Reread Retread

I appreciate a good re-read.

Over the lifetime of this blog, I've reread a whole score of books. Mostly SF stuff I read as a kid, stuff that either moved me and influenced me in some small way (Killerbowl) or some great way (The Lord of the Rings) or stuff that just floated my way via fate (The Black Hole).

Currently I just started re-reading Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. I first read it as a pagan, way back in college nearly thirty years ago, so a lot of the medieval scholastic philosophy and history went over my head. I'd sneak away to the campus library, open until 1 am or so, primarily to escape beer-free communication with my floormates. And I would stay until 12:45 or so not studying my course notes but reading this strange tale of monastery murders.

On deck (meaning, on the shelf behind me as I write this) I have three other books I plan on re-reading. The first is Voorloper, an illustrated SF novel I recall reading at about age 12 but nothing else. Found it for a buck somewhere. There's also Roger Zelazny's award-winning what-if epic Lord of Light, something that gave me a dozen hours of enjoyment and escapism a decade back. Finally, Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness beckons. That one I read back in the late 80s, but I read it in such a rush anticipating a childish, Apocalypse Now climax that I missed what the entire story was about.

I'm a listaholic, and I actually have a list of Future Re-Reads. Would you indulge me?

- Watership Down. Richard Adams' classic rabbit tale. Read twice so far, in 1978 and 1988.

- The Bicentennial Man, Nine Tomorrows, and I, Robot. Asimov's classic collections of short stories, of both the mechanoid and non-mechanoid type.

- Roller Ball Murder. Bunch of short stories, of which the 1975 SF flick is based on the first. Don't remember a single one of them, though I do remember I was slightly disappointed with that first story. But I was like ten, so, I'd like a crack at them again.

- Time for the Stars. Heinlein's classic, one I read one winter at my Grandma's house in western New York. Loved every page, especially on that four-hour drive home, but I don't remember a single detail about the plot.

- Planet of Death. Remember reading this delightful Silverberg tale in my town's library when I was a wee little one. Maybe one of the first SF novels I ever read. Wanna check it out again.

- Disposable People. My first plague story! Read way before King's The Stand, Crichton's Andromenda Strain, and the handful of Robin Cooks I read in the 90s. There's a vivid scene where the effects of the disease are described - something moves in the victim's wound! - that I've never, ever forgotten.

- Brave New World. Cuz we're mostly heading in that direction than an Orwellian 1984 direction.

- The Time-Swept City. Dystopic short stories that depressed me in college. I'm curious to see whether they'll depress me out of college.

- The Crystal Cave and The Hollow Hills. Okay. I had to read 'em for high school, maybe you did too. Merlin, backstory of the Arthurian legends. Point is, I enjoyed them way back then, and I still think about the handful of scenes I remember. If that's not a reason to re-read a book, what is?