Housekeeper’s Question Time!
Darlings will you settle an argument? Is life too short to read the same
You see I believe that life is bulging at the seams with new ideas, and fantastic stories and wonderful books and films I am still to watch and so there simply isn’t time to endure something I have already enjoyed when I could be discovering something altogether new: something that might just spark a brand new idea or set me on another path altogether through life’s journey.
To me the whole world is my literary playground, the Internet a source for a never ending round of constant inspiration, the cinema, a gateway through to everyone else’s imagination; so the very idea of sitting through a film I’ve already seen is total anathema to me. I can’t fathom what kind of mind wants to sit in front of a film they can talk along with, or read a
Well my friends apparently not. According to Richard, who regularly informs me that he must have watched this film “a hundred times” or read that
So tell me this and tell me no more: which camp are you in? Are you like me? Do you get twitchy legs if you find yourself sitting in front of something you have seen before? Does the thought of reading Wuthering Heights from back to front in time for the next meeting of the Playground Mummies
Or are you like Richard? Is there a
Tell me now, is life to short to read the same
Can I have a foot in each camp?
I will very rarely read a book again as there's always a new one to be read (you should see my wish list!). The only books I have ever read twice are the Shopaholic series and Virginia Andrews "Flowers in the Attic" books.
There are certain films I can watch over and over again, Practical Magic & Gone with the Wind being too but I've got to the point now there's so much I want to see that I rent films rather than buy as its very rare I go to my DVD cabinet to select something to watch.
Victoria xx
Dear Victoria, having a foot in both camps is naughty!x
Some books and movies are like comfort food, or an old friend. Some are so rich and layered I see/ read something new everytime I experience it. Those are the exceptions however so thank heavens for netflix and the public library. Do you feel the same way about music? Hear it once then move on?
No Mary and that is actually a really valid point. Perhaps it is the fleeting nature of a song that means I need to hear it over and over before I can absorb it?
I am definitely in Richard's camp on this one. Some books and movies are like dear old friends that I like to visit time and time again. Wuthering Heights is a book and movie that I have read and watched numerous times. Breakfast at Tiffany's, Under the Tuscan Sun, French Kiss, Somewhere in Time and Fried Green Tomatoes are some of the movies that I have watched numerous times. It's comforting, no surprises just a nice time with the familiar.
I do get where you are coming from….my husband can watch murder mysteries over and over, despite knowing who did it and I don't understand that at all. For me – sometimes a book or a movie (or even a TV series) are like your favourite sweets…even if you have had one before you go back for more because they are just so good!
I've with Victoria…mostly I think life is too short to re-tread but there are a few cozy situationally repeatable exceptions. I like to watch Anne of Green Gables every fall with a mug of mulled cider and a fresh donut in hand, at Christmas I always watch While You Were Sleeping because it makes me feel all snug inside. Books I pretty much never re-read unless you're talking childhood favorites which I love re-reading with my children and have actually read outloud to my husband too. I also like watching films I've seen before for the sake of sharing a special flick with someone.
My recent post Its A Boy!!!!
Do you feel that you only need to look at a painting once, hear a piece of music once or only be with a person once and there's nothing new for them to offer you? Familiar books and movies like old friends, comforting in their familiarity, still can offer something new every time you experience them. You can't possible catch everything the first time. The stories of Sherlock Holmes, Gone With the Wind, The Good Earth, In This House of Bede, Herriot's vet stories, Ray Bradbury's works, Ursula LeGuin's Wizard of Earthsea series, The Secret of Roan Inish, Babbett;s Feast, Jet Li's Hero, House of the Flying Daggers are all works I enjoy over and over again and each time they work magic for me.
Linda
Linda after Richards recommendation and now darling yours, I am definetly going to give the Sherlock Holmes series a go…
Thank you!x
I certainly agree that many books are " disposable " and not worth revisiting; but so many more offer different experiences at different times in our lives. They have a depth that can be appreciated over a lifetime and some books are so meaningful to me that I have collected more than one set of the series because I wanted to reread them and was not able to get at my original copies at that time. Something new would not have filled the need. Gill.
