Books Worth a Second Read

I love my book collection. The books I have kept, and moved with, over the years are my absolute favorites and I have read them more than once. Some people think it foolish to read a book more than once, and to those people I point and criticize. Reading a book is an experience. I have not wasted any time reading books over and over again because I always enjoy the time I spend with them.

I am currently waiting for a few books to be returned to the public library so I picked up a book I hadn't read since high school: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.

I remembered that I liked the story but that I didn't particularly care for the way it was written. While the narration was easy enough to read, all of the banter between the characters is written phonetically in southern black talk in the early to mid 1900s.

Examples:
I'm = Ah'm
Woman = 'oman
Expect = 'spek

And so on. Sometimes I have to read a sentence more than once to figure out what it means. But I guess if I was to try to have a conversation with one of these characters in real life I'd have to ask them to repeat what they said at least twice. Or three times.

Anyway, I'm re-reading this book after 14 years and it brings back more memories than just the story line. It reminds me of the first time I read the book in high school, how I felt, and what I learned while reading it (there are marks in the margins from class). It's a good feeling.