If you watch a movie you have already seen, you will almost certainly see, hear or understand things you didn’t the first time or missed the first time. Someone told me that a film class he took required three viewings: basic experience first, story, plot, character details the second time and finally technical aspects of shots, timing, effects, etc. There is always more to what is going on than one exposure can take in.
Same thing with reading. C.S. Lewis in “Experiment in Criticism” pictures a middle-aged fan of mystery stories standing in front of a library bookshelf trying to remember whether she has read the book in her hands or not. His point is that if it were good writing, she would remember. Maybe, Clive. I am older now than Clive Staples lived to be and my opinion is that the experience of deciding that one has found a new treasure by a admired author only to discover half-way through the 2nd chapter, that the whole story and one’s initial reaction comes roaring back is not always pleasant.
I say it may be better to actually locate a book that one knows one has read and purposely sit down and read it again. Like the later viewings of a movie, one may find surprising things in the book the 2nd time through. I haven’t done that very often, I admit. I am too impatient and too childishly eager for a new experience to get myself to try re-reading. I did do it with Lewis’ “Mere Christianity”, more than once actually, and Barzun’s “The House of Intellect”. In my course Personal Reading for Professional Development, I had grad students go through the stress of naming 10 of their most favorite books. Both “Mere…” and “House…” were often among my choices. I read them in college and I read them later.
I often found that a book I loved years earlier seems a bit weak now. Still re-reading can be fun and very enlightening about your younger self. I have found time to re-view some movies: The Russians Are Coming!, In the Spirit, Ruthless People, Love Potion No.9, Shirley Valentine, Oh, God, and others. Movies or books or music, encores can be wonderful.
