Christina here with this month’s ASK A WENCH and today the question we are answering is:-
“Do you reread books you enjoyed 20 years ago or do you prefer to just let them be a happy memory in case they’ve dated badly?”
Pat: I don’t re-read anything much. My TBR stack is toppling as is. But sometimes, I need a comfort read before bed, preferably in paper. Unfortunately, I had to leave all my romance Keepers behind when I moved. At the time, I tried to dive into the shelves and look for favorites to bring with me, but many of them were dated and didn’t suck me in as they once had. I think that’s more a problem of having read way too many similar books for years afterward, as publishers tend to produce books similar to the original bestsellers until the imitations quit selling. Kind of wears out the originality and the reason for re-reading.
But because my husband and I both read Terry Pratchett, and he won’t give up anything, we have the entire collection of Pratchett books. When we first bought them, I read in order of purchase, well after the Disc World series had started. This past year, I started with the first in the series, and I’ve been working my way through the entire collection in order. They definitely stand up to the test of time, because of their originality. No one can write humor or create worlds like Pratchett. I’m not sure what I’ll do when those run out!
Nicola here. I’m in deadline territory so I’ve dusted down and added to a blog piece from 9 years ago on a topic that really interests me – books that make us cry. This is intended to be a cheerful blog, not a miserable one. It’s not about the latest craze in what has been dubbed “sad girl books” which are apparently about millennial women who are unhappy in their lives. I haven’t read any and the present time isn’t the right moment for me to start. No, it’s about authentic emotion and the way that can touch us.
