Thursday, July 02, 2009

RE-READING BOOKS

I’ve never understood re-reading books.

Often I hear people say they have read a book many times, or they put a particular book on their keeper shelf to read again later. I have a keeper shelf, but it’s for signed first editions, not for books I plan to read again. I can’t think of a book I would want to read more than once. Why would I? I already know what happens.

Plus, as the saying goes – “So many books, so little time.” That’s how I look at it. I have hundreds of books in my bookcase that I haven’t read yet, and new books are released every day that entice me. If I re-read my books, I wouldn’t have time to read all the great new ones coming out.

I don’t buy DVDs, because I don’t even like to watch a movie more than once. Well, maybe there is a handful I will watch if they’re on television, but few enough that I can name them – Shoot The Moon, Two for the Road, Grand Prix, La Dolce Vita, Tombstone. They’re old movies. You probably haven’t heard of any of them except Tombstone. I have a couple of concert DVDs, but haven't watched them more than two or three times.

Usually, I’m reading two or three books at a time, and I try to make sure at least one of them is nonfiction. Here’s what I’m reading now:

Fire and Ice” by Paul Garrison
Live From New York, an Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live” by Tom Shales & James Andrew Miller
The Secret History” by Donna Tartt

Oh, and I have new music, too. Here’s what’s new in my CD collection:

“Dummy” by Portishead
“Ultimate Waylon Jennings” by Waylon
“The Essential Johnny Cash” by Johnny
“The Essential Willie Nelson” by Willie

1 comment:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.