Rare question that people ask
For all your life, you may have heard this question a lot: How many books do you read a month/year? But I bet you don't get to hear this question a lot: how many times do you read the same book?
When I was young I used to read the same book over and over again. So much so that I could memorize all the scenes and details of the book, even though I couldn't fully understand the story or new words in the book.
For example, when I read "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", I didn't know what bacon was. Up until that time (I was around 10, and living in South Korea), I'd never heard of nor seen "bacon" in my life. The book explained that "bacon" was a kind of pork, but it was not the kind of pork we had in Korea. Nonetheless as you can guess, that couldn't stop me from enjoying the book.
Source: Goodreads
Oh, I vividly remember the fence, the white paint and his little trick to avoid doing the chore. :)
I was a little distracted. My point is, when I was young I read the same book several times without losing interest in that book, even though I couldn't understand the book fully.
But now? Well...
The Pleasure of Reading Again
As I get older I have more books to read and I seem to find less time to read. Consequently, I only tend to read books just once.
Sometimes reading a book - and checking off one item from the "to read list" - almost feels like a race. A race that I have to jump over a hurdle after hurdle after hurdle...
Am I enjoying reading books? Or am I just checking off another book from the list?
So most of the time I never turn back to the book I already read. But some books are worth reading several times. And I don't only mean the cases where the book is too difficult to understand.
Some books just amaze you every time you read. Somehow it enlightens you in the way it never did before. And some books, when you read them after several years, tell you totally different stories.
This winter I'll read again
When I was in middle school, I really enjoyed The Little World of Don Camillo. It was hilarious and touching at the same time. I read the book in Korean, of course.
After I graduated from college and after my English skills finally allowed me to read books in English, I tried and failed to find the book written in English. (The book was originally written in Italian by Giovanni Guareschi, so English version was also translated from Italian. But I didn't mind that.) Especially since I live in the US, I wanted to read the book in English. But I couldn't find the book neither from the library nor from book stores.
A few days ago, however, I saw the book on Amazon.
Source: Amazon
It looks like they published the book again June 2017. It was a very pleasant surprise. And I'm happy to say that the four books in the series will be Christmas gifts from my husband.
So this winter, I'm going to enjoy the pleasure of reading books again. I hope - and I'm sure - this series will make me laugh again just like the old times.
Do you also have books that you want to read again?
