Monday, February 28, 2011

Re-Reading

A common question: what do you read?
A rare question: what do you re-read?

I read books that I expect to be good.
I re-read books that I know to be excellent.

I read new books to be introduced to new thoughts.
I re-read books to remember the old thoughts.

I've heard it said that you can tell a lot about a man by what he reads.
I would simply add that you can tell even more about him by what he re-reads.

6 comments:

  1. good stuff. Oh and Happy birthday. :-)

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  2. Insightful. And well put--very poetic. The Repeating contrasts of parallel ideas is very effective.

    So, may I ask, what do you re-read? ;)

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  3. Great insight and very profound. I should re-read more than I do.

    ~Monica

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  4. Thanks Megan!

    And thanks Monica and DeAnna as well... I don't recall being called poetic before.

    Since you ask about specifics, mostly:
    -The Bible (on a reading plan that I modify every year or two)
    -Don't Waste Your Life (every summer!)

    Those are the only non-fiction books I've re-read with regularity. I also want to make it a point to read Randy Alcorn's The Treasure Principle every year. And there's a number of other books that I'd like to re-read often as well.

    Of the books I'm reading right now, the re-reads are A Praying Life (Paul Miller) and When People Are Big and God Is Small (Ed Welch).

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  5. Jason, unfortunately I find the older I get the more re-reading I do. I say unfortunately because typically I re-read the book only because I had forgotten I read it once before. Case in point: I'm currently reading a book about a young gentleman who has a very bad allergic reaction after eating at a Chinese restaurant. To add insult to injury, he then smashes his face on the ice playing broomball. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the ending. Maybe you have read this book and can help me out.

    Uncle Mark

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  6. Uncle Mark,
    Yes, I remember that book! I don't know how the whole book ends, but I think the chapter you're referring to ended with the guy holed up in his office under a pile of homework--much less memorable than hives and split lips, to be sure, so I can see why you couldn't recall it.

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