For me, it depends on the movie or book. I love Stephen King and have a collection here at home that I read and re-read. Certain movies, like some of the classics, To Kill a Mockingbird (awesome book, too), Psycho and other HItchcock flicks and some mindless humor or beautiful romance (The Notebook anyone?) keep me from having to be too deeply involved when I have several other things going on and do I ever have things going on with three kids and many pets.
I say there is room for both. Of course you want to experience new movies and books, otherwise we never grow and become stale, but don't shut the door on things you've watched or read before because then you miss out on recapturing a special feeling it can invoke.
I don't know if I have the emotional energy to re-watch The Notebook – I sobbed for two days!!!!! I couldn't even try and talk about what the film was about to anyone without sobbing again! A very moving and brilliantly acted movie, I was just so unprepared for how deeply it would affect me!
For me, it depends on the movie or book. I love Stephen King and have a collection here at home that I read and re-read. Certain movies, like some of the classics, To Kill a Mockingbird (awesome book, too), Psycho and other HItchcock flicks and some mindless humor or beautiful romance (The Notebook anyone?) keep me from having to be too deeply involved when I have several other things going on and do I ever have things going on with three kids and many pets.
I say there is room for both. Of course you want to experience new movies and books, otherwise we never grow and become stale, but don't shut the door on things you've watched or read before because then you miss out on recapturing a special feeling it can invoke.
I'm a split vote. I'll re-watch, but I very rarely re-read.
My recent post 100 Days to a Happy Housewife 22: Farmer's Market
Sometimes I wish I were one of those individuals who is bored by the prospect of re-reading or re-watching as it seems they must go through life a bit less encumbered than myself. Instead I feel a need to revisit my favorites again and again; sometimes out of loyalty, sometimes for a particular dose of a particular mood, sometimes for that comfortable old-friend feeling, and sometimes to remind me of myself.
I think those that are our favorites are outcroppings of our own souls we're recognizing; though, to be fair, my husband who rarely re-reads or re-watches nevertheless reads and watches the same types of books and shows so I think he's well reassured of his soul as well.
There is simply too much interesting information out there to re-watch and re-read books for me. I figure if anything is going to resonate with me enough to influence my life, I will remember it the first go around. I do look back fondly in my memories of favorite books and films that have touched my heart. I remember them as if they were experiences I've had with old friends. I do have to admit to two exceptions, though: Sarah Ban Breathnach's Simple Abundance and Romancing the Ordinary. These give me seasonal inspiration from time to time when I need a lift in spirit. She never fails me.
There is simply too much interesting information out there to re-watch and re-read books for me. I figure if anything is going to resonate with me enough to influence my life, I will remember it the first go around. I do look back fondly in my memories of favorite books and films that have touched my heart. I remember them as if they were experiences I've had with old friends. I do have to admit to two exceptions, though: Sarah Ban Breathnach's Simple Abundance and Romancing the Ordinary. These give me seasonal inspiration from time to time when I need a lift in spirit. She never fails me.
I both re-read and re-watch – sometimes many many times! For me it´s the same as music for example – do you listen to the same CD only once? No, you usually don´t, sometimes you even listen to it all day on repeat. For me, watching a favourite movie or reading a book is like seeing old friends, dear and missed old friends. Also, it usually puts me back to where I was the last time (or the first time) around, kinda like a time machine, especially when it comes to emotions.
I can see what you mean..but, for me, a beloved book or film is a comfort blanket. Yes, you know how it's going to end; you can probably recite pages and lines of script perfectly; you know exactly when the mood is going to change and what's coming next. But I don't think it matters. To me, in a world of uncertainty, re-read books and re-watched (is that a word?) films are as comforting and secure as hot chocolate on a cold night.
Ah thats such a snuggly reply Lesley! Perhaps I am depriving myself of guarenteed comfort?
I am a re-reading & a re-watcher!
I do love my old favourites & love watching my favourite movies time & time again & love settling down with a book that I've loved before to re-read all the old friends I once knew.
I do of course love finding new things but when I can't find anything new I fancy the old favourites come out!
love
Alison
x
I read books and watch films for all of the reasons you mentioned, so I think that in some ways, I'm in both camps. Actually, there are few books that I like to re-read, but there are lots of movies and TV shows that I watch repeatedly. DVD sales would be pretty dismal if there weren't lots of people who like to watch things over and over again.
