Working On: revisiting my faves

me happily reading the same book I’ve read a zillion times (jk, this is Elderly Man Reading a Book, by Nicolas Lagneau)

I'm a routine-oriented person, which means that I love doing the same thing, all the time. Every day I make myself a cup of coffee and get back in bed for at least 20 minutes, even when I have to go into the office (I actually get up earlier than I need to on those days, just so I can maintain this daily habit - which is saying a lot for someone who loves sleep as much as I do). On days off, I look forward to eating toast and two soft-boiled eggs dotted with Frank's hot sauce, which I've been doing for the past year. I like to go to the same restaurants, and order the same thing I got the last time. I recognize that this make me sound like an extremely boring person, but it's not that I'm incurious, or hesitant to try new things - I just get so much JOY out of the things that I already know I like!

Every single day when I slip back under my covers with a hot, milky coffee I feel unbelievably happy about it. As a child I used to read the same books over and over again, which I think was another manifestation of this love of routine. The feeling of anticipation, as you approach what you already know is a really good part of the story - it was like Christmas. All of the Little House on the Prairie books, the Goose Girl series, every Anne of Green Gables novel - I read and reread and reread them, the spines of each volume cracking irreparably, the corners of the pages tearing off after being folded too many times. It seemed essential to me to have these kinds of favorite books, ones that you knew inside and out, not least because it seemed to say something about you; about who you were and what you wanted to be like.

I have read The Blue Castle - one of L.M. Montgomery's lesser-known novels - so many times that some scenes feel like they are my own memories. Encountering it for the first time as an early teenager, I enjoyed it, but it was the later readings, from when I was in my late teens, that really cemented it in my consciousness. It was a novel that I turned to again and again, for different reasons, but I always found something important within it. It remains one of my favorite books, and I actually own two copies, just in case (in case of what, I do not know, but only having one copy was giving me anxiety, so I got another one).

Now, I've been on a re-reading spree - in the past few months I've finished Circe, The House of Mirth, and Farmer Boy (all re-reads), and begun The Age of Innocence and Neverwhere. It’s been so much fun that I think I want to carry on for the rest of the year, too. Mansfield Park, which I read for the first time fifteen years ago, is on my list for this summer, and I want to re-read Rebecca before we visit Cornwall in June.

Much has been written about the pleasures of re-reading: the opportunity to encounter a previous self as you engage with the same book, the deeper understanding that’s gained when one is already familiar with the narrative. Personally, I like that a story seems to increase in vividness the more I read it - new details are noticed, and added to my imagined picture, until it is built up into something almost equal to reality.

Not every book holds up to a revisitation, obviously, and there are some that I really don't want to read ever again, but I wonder if more books might deserve to become loved. Maybe the magic is in the re-reading itself, in the intimacy that comes with really getting to know a story. As kids, my siblings and I ended up watching a few select movies on repeat - based solely on the fact that they happened to be the ones our family owned on VHS or DVD. I've seen the 2006 Steve Martin version of The Pink Panther more times than I can count - not that there's anything particularly genius about that movie, but I still quote it weekly and, honestly, could happily put it on and watch the whole thing at any given moment. This is not really because of any intrinsic quality belonging to the film itself (although, to be honest, I do still think it is very funny), but rather it’s the fact that I know it so well that makes me love it.

I am curious to know what books, or films, or albums, fill this niche for other people. What can you read over and over again? What movie have you seen a dozen times? What is it that makes you love it so much?

I’m currently working on a big project, which I hope I’ll be able to reveal more of soon. In the meantime, I’ll just remind you that I have a free printable zine about darning available to download on my Buy Me a Coffee page. Here’s hoping you have a wonderful weekend full of whatever you like the most. Talk to you soon!

Best,