Hello friends!
It is Day 2 and I managed to finish the Princess Bride and a whole book!! And go to a cafe to persuade them to do a tea webinar so I feel like a lot of progress has been made. In terms of what I read:
The Princess Bride – This was fun, though I ended up skimming Buttercup’s Baby. I already know what happened and I guess about only 75% of the book was needed to satiate my craving for it (my friend came up with a karaoke theory that says that you don’t need to sing the entire song to get the “feels” and I think it applies to books too).
What The Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell – The book I reread today because I wanted short nonfiction. I generally liked all the essays here, but something that I noticed is that when it comes to long essays, I much prefer those with a strong central character. There were a few essays that were more general (like the one about the mammogram & I think reading pictures?) that didn’t really grab my attention and I realised that it was because it didn’t have a strong human factor. I wonder if I can translate this into my writing, actually.
The Tale of Genji – I have managed to read the introduction, which I guess is progress? It’s pretty interesting how Murasaki could have used her writing talents (and this story) to get a place in court!
Today’s books made me think of Siena’s post on how blogging has affected one’s reading. While I enjoyed these the Princess Bride and What The Dog Saw, I wasn’t sure if I had anything to talk about them beyond a paragraph of thought. Has that prevented me from rereading more (because books read = book reviews for the blog)? I’m actually not too sure. I read a lot of new books because I want to, and also because new books = more thoughts = I have things to write here.
On the other hand, I’ve also gotten ‘blog content’ from books I’ve reread, so I don’t think that’s the only reason why I don’t reread as much as I’d like.
I’ve only read The Princess Bride once and I don’t…really get the hype. I also really dislike the movie!
I liked it a lot when I first read it, but I was also much younger and it was my first introduction to a meta-novel (which wasn’t literary) and the nostalgia counts for why I still like it. But I can see how if I read it for the first time now, after I’ve read comic writers like Wodehouse and Pratchett, I wouldn’t find it very amusing :p
That’s an interesting point about how rereading affects blogging. I reread a lot and actually started doing monthly wrap ups because I don’t have much to say about most of the books I reread, so I use those posts as way to mention them. However, if I do have a lot to say, I just go ahead and do another review of the book, lol!
I love the Princess Bride. It’s been a while since I’ve read/seen it though.
Monthly wrap-ups sound like a good way to mention reread books without doing a whole month of daily posts!
I feel like The Princess Bride was better the first time I read it 😂😂
I’ve never read The Princess Bride. Didn’t even realize it was a book. So that might make a horrible person. Also, can’t recall if I’ve ever seen the movie in its entirety or not. I vaguely remember maybe seeing it when I was like 19 or 20, but not understanding why people loved it so much. I think it was nostalgia more than anything. Like, if I had seen it when I was a kid, I would love it now. Similar feeling to the way I feel about the movie Halloween, which I didn’t see until I was like 18. Most of my friends had seen it in the 80s or 90s when it had come out. It’s interesting how nostalgia can play such a powerful role in whether we like something or not.
Correction (or it will bother me): Halloween didn’t come out in the 80s or 90s, I meant more when it was super popular. As I recall it came out in the late 70s.
I think the nostalgia aspect is real! I’ve never seen the movie either, but I don’t really think I want to :p
I read The Princess Bride a few years ago, and I watched the movie around the same time too. I remember thinking that the book was okay, but I found the movie more entertaining for some reason. I’m glad my post had an impact on you! It’s an interesting thought about rereads. For me, if a reread is a book I read a couple of years ago and I have forgotten about part of the story, then I find that I have more to say than if the reread is more recent.
Good point about the length of time between rereads! Although I must admit that it’s been slightly less than 10 years for these two books and I still don’t have much to say :p (but perhaps for other books!!)
The Princess Bride and Tales of Genji are two I really need to get to at some point
The Tale of Genji is really long – I’d actually recommend starting with an abriged version to see if you like the style and all that! That’s what I did, actually!
Oooh thanks for the rec, I definitely wouldn’t have thought of doing that!