Once, when meeting someone for the first time, I was asked which books I could read over and over again.
At this moment it occurred to me that often I can't even go into a library or book store without feeling like I am Rory Gilmore when she realises the Harvard library has more books than she will ever be able to read.
I am so overwhelmed by the sheer number of books in existence that I haven't read yet that I hardly consider re-visiting those I have already.
As an English student, I have a tendency to only re-read sections of books, to refresh myself only with the parts of a text that might be considered the most important.
Even though I should almost definitely spend a lot more of my time going over books more than once.
I am ashamed to admit though that the number of novels I have actually read more than once is pitifully small.
In my relatively short life, I have only ever re-read The Bell Jar, to desensitise myself, in order to study it, and the Harry Potter series, out of some persistent desire to relive my childhood.
In a way, the whole concept of a literary canon suggests that there are some texts that are so worthwhile they transcend time and space and become a sort of endlessly appealing universe.
And of course, myriad literary theories would suggest that if you look through a text hard enough and for long enough then you could find so many different meanings and interpretations your eyes would swell up and explode all over your well-thumbed paperback.
When I think of how many times I could read Ulysses and still not understand it, I feel ill.
Maybe I've got a thing about already knowing what is going to happen. Reading a book over again is not quite like watching a movie you've already seen.
When you're watching a movie you're too distracted by what is flitting around before your eyes to really focus on what is coming up.
The climax of the film can almost always be a surprise, even if you've seen it 12 times.
With a book, however, you have altogether too much time to think about what is coming up. Nothing is moving, there is no sound, no happy distractions.
Although this is boring to me, it has just hit me that it might be quite comforting.
Perhaps, if you're feeling like your life is a little out of control, it might be nice to pretend you're an all knowing being watching over the lives of your favourite literary characters.
Some people evidently have a longer and more advanced attention span than I do.
Even though it seems I have the capacity to listen to the same album in a continuous loop for six hours a day, five days a week, I've hardly the patience to even glance at books I treasure.
Wondering if perhaps there might be something wrong with me or the way I've been reading, I spent a few minutes surfing the web.
As it happens, there are a lot of semi-inspirational quotes related to reading your favourite book so many times the covers fall off.
Hemingway, C.S. Lewis, and Susan Sontag all seem to agree that if a book is worth reading once then it is worth reading again.
There was only one writer in the quote cluster who seemed to acknowledge that there are too many books around to keep perusing what you already know, but I hadn't heard her name before, so there is a good chance she's wrong.
-Millie Lovelock is a Dunedin student.
