I Just Found Out Today...

[alynwa]

That the author of The Vampire Chronicles, Ann Rice, began writing them again in 2014!  Prior to that, she had become a born-again Christian and had said she would no longer write about such demonic things.  I don't know what the status of her faith is, but I'm thinking the Vampire Lestat had more stories to be told and she could no longer ignore him.  I'm thrilled about it!

I made a promise to myself sometime ago that I would no longer buy books.  In fact, I (sob!) took the majority of my books to a second hand bookstore and a thrift store.  As much as I loved them all, I had to face the truth: I am not the type of person who re-reads books.  Oh, I've tried; but I end up remembering the story and skimming through it.  I refuse to move hundreds of books cross country at considerable expense so they can gather dust in a new home.

Fortunately for me, the Henderson Library has a branch around the corner from me, so once I am settled, I will be checking them out.  Something else to look forward to!  Yay!

Comments

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

I also tend to read books once. Occasionally I will read a popular science book more than once and that is it.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

You did the right thing in offloading books that were just dead weight to you. I'm always fascinated by people who absolutely don't/can't reread a book, or rewatch a movie. I'm fascinated because I am an inveterate rereader and rewatcher and learn new things every single time I reread or rewatch (once that stops, yeah, that book or movie is dead for me, except occasionally for the sake of nostalgia).

Do you never try, or is it literally that on the second read absolutely nothing new occurs to you or is discovered by you? I try to visualize only reading my favorites once and I can't imagine it because they call to me to come back. What happens when you really love a book? You don't want to go back and reexperience it?

Maybe people like you just have really superb memories? And you remember everything and don't need to be reminded of it?

[alynwa.livejournal.com]

I find that when I attempt to reread a book, I tend to skim over large portions of it because I remember it and don't want to get bogged down by it. I want to get to the scenes that moved me. For example, I adore the book The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. I read it years ago and it made me cry. It still makes me tear up thinking about the little prince telling the man "you will be the only one who has stars that laugh."

Movies (some movies) are different. I can't rewatch every movie that I enjoyed I guess for the same reason I can't reread most books, but some movies I can watch over and over again for different reasons. The Godfather and The Godfather Part II I love rewatching because I notice things I previously had not. Imitation of Life is a movie that I can put on and barely pay attention to until the final 20 minutes. At that point, I grab a tissue and sit down because when Mahalia Jackson begins to sing "Soon I Will Be Done with the Troubles of the World," I start to cry. Every. Single. Time. Honestly, I'm tearing up now as I'm remembering the scene.

My memory is good, but I wouldn't call it superb. I remember how certain scenes made me feel.

[the-wretching.livejournal.com]

I'm not a big rereader either. Though I do sometimes. Better safe than sorry.... I guess. I do have trouble letting books go.

This Ann Rice stuff is interesting. I had a class in horror fiction ages ago. We started with Dracula and the professor pointed out that, Dracula, like actually the vast majority of horror literature and films, is majorly Christian. The crosses, the morality --- It's always the slutty girl who gets killed first. Once that was pointed out to me it was hard to believe I'd never noticed it. There's more Christian messaging in horror--even the modern stuff, when it harkens to the Dracula and the Lovecraft etc.

I never found Ann Rice's vampire books to be that way, but I also read them ages before I took that class and started noticing such things. It makes me very curious what her new material is like... how she's reconciling and reordering things. Is she rewriting the Vampire books to adhere to Christianity as she defines it? Fascinating. And a bit horrific at the same time!

[alynwa.livejournal.com]

I find that a lot of Stephen King's works have Christian themes running through them and also, Laurell K Hamilton's books, as well. To my knowledge, she's continuing the adventures of the Vampire Lestat, not rewriting them. I probably won't be able to even think about reading her newer stuff until after I move and get organized in the new place.