to be main points in the ending. Rereading, as much as I dislike it with most articles, is beneficial. I hate rereading most articles because I cannot get into them. There is not a story for me to follow creatively, but I know it is the basis for understanding any work, so I do it anyway. I suppose it all just depends on the piece.
ReplyDeleteArticles and pieces of nonfiction, as many would agree, require a second or third reading to grasp as much information as possible. A person is thoroughly benefited from reading through an article once more. However, I disagree with the difficulty of rereading a novel. There is not a method written in stone that one must grasp in order to enjoy a work of art once more. Instead, one must focus on the text in front of them, read to find something new and use the ending to understand the information in the beginning.
ReplyDeleteI find myself rereading many short, complicated texts quite frequently. Philosophical works in Latin are probably one of my most reread items. This is because I know they have some profound meaning and I’m just not grasping it yet. Regular fictitious books however are a different story. Just as you said Lilly I have trouble rereading some books. I have found that they only way I can manage to reread a book I loved is to forget about it for at least a year. The book needs time away from my mind. What I also like about this process is that I can read this book from a new perspective and new life experiences. This can result in ideas never before formed.
ReplyDelete