Ash Kingery

In light of Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming Frankenstein, a movie I have been excited about for years now, I decided to reread the original novel. (Side note: I stylize all of the titles of these rambles after the book’s full title: Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus.) I think I’m enjoying it more now than I did the previous times I read it–the first time being in 10th grade, the second time being for one of my freshman-year 100-level classes for the major I quit after one semester. I also tried picking it up semi-recently, seeing as there was still a bookmark I’d taken from work in it, but I guess it wasn’t in the cards for some reason. But now? I’m on a roll, baby.

And that made me think about rereading in general. I think the general norm is to read a book once, and that’s what I usually do. This is why I’m such an avid library patron: it lets me try all the books I could ever want without having to pay for them and potentially be stuck with a book I don’t like and now have to get rid of, one way or another. Occasionally, I will buy a book (often used) or request one as a gift on the appropriate occasions, but I’ve been buying way more comics–both as floppies and as collected editions–than I have been buying regular books lately.

But here’s the thing*: once you have a book, you have it. The question now becomes… will I ever read this again? I don’t often think about rereading something, because I’m always on the hunt for something new to read. My appetite is insatiable. I also only have so much shelf space, and so much money in my bank account. So what gets the honor of occupying my shelves–at least, for a time? I don’t know. Some of them are books I couldn’t find at the library, but were available on Thriftbooks (fortunately, I ended up liking them, for the most part!). Some of them are books that are very dear to me even if I’ve outgrown them, such as Warriors and Little House on the Prairie. Some are books I had to read for school and ended up actually enjoying, such as the Aeneid, Burnt Offerings, and yes, Frankenstein. And some of them are books I borrowed and liked so much that I had to have a copy for myself, such as Into the Wild and The Eyes of the Dragon. It’s hard to make those judgements sometimes–who stays, and who gets put in the bag to be sacrificed on the altar of the used book store? Because there are books I haven’t read in years, but I look at them and think, I could still come back to you someday. So I guess that means they get to stick around a little bit longer, until I finally reread them and make a firm ruling on their fate.

There is no point to this post. I will say this, though: To all the compulsive re-readers out there, who find time to come back to the things they love again and again, I salute you.

*Here he is.