Transcript

Jen 0:01 Welcome to the Planet Book podcast.

Jen 0:03 I'm your host Jennifer

Taña 0:04 And I'm Taña

Jen 0:05 We're with the Springfield Greene County Library District. In each episode, you'll hear us talk about our favorite tween and teen books. We're kicking Season Five off with a new co-host. Here with me today is the ever funny, always upbeat most vivacious reader of teen books I know. My new co-host, Taña . Welcome, Taña .

Taña 0:26 Hello.

Jen 0:27 Today we're discussing the books and stories we like to reread and why. I have my reasons all ready to discuss, but I'm going to turn it over to Taña. Taña , first of all, tell us, do you like to reread books?

Taña 0:41 I love to reread, revisit, books. In fact, there are several titles which I've read multiple times upward of four and five times, the Harry Potter series is a comforting story to get lost in over and over again.

Jen 0:56 So I guess what you're saying is like with series, you'll reread your I mean, did you end up rereading Harry Potter so many times? Because you just liked the series? Or was it to prep for the next book that was coming out?

Taña 1:11 It's actually both of those reasons. Initially, I started rereading every time a new book came out. So one through three got read probably seven times. Yeah. But now that I've read them all, I will go revisit just for comfort.

Jen 1:26 A lot of people tell me, like, Why do you have a bookshelf? What? Why would you reread a book? Like, they asked that question, they don't understand why people reread books. And like, right now you're basically saying, if you read series, which I'm not a huge fan of series, I don't read as many series for that reason, I either have to wait till the series is over. Because I don't want to do a lot of rereading unless it's just an excellent book. But people that do read series sometimes need to revisit the previous book, right?

Taña 2:00 Especially when they come out over a year or two apart

Jen 2:02 Right.

Taña 2:03 I picked up a book recently that I had no idea was going to be a series, I just grabbed it because it looked interesting. And then I find out I have to wait a year or two, at least until I get the second book. And it was amazing. So.

Jen 2:14 Ugh, I hate that.

Taña 2:15 But I'm definitely one of those that will visit the first couple books just to remind myself where it's going. I like series

Jen 2:23 Well, and I will keep a book, like, that's part of my bookshelf. The whole reason I have books on my bookshelf is because I expect I could go back and reread them. Sometimes, the value I find in rereading a book is that what I got out of the book at say 16, when I first read it, is going to be a lot different than what I get out of it as a 40 year old. I think that teaches me a lot about myself as much as anything. I've learned, I can see my own growth when I reread those stories,

Taña 3:00 I actually look at that as one of the main reasons I go back, too. I marked some as "go back to" because maybe in that part of your life, you're not feeling it, but you know the potential is there. Or maybe you love it, and you want to re-see how you feel about it at a new part in your life, a new time in your life.

Jen 3:16 Yeah. And you might learn that the first time you read it, you're identifying with like, maybe one of the younger characters. And now when you read something you're identifying with the parent's perspective, or you're judging them in different ways. The ways I would judge a parent now versus when I wasn't a parent is going to be different. So that's one of the main reasons why I revisit books is so I can learn more about myself.

Taña 3:45 And also learn more about the book itself. I know that a lot of times I didn't care for Mockingjay, the third of the Hunger Games series, the first time that I read it, but going back and rereading it. I understood the reason for it. It's still not my favorite of the trilogy. But now there's a new reason and I understand her reason for making Mockingjay the way it was.

Jen 4:05 Yeah, it was a little discharging it first read.

Taña 4:09 Yes. And then I pick up new information and it comes up differently for me.

Jen 4:14 Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. What about reading with the season? Are there any that you read every season? Say, Christmas time or spring or summer?

Taña 4:25 Aside from reading the Bible on Christmas Eve? I don't have those traditions, do you?

Jen 4:32 Yes. So ever since I was a kid, we've had a blackberry field at my parent's house. And so I read, and now I post online, Sylvia Plath's Blackberrying. It's a poem about her picking blackberries. And it's just one of my ways I'm signaling to myself that we are in the full throes of summer when I'm reading Blackberrying. And I have given out an essay called "Six to Eight Black Men'' by David Sedaris so many times as a gift. I also have gifted Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris. And while this isn't YA, perhaps, I have given it to a lot of teenagers because he's funny, and a lot of teens really appreciate his humor. So it's kind of a piece about understanding cultural differences. And, while some countries think the things Americans do are insane, we also think what they do in other countries is insane. So it's a funny little Christmas story, as is Santaland Diaries, which is in Holidays on Ice. And that's his essay about when he was an elf at Macy's.

