Pickles by Brian Crane for January 30, 2022

Earl i hear where you’re coming from. Same problem.

Remember what, again?

My wife and I just watched a movie that we’d seen about five years ago (Eye in the Sky). Only we didn’t realize we’d seen it at first. Then about five minutes in I remembered it, but neither of us could remember how it came out. It’s a good movie, BTW, and available on Netflix now.

What’s wrong with rereading something you’ve already read?

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

One of the greatest books ever written. But it will probably be permanently banned in academia because of one word that is repeatedly used in it.

What, for me, bears rereading? Dune maybe, Stranger in Strange Land, like Red Skelton, might not age well (found him just quaint instead of funny). I’d go with Bester’s The Stars My Destination and the Demolished Man. And Harlan Ellison’s Dreams with Sharp Teeth. All of which I have copies.

If I really enjoy a book, even a mystery, I can read it again. As for movies my wife and I have seen Independence Day what seems like a million times and we never get tired of it. I don’t know why that is. We basically know the script by heart. We do not have the DVD, it just comes on tv a lot where we are.

There are some things that work almost just the opposite – like watching just a little bit of an episode from the original Star Trek series is enough to remind me of the plot (and message) of the story to satisfy and not be compelled to have to watch the whole thing.

What is wrong with reading a book more than once? I have several book series that I read every couple of years. Still engaging.

Reports of his having read it were greatly exaggerated.

When one reads a book you are the director not so with a movie when another directs ;-)

I’ve reread the Gaia trilogy by John Varley 3 times over the years. The books are Titan, Wizard, and Demon. I seldom read Scifi but these books really grabbed me.

You were sounding so deep, Earl…until that last comment!

I usually pick out things I missed as a kid—-I was reading way above my level when I was a kid—-so that things that confused me then are clear as a bell now.

Of course I don’t remember any more of my for-school read of “Huckleberry Finn” than Earl does.

I rarely read a book twice. Martin Chuzzlewit by Dickens never gets old. Same with Pride and Prejudice. Healing for damaged Emotions by David Seamands , also.

I don’t like it when I read a story previously read and it seems different. Words on the page magically changing is so irritating.

Is it a good movie or a bad one when you re-watch it and it is nothing like you remember?

They banned that book in a few “southern” states a few decades ago.

I seldom read any book twice….too many I haven’t read yet….

I read a ton of books in the 1940’ & ’50’s. I’d like to read some of them again but the one problem is finding a readable copy. Except for the most highly touted authors, most are out of print and are no longer found in most used book stores or online sellers. My library was reduced whenever we moved. The family grew and our sons’ reading lists consisted of the literature of their generations. A natural progression but one that left my favorites somewhere in the dust. But fortunately, I still find good reading among current authors so it ain’t all bad.

Or just frugal, possibly to a fault, couched in philosophy.

I have just one book. I read it every two weeks and it’s like new again…

I gave away 700 books that I had read some years ago.Still have about 500 that I keep reading, many of them I am on the 5th time.

Watership Down

I seem to remember biplanes and dinosaurs with candy-coated laser beams.

Along with newer things I’ve been reading stuff from my youth just to see if it was as good as I thought it was then. (some yes, some not even close)

I was 12 the first time I read Catcher in the Rye. I didn’t understand parts of it but I loved it. That book belonged to my sister and she wouldn’t give it to me to keep. I found an old copy in a used bookstore and I still have it nearly 60 yrs later. I never get tired of reading it. I can go several years without touching and then something makes me pull it out again.

I have a library of a couple of hundred books, most of which I have read several times. If I look at one of the titles and can remember the ending, I let that one “age” a few more years.

“My definition of good literature is that which can be read by an educated reader, and reread with increased pleasure.”

― Gene Wolfe

Once a decade since my teens, I have reread Joyce’s Ulysses and Finnegan’s Wake. I can’t say that at 77, I’m any more enlightened about their meaning than I was at 17, but I’ve always found something new and fascinating and with age, there comes an appreciation of the works akin to appreciating the nuances of a fine wine or brandy.

For those of you who haven’t read him since your youth, I highly recommend a reread of Twain’s works – particularly, his essays and travelogues, which are as fascinating and humorous as his novels and short stories.

AND….there you have it…honesty!

I hide “mad money” in my house and forget about it. Then one day, I rediscover it and feel like it’s a windfall.

I like those E-books, with my failing eyesight, I can increase the size of the print and easily carry my library around with me. Just hope I can remember how the thing works so I can find the books again.

I watched Golden Girls when they seemed old to me. I rewatched it when I was older than they were. It was a completely different experience!

Should you REALLY be admitting that.??

Did Californians get all the N-Words out of that one, Jim? And, of course burn all the original unabridged volumes.

I love reading books over and over. Sometimes I pick up details I missed before, sometimes I’m in a different state of mind and see the characters differently and sometimes it’s just like visiting an old friend.

I’ve read Marathon Man so many times I have worn my first copy out. Other I’ve read several times.One I really want to re-read from start to finish is the entire 4300 pages of the Dark Tower.

It’s why I stopped reading books.

I have a photographic memory. I take lots of photos to help my memory.

Nah Opal, Earl is just quoting someone. Earl is too stupid to be profound.

I have some movies I’ve watched 8, 9 or ten times and still enjoy. My friends ask me why I do this since I already know the ending. I ask them if they ever bought a record or a CD and of course they answer yes. Then I ask them “why?”.

I have found great pleasure and gained new insights from rereading some favorite books, but in recent years I’ve tried to curtail the practice. I have many books that I still want to read, and there are only so many hours in a day.

My dad was same way with his books one particular author he liked said wrote the western book as there, Louis L’Amour, he re-read I do not how many times, my mom be in one room he be in are old bedroom until he fell asleep.

That’s the one with the white whale in it, isn’t it?

I joke, I joke! I know it’s the one with Miss Havisham. :P

Never read it. I guess it will be just one out of three for me… if I ever come around reading it.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dune, Lord of the Rings, the Bible, The Princess Bride, Pilgrim’s Progress, Sir Knight of the Splendid Way, The Hidden Hand/Capitola’s Peril, all worth a second read. And I don’t read very many twice. Once is usually enough.

Hard for the youth to read burnt books.

They say you retain only about 10% of what you read….so go for it Earl

If I like a book, I’ll eventually buy it and read it five times or more. I’ve read The Lord of the Rings more than thirty times, for example. It’s roughly the same for me for movies and tv shows.

When I began going to church regularly, 1963, I began to learn the hymn #s in the hymnal, which we used until 1975. So I started re-learning the new hymn #s. When we got the new hymnals in 1990, I decided it was a waste of time to learn the hymn # if we were going to get new hymnals every 10-15 years.

More on my previous comment… I was also the organist at another church, so tended to get confused between the hymn #s of the hymnals of the two churches.

Once I read a book or audiobook, I listen to it once then delete it

Like making new friends over and over — same book.

There are movies where I know I’ve see them but can’t remember what they are about (usually those are ones if I have seen them were ones I was curious about but nothing really stood out).