Tag: Re-read

Books

Book 900: Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë

Geoff W

Book cover of "Wuthering Heights" with Amazon Affiliate linkWhat a difference eight-ish years makes between reads. I last read this in November 2013 and had some interesting comparisons to Pride and Prejudice and observations about my own love life.

I’m not planning to reflect on that this time, for a couple of reasons, mainly that this read I really felt that perhaps the better Austen comparison is Fanny Price in Austen’s Mansfield Park rather than Darcy. I mean the whole nature versus nurture argument and how responsible are they for what happens and how much of an impact does their upbringing have? SO. MANY. QUESTIONS (and thoughts).

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Books

Book 810: Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf

Geoff W

Book cover of "Mrs. Dalloway" with Amazon Affiliate linkThis is the third time I’ve read this. I read it first in high school in my teens and HATED it. #obvi

I then read it in my early twenties in an intro to LGBT Literature course and tolerated it. The discussion was the most fascinating part and had a lot more to do with Woolf and her life than the novel itself, although there are plenty of scribbles I have in my copy about the story.

And now in my mid-30s, I won’t say I love it, but I definitely have a new appreciation for Woolf’s mastery of the craft as I re-read it. Some of the notes I scribbled reading it in undergrad definitely helped draw my attention to things and I picked up on a few more that I missed. And this is noting that my timing to read it was 100% wrong. This is NOT a pool book, I definitely fell asleep and got a slight sunburn because it’s a slow-paced dense book.

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Books

Book 710: #Hockey (Check, Please! #1) – Ngozi Ukazu

Geoff W

Book cover of "#Hockey!" with Amazon Affiliate link.After reading this last January, I knew I would revisit it. And thanks to a gift card for Christmas to Barnes and Noble, where I don’t usually shop, I ordered a copy of this and the follow up Sticks & Scones. This was all before coronavirus, and I had Sticks & Scones shipped to my office, where I hadn’t been able to get to it for almost a month after it was delivered 🙁

But when I got it, you know I had to re-read this one. And I loved it as mush as my first read. This time around I spent more time luxuriating in the artwork since I’d read the story previously and didn’t need to focus so much on who’s who and it was worth it.

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Books

Book 684: Ethan Frome – Edith Wharton

Geoff W

Book cover of "Ethan Frome" and Amazon Affiliate linkSimilar to my reading of The Age of Innocence two years ago, I was pleasantly surprised by my reading of this. I read it in high school, but of course was not impressed and definitely didn’t enjoy it, but now almost 20 years later, I get it. I’m going to keep slowly working through all the books I read in high school.

Not only was I able to appreciate the beautiful prose and stark setting thanks to living in Massachusetts now, I was also able to make connections from this to Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, a connection I made last time I read Wharton too! The biggest parallel of the two works was the structure of the novel, a visiting traveler/worker has an interaction of some type with the protagonists and then gets the rest of the story from the locals. It’s all third party he said she said with some basic observations, and it works.

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Books

Book 677: Persuasion – Jane Austen

Geoff W

Book cover of Persuasion with Amazon Affiliate link.Apparently I revisit Jane Austen’s Persuasion (May 2015 response) every 5-6 years. Last time I read it was when some friends and I did a Jane Austen Book Club back in 2015.

I decided to re-read it again while on vacation after reading the Austen Addicts trilogy (A Weekend with Mr. Darcy, Dreaming of Mr. Darcy, and Mr. Darcy Forever) by Virginia Connelly, who by all measures appears to be slightly obsessed with it—or at least co-obsessed with it and Pride and Prejudice. The further I read in Connelly’s trilogy the more I wanted to go back and read the originals again. I guess that’s a sign of a good referential nod right?

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