PrincessMommy Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 (edited) I recently re-read a book I read about 20 yrs ago and loved. It was such a thought-provoking book at the time. I remember being very charmed by it and only had fond memories. I've also highly recommended it several times in the recent past. This time I felt like it was just meh. It seemed to make great assumptions about past philosophies - and getting a lot wrong. The book came across very smug and a bit condescending. Anyone else read a book they loved once, only to find you really didn't like it the 2nd read-through? Edited November 10, 2016 by PrincessMommy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Not me, but dh just reread Stranger in a Strange Land and was like, what the heck, this thing is so sexist and horrible. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Oh, yes. It even has a name - The Suck Fairy, who flits around and alters books after you read them so they, well, suck. The worst example of this I ever read? This Place Has No Atmosphere. Which is weird - it's not infected by stealth racism or sexism or homophobia like so many other childhood books, it doesn't have any anvilicious message I totally missed the first time around, it isn't even particularly badly written! It just hasn't aged well at all. I hang out at some book-finding forums, and that book comes up fairly regularly. When people want to know the title of a book they read as a kid that involved a girl moving to the moon, well, that's the book. I tell them all the same thing - don't re-read it, keep it in your memories, it has NOT aged well at all. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kubiac Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 I read Gone With the Wind about 10 times when I was 10 years old. Re-read later in life and was startled to re-experience as a more worldly adult. It did not hold up particularly well, although bless Scarlett and Melanie for their character-specific forms of personal strength and proto-feminism. I just sold the copy my parents gave me that I'd been hauling around for 20 years. Won't be needing it again. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Mitten Strings For God When I first read that, it was the book I wanted to write but didn't have anymore. I identified with it UTTERLY, on every level. A few years later I reread and I was all like, huh. Nice book. A little boring. What happened? A different phase of motherhood, I guess. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 I haven't really had that experience with books, but I sure have with movies! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK_Mom4 Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 King of the Wind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 I avoid rereading books I read as a kid for this reason. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Closeacademy Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Different books speak to us at different times in our lives. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbel Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 When I was a teen/young adult, I loved Rebecca. But recently I started listening to the audiobook and was stunned at how annoying it was. I had to give it up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellifera33 Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 The Catcher in the Rye. When I was 14, I devoured that book. It seemed so relevant to my cynical, angsty, teenaged brain. As an adult I found It almost intolerable. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKim Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 The Wind in the Willows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MercyA Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Anything by Wilson Rawls, Louisa May Alcott, or Beverly Cleary. :leaving: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anne in CA Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Judy Blume. Some of her books (Fudge) are just plain funny, but some are just annoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 I think a lot of kids' books require being read as a kid to enjoy them. For me, the Little House series was one I loved-but couldn't stomach as an adult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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