Any book can be read and enjoyed once. Most books we read fall into this category, no shade implied. The author wrote a story that kept their reader engaged until the end, a mighty feat. Some books, though, have a different effect. Some books pull at you, invade your thought and demand a rereading. I read The Passion Paradox by (authors) recently, and it will find itself in that category and I am a third of the way through my second reading of Authenticity by James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine II. What is it about some books that demands a return engagement? I have two criteria: ideas or characters. If either one hooks me, odds are good, it will get a second reading
Clarification: I don’t count series in this. Occasionally, if I’m in a lull where nothing grabs me, I’ll reread a book in a series I like. I do this as a pallet cleanser and time filler until my interest gets triggered by something. No, I’m talking about making a conscious choice to revisit a book because it scratches a particular reading itch I have. Oh, and not all of them are classics or popular. Some are. I’m working to get through a bunch now so I can reread Dune by Frank Herbert to give it the attention it demands. That said, here are a few titles that pull me back every few years presented in the order of when I discovered them.
Naked Once More by Elizabeth Peters
Plot: In the fourth, and sadly last, in this series, Jacqueline Kirby has morphed from academic librarian to historical romance novelist. She’s hired to write the sequel to a huge bestseller called Naked In the Ice. The book’s author, Kathleen Darcy, went missing seven years earlier and has now been declared legally dead. Having won the job, Jake moves down to Kathleen’s hometown of Pine Grove to create an online for the book—and discover what really happened to the author.
I LOVE Jacqueline Kirby! I think she’s part of the reason I became a librarian. She’s smart, snarky and I think, an avatar for the author (an academic and popular genre author) to express her feelings about these institutions. She drinks. She swears. She engages in adult activity. All off the page, of course, this is a cozy, the author makes it clears she’s connected to the ‘real’ world. She has kids, two, one of each, Beth and David, adult age, and that’s all you know about them. Nothing about a husband(s). I encountered her in my twenties and she was my first ‘woman of a certain age’ that was cool, vital and the center of any room she entered. The fact that all those things could follow you as you age was a revelation. Whenever I need a smart friend, I break her out.
West Of Paradise by Gwen Davis
Plot: Kate Donnelly has moved to Hollywood to try her hand at screenwriting like her writer hero: F. Scott Fitzgerald. It’s not going well. In a fit of loneliness, she crashes a funeral. The deceased, Larry Drayco, was a big player in tinsel town with the big appetites and scandals that accompany them. With the help of a friendly drug dealer, who dropped a hint or two, everyone now believes she’s the illegitimate granddaughter of her hero. With this new found cache, Kate gets her foot in the door, and a look behind the scenes at both Hollywood and the real story of Larry Drayco.
This book is dated, and might not have aged well (thought I suspect might not is more a has not), but no book skewers Hollywood in general and the 1980s version in particular. If you know anything about that time, you’ll see that several characters have enough of the qualities of real movers and shakers back then and the secrets they carry, juicier than expected. It’s no surprise that I always tend to float back to this fun book candy in February, aka Oscar season.
All Chandler’s Philip Marlow Books
Through 8 books, Chandler’s Philip Marlow acts as world weary tour guide through the underbelly of 1940’s and 50’s Los Angeles. A private eye who always tries to make noble choices in an ignoble world, Marlow, as solid man in a centerless city, never back down and always follows the case through to the end, no matter what it cost me. They include:
- The Big Sleep (1939)
- Trouble Is My Business (1939)
- Farewell, My Lovely (1940)
- The High Window (1942)
- The Lady In the Lake (1943)
- The Little Sister (1949)
- The Long Goodbye (1953)
- Playback (1958)
If the last book was problematic, this series is all kinds of wrong. Chandler’s female characters are almost all warped, immoral and hypersexual, so…not a feminist. A victim of its time and genre conventions, toxic masculinity rules the day, and yes, I do often have a desire to break in and punch him. But the language. The man made the hard boiled, the man imbued it with rich language and deep symbolism, often cast his guy as a knight trying to find justice. And, every time I dig in I find something new.
The Art Of Asking by Amanda Palmer
Plot: Singer/songwriter Amanda Palmer’s autobiography/manifesto chronical her time as a street performer, the forming, life and break-up of her first band, the Dresden Dolls, her community of fans and the meeting and marrying of her husband, Neil Gaiman. The heart of the book, however, focuses on the relationship with her best friend/second father/guru Anthony. Most of all, it’s about the vulnerability, joy and occasional disappointment when you put yourself out and ask for what you need.
Amanda Palmer isn’t for everyone. She’s all in on her life, and you’re either in it with her or not. I was in. And while her view is a privileged one, we all struggle with asking for help, particularly when you really need it and from those we are closest to. But, as she argues, and I agree with her on this, a necessity for those of us working to make art by digging into the full extent of our lives, including the pain and trauma.
Future re-reads: The Passion Paradox, Authenticity and Dune
Those are some of mine. What about you? What do you re-read and why? Please share below.