This year, I have read more books than I have in the span of time between starting high school and finishing college. The absence of busywork from school paired with me missing the feeling of finishing a really good book has pushed me to read any time I get the chance. It’s allowed me to read books that I’ve always wanted to read, and write reviews and analyses for this lovely site! I don’t think there was another time in my life where I looked forward to the next opportunity to start another book or book series, and I find that to be very exciting for me. Not only has it entertained me, but it’s been motivating me to pick up the forgotten pieces of miscellaneous work that I’ve written over the years. Overall, it’s been a really lucrative hobby that I’ve randomly picked up – I’m so happy to have come to this time in my life.
A huge reading motivator for me has been my girlfriend who is also reading a lot – she started reading a series that I read when I was a teenager, “All For the Game” or perhaps better known as The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic. It’s a series about a made up sport, mafia drama, and other things that you wouldn’t think fit together so well, but do. I’m not going to go into the details of the series because my feelings about it are far too complicated to simplify in a measly review or analysis; just know that it meant a lot to me when I was younger, despite the questionable actions of some characters. Because she decided to pick up those books, she would mention specific scenes and characters that I hadn’t thought about in a very long time. There’s something so comforting about feeling nostalgia for a piece of media that you haven’t consumed in a long time, and I decided to pick the books up again myself because of it.
I feel it necessary to mention that before I even started to reread “All For the Game,” I was about two books into the Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan. This was after I had already finished the entire Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by the same author earlier this year; I’m sure you can tell I’ve been on a nostalgia kick. I read the first five PJO books when I was in the middle of high school and had decided that I would finish the HoO series as well and whatever books happened to be in the same universe, but that never happened, as I never even started the second series. My best friend Jem is very much into the PJO series and because of that, I was able to reread the first series and start the second one – as you can see, I’m highly motivated by nostalgia and the aspect of sharing my thoughts and feelings with my loved ones on mutually loved books.
The entire reason why I wanted to write about the wonder of rereading is because it was something I previously thought I was unable to do. Truth be told, I’ve tried to reread both the PJO series and the AFTG series and had no luck with either. I actually think I tried to reread AFTG about three times and never succeeded. The only thing that’s changed (besides an abundance of time) is that someone who I love and talk to often is reading them as well, and that’s likely my biggest motivator. If there’s something that you’ve read or watched in the past and are feeling particularly nostalgic about it, pushing you to want to read or watch it again, I highly recommend asking if someone around you would want to do a buddy read or watch the piece of media in mind. It is so much more fun to discuss what interests you about a piece of media instead of keeping it to yourself, especially if you’re revisiting something at an older age.
Like I previously mentioned, I was a teenager when I read both of these series’ for the first time. I’m now twenty-three and a lot has changed since then, from my own world views to the outside world around me. There isn’t anything particularly polarizing about the content of either of the two series, so my views haven’t changed quite as much as they would if I were to perhaps reread something more intense in terms of social issues or personal relationships. However, being able to take a step back from a piece of media and come back to it once you’re older and have more lived experiences opens up more conversations in your head about the morality of characters, which ones are written poorly, and plot points that don’t entirely make sense. Especially since I graduated with a Creative Writing degree, conversations from classes that I took come back to me occasionally and inform my newfound perspective.
If there’s anything to take away from this little blog post, it’s that it’s never a waste of time to read something or watch something again. I believe it’s hard for people today to do things and not wonder about it being a waste of time or whether or not they should be doing something more “productive”. There is a type of existence that we’re trying to highlight on th/th, and that’s slow living. Rereading something that will make you remember a specific time in your life and have you thinking deeply about themes that didn’t pop out to you the first read is one hundred percent worth it – it would even be worth it if the only thing that came out of it was that you got to visit some characters that you’ve missed. Revisiting a book that is near and dear to me has made me so happy and brought me onto the revelation of the value in a reread, and I wanted to share that all with you!