Taña 5:51 Fun. We're more of a rewatching movies around Christmas time or Halloween time, but not books.

Jen 5:59 And that's what I try to explain when people say why do you read a book, it's like, Well, do you rewatch movies? The exact same reason,

Taña 6:09 You just want to get lost in it again, sometimes, I know that, I want to go back and just feel that same feeling like, when I'm feeling nostalgic, or am missing my husband or something, I'll go watch or reread Twilight, you know, just that silly, you know, it just is silly feeling you want to feel over and over again, and you liked the characters.

Jen 6:29 And when you're sometimes, when you are in a vulnerable mood, you want something that you know what's going to happen, that is not going to surprise you that you know, this is going to be a comfort to me, this isn't gonna, I know exactly what I'm gonna get. And I think that's another reason right there.

Taña 6:47 I would say that.

Jen 6:49 So, and I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I was an English major. So I've also tutored middle school students. And that has led me to reread a lot of material because when you teach something, or when you're studying to be a better writer, the more times I found myself, like, before an assignment I would sometimes reread the essay three times, if I'm writing a paper on it, because you're noticing different things each time, you're looking at the structure, there's just so much to take in, especially with like the well written canonical stuff that's taught a lot. You know, there's a lot to learn from the style of writing,

Taña 7:33 And a lot of people will go back, me included, and make notes, just note the way a certain paragraph makes you feel, or something you can want to quote, I like to go through and not necessarily take notes the whole time. But when I'm feeling something, I'll jot it down because it triggered something for me.

Jen 7:49 Oh, yeah, that's another reason I buy a lot of my books used. As I said, I don't buy new books that often. But I will go to a used bookstore and have a copy. Because when there's that beautiful, perfect sentence, you just gotta underline it and go back to it

Taña 8:10 Or highlight it.

Jen 8:11 Yes. And just treasure it.

Taña 8:14 That definitely makes us book people. Have you ever read something first time and thought, you know, it's there, but it's not in that one place in time. So you reread it to see if you were wrong the first time.

Jen 8:27 Sometimes, or I think I gravitate toward things that aren't wrapped up in a bow at the end. So I like something with a somewhat open ended. I like surrealist works. Or take for instance, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins. Okay, it's a short story, the woman in the story at the time it was written is considered insane. And she's looking at The Yellow Wallpaper and seeing different things. And every time I read that I noticed something different. But it's taken a couple of readings to even try to make sense of it. And that's another thing about reading I don't think when you have a book or a story that there's one answer. What a book means to one person, it can mean something totally different to another person. The author's original intent, I don't care about. It's really what you can pull from it as a reader.

Taña 9:24I have looked at reviews from other people and you see that some books hit people differently. But a review has made me want to retry a book or try a book just because I see how it makes other people feel. Right and so I want to see if it will make me feel that way as well. So I can see that.

Jen 9:44 Yeah, and a lot of times I'll start a book and if it's not speaking to me right away, I just put it down. That's why I tend to not have a lot of reading regrets. But if something has been cited as just this great story, this great book, by up a wide range of people. I do think that means I'm going to revisit it more and give it more tries than just one.

Taña 10:11 Yeah, I've marked several that someone told me to read or that I started reading that just wasn't hitting that I wanted to look at again. And then on the opposite side, you want to see if it holds up because you found another book by the same author. Maybe? I know that Moxie and Bad Girls Never Say Die. I read Moxie. And then I reread it because I've read Bad Girls Never Say Die. They're both by Jennifer Mathieu.

Jen 10:34 Did you like Moxie better the second time or the first time?

Taña 10:37 Better the second time, because I got a little bit more of what she was saying and how she writes and picking up her little tendencies.

Jen 10:46 Yeah, picking up on her rhythm.

Taña 10:47 Yes. Have you ever watched a movie and it triggered you to want to reread the book or vice versa? Like rereading the book makes you want to watch the movie again?

