Today's Weekly Geeks asks:
There have been times in my life where I reread a book (or author) I hated--or thought I hated--but the second time around ended up loving. Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever changed your mind about a book or author the second time around? Have you ever given a book or author a second chance?If you have, I'd love to hear your stories. Blog about your experience(s) in giving second chances.
If you haven't, I'd like you to consider giving a book or an author a second chance. You can blog about your intentions to do so--or if you're a quick reader, maybe you can even squeeze something in.
It is just very interesting to me how time can change tastes and perceptions. How subjective the reading experience is and always will be.
This is an interesting question, and it's something I'm still quite ambivalent about, as I've been ecstatic and disappointed on giving books and authors second chances.
Sometime in 2008, I read Anne Enright's Taking Pictures - a collection of short stories. All said and done, it's a great name for a collection of short stories, but, I found the book to be terrible. I almost wept while reading it, but ended up attributing my dislike to the fact that I don't really like short stories that much.
Come Summer 2009, and I pick up Enright's The Gathering - the winner of the Booker Prize in 2007. If you follow the link, you'll see how disappointed I was (it's the only book I haven't finished this year!), and now, I don't think I'll be able to give her work a third chance. Life's too short to keep giving an author a chance.
However, and here's the BIG however:
I re-read Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children a couple of months back, and absolutely loved it. First time 'round, I found it extremely convoluted and difficult to read. Rushdie's writing style is unique, in the sense that, the words meander around an idea, 'til they completely surround it, and only then is the sentence complete - I wonder if that made sense? Loads of the sentences needed to be read, re-read and read again, and I think back then, patience wasn't my strongest suit. This time 'round though, I persevered, and once I broke the 100 page mark, it was smooth-sailing. It's like the rocky start to a relationship, when you're still learning about each other. Once you're past that, the love affair surges and rises above it all, and nothing can get in the way!
And my second re-read of this year was Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, another book I didn't really enjoy the first time. I didn't even bother re-reading it just before Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released. I did re-read it after seeing the movie though, and was quite satiated. Of course, the book trumps the movie - any moron could've told you that - but, the book is also more Voldemort-centric, which makes it darker and more interesting. It takes us back to the very beginning, and answers some of the questions I had while reading the first four books. Why didn't I enjoy it the first time? Well, because, I thought it was very commercial, and Rowling was making a play for the media, not for the fans of the series. I still stand by that sentiment - her first four books are far superior to her last three, but, I think this book needs a re-read to truly appreciate it! (Of course, I would say that).
How about you? Do you give books/authors second chances? How often are you disappointed? And how often, do you feel that it's been worth it?