My recent post Bernkastel
Oh, Alison, what about all those Christmas books/films that reassure us the festive season is indeed upon us and make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside, snuggled and cosy in the little Christmassy worlds of our making? For those sort of 'comfort food for the soul' occasions, I feel there is indeed merit in me re-visiting those films/books that do the trick, maybe rediscovering new layers each time. After all, don't we all have our favourite foods we crave to stimulate certain senses in us? We could never run out of new taste sensations, and yet there is such depth to the foods we love and go back to.
I think books especially deserve a re-read, well those that have touched me profoundly enough first time at least, as they are so complex and multi- dimensional that I sometimes fear that maybe my brain wasn't sufficiently evolved first time around to have soaked in every single last morsel of meaning or nuance! A good case in point would be Wuthering Heights, funnily enough. I first read it at about 18/19 years old and actually felt an ache in my chest and soul for the tortuous love Cathy and Heathcliffe had for each other. But now, at 37 years old I sit here wondering how differently I may now see the nuances and layers, now I have real life experiences of love, loss and pain? Or would I be too jaded now for the book to impact on me so intensely, and would it spoil my intitial attraction???? With the passing of sufficient time, I will go back and re-visit a film or a book. I'm just too flippin' greedy I guess, the same greed that makes me want to constantly try new things also makes me want to be sure I haven't missed a single thing along the way!
Oh Sasha haven't you just hit the nail on the head?! Books and films like Richard suggests are so very often wrapped up in a particular time in our lives and all to often reflect our emotions at the time: come back to them and we are often faced with having to deal with all kinds of yukky truths about who we used to be, our own dramatics and latterly, the cynicism life has blessed us with.
But ok: I'm making exceptions for Christmas films and Sarah Ban Breathnach.
I'm with the re-readers! One very good reason for this is that my memory is so rubbish I actually forget most of a book within about six months, so often a re-read is like a first-time read for me.
I think Sasha made two good points: one is that you change in between readings, so how you understand them changes. When I first read Crime & Punishment I was a teenager and thought Raskolnikov terribly romantic and intellectual. I re-read it a year ago and wondered why nobody gave him a good slap, he was so self-absorbed and irritating! The other is that some books are so rich you can always get more out of them – this might be a really good novel, or it might be some sort of inspirational book.
And comfort definitely comes into some re-readings – I like books I read as a child, or something like I Capture the Castle, when I'm feeling in need of comfort.
Weirdly though there aren't many films I'd bother to watch again. So does that put me in the naughty camp with Victoria?
Firmly in the naughty camp Ms Lazy!
Hurrah! Let's drink cocktails!
Thank you all for being in "my camp". To watch a Doris Day film over and over is no crime, it reminds me of Sundays as a child while my dad was fishing I would sit after Sunday lunch and watch a film with my late Mum – "Is this a crime?"….. I feel to read a book once, you can only follow the story, to read it again some time in the future is to remember the characters, understand them and to feel part of the story..
I'm not saying every book I read more than once, only books grip you can you read over. As with movies, some must never see the light of day again. But 'Wizard of Oz' I will now and forever more watch it every year. 'Clue' not the best film but one of Tim Currys best roles and I could not tell you how many times I've watched this classic but the feelings and memories are worth watching it again.
I'm in Richard's camp. Comfort books, comfort movies, comfort tv shows, comfort foods, comfort books on tape – you get the idea.
Karen
Most of the time I read and move on, but there are a couple of books that I feel the urge to reread every 3 – 5 years – Skallagrigg and a totally obscure romance involving time travel and the Cathar heresys
My recent post Excited
Most of the time I read and move on, but there are a couple of books that I feel the urge to reread every 3 – 5 years – Skallagrigg and a totally obscure romance involving time travel and the Cathar heresys
My recent post Excited
I see what Alison means. I do feel like there are so many good things out there… what if you spend your evening rewatching "The Holiday" playing for the millionth time on TBS because it's always so charming, and miss out on watching your latest new favorite, Woman of the Year, that you somehow have missed?
But… I do give myself permission on sort of a "formula" basis. When I travel, I bring familiar books and movies along. The theory behind this is new place, familiar old friends in stories. But when I'm cosy in my home, I try to see all the new things I can.
I hope we're allowed to read in heaven, because I suspect I still won't make it through all on my list in my lifetime.