Jen 10:58 Yes, sometimes. What?

Taña 10:59 Ready Player One, I don't think that's YA actually but I watched I caught the end of the movie on TV the other day. And it made me want to go back and reread Ready Player One just because they're so different. Yet. They're so the same.

Jen 11:11 I was trying to think there was something I was watching, well, and see. Why I tend to not go back and reread before or after the movie is because I sometimes put off reading the really popular stuff. But as soon as it's going to be adapted into a movie. So, one recently I heard Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. And so I heard it was going to be adapted into a movie. So I read it this week, because I was like, Oh, I better get it read before I find out any of the cast or whatever. Because I want to be able to have my own character development in my head and not spoiled. So with that being said, if it does come out later this year, I won't need to reread it because I just read it.

Taña 11:57 Yeah, I've had a few that made me want to go back and reread just because I saw a little bit of that movie or something. It's not all of them.

Jen 12:04 Well, and then the other thing about movies, and sometimes you'll watch a movie, and then you'll find out that it was based on like some French short story from the 1700s. And, so that's, that's how you can sometimes find interesting things to read when you find out they were inspiration for something.

Taña 12:23 Have you ever read another book and not liked it as much? Or is it You only like it? I only like it better. I don't think I've ever gone back and said, Oh, I don't like this book.

Jen 12:32 Here's an example of one I read in high school and I loved it. It was Catcher in the Rye. But now I hear so many people critiquing it as he's whiny or, he's this reads that. I'm almost scared to reread. Do you know what I'm saying? Like? Yes. Just like I want to keep this good impression in my mind. And if it's awful. Well, I don't want to find out about that. Does that make sense? Like that might be a reason to not reread something.

Taña 13:01And it's a reason to go pick up the book. But yeah, I can understand not wanting to lose it.

Jen 13:07 And I will say I've reread short stories and plays a lot more than I actually reread novels. But the Heart is a Lonely Hunter. That's one reason I've reread that so many times is because I feel like the movie is pretty solid. So if I watch that movie, a lot of times it'll make me want to reread the book. So that's a perfect example. And I know a lot of people my age read that when in high school.

Taña 13:33 Yeah, The Hate You Give, whenever I catch that one I want to read it again. When I catch it on TV, I want to read it again. Yeah, that's one that just the book is so much better. I mean, the movie is great. But the book is so much better. You just want to get back into that.

Jen 13:48 I recently came across, and it's an adult novel, Station 11. The Springfield Greene County system used that as a One Read. Yeah, a couple of years ago. And I didn't read it at the time. I just don't know why. But recently, I read it because it was adapted into an HBO series. And I was underwhelmed by the book. Let's just say that. I know. It's thought of fondly. It was a One Read here. It's not like I'm cutting the book down, but I wasn't super impressed. Maybe that's because we've lived through a pandemic at this point. But when I started watching the HBO series, they made some changes that really worked. Because when I read the book, I felt it was kind of cold. I didn't identify or care about many of the characters, but the changes that the series made automatically within the first episode I cared about the characters. It's so much more. So I don't know if I would have liked the series as much if I hadn't read the book. But man, that's the first time I've thought this is the perfect, perfect combination of book plus TV series equals a great experience.

Taña 15:12 And that segues into another episode we might have coming up.

Jen 15:16 Yes, adaptations.

Taña 15:19 Yep.So I think we covered most of the reasons to revisit a book.

Jen 15:22 Yeah, I do think so. And for those of you that think you don't want to re-discover a book, find one that you loved and reread it, and see if you think anything differently the second time around. Or see if, if you notice that you're identifying with different different characters, or maybe you're picking up on more. I think about all the things I would have missed if I had only read something once.

Taña 15:48 Yes, I agree wholeheartedly.

Jen 15:49 Yeah, you miss so much if you had just read it once. So come on

Taña 15:55 And feelings and all of the good jazz and just giving it a second chance.

Jen 15:59 That concludes our episode. Thank you for joining us for another episode, send your book and show suggestions or comments to imagine at the library.org We'd love to hear from you. Follow us on Facebook for the latest news and events. This has been a production of the Springfield Greene County Library District. Thanks for listening.