The Lifetime "Re-Read" project.

[zespectre]

About seven years ago I decided to start re-locating some of the books I read growing up so that I could re-read them as an adult and compare my understand and feelings about the books to what I felt as a "tween/teen".

It has been an enlightening journey to be sure.

There are some books (Stranger in a Strange Land and Dune) which I simply could not wade through as a young teen which I now read with depth and understanding, and in some cases a little awe that the writers could construct such a story.

Other books were good then (with a teen's understanding) and I enjoyed them even more now with an adult's perspective (McCaffery's PERN series, David Drake's "Hammer's Slammers" series, selected Bradbury)

Some books (the "Pip and Flinx" adventures by Alan Dean Foster, and the "Castle Perilous" series by John DeChancie) remained light, fast, adventure reading but have aged very well and were as enjoyable to my adult self as they were to my younger self.

Then there were some disappointments, for example The Space Mavericks by Michael Kring. I LOVED this book as a teen and as an adult it seemed so...thin. "The Last Rangers" series by Jake Davis. Again, like eating a cream puff, maybe a little too much flavor and not at all filling

Still it's been enormously educational and I've enjoyed the nostalgia as well. I feel this project has been time well spent and I've learned a LOT about myself and the ways I've changed over the years from doing this.

"Castle Perilous" series and the "StarRigger" trilogy by John DeChancie

"Mad Amos", "Codgerspace", "Pip n' Flinx series" by Alan Dean Foster

"Sten" series by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch

"Bolo" books by Keith Laumer (and later others)

"Hammers Slammers" series by David Drake

The "Dancing Gods" books by Jack Chalker

[covingtoncat73]

Some books I read in childhood and intend to keep re-reading are The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the Wizard of Earthsea books, Mary Stewart's Merlin books, Jane Eyre, Wind in the Willows, and Grimm's Fairy Tales.

[richvalle]

Originally Posted by zespectre

Then there were some disappointments, for example The Space Mavericks by Michael Kring. I LOVED this book as a teen and as an adult it seemed so...thin. "The Last Rangers" series by Jake Davis. Again, like eating a cream puff, maybe a little too much flavor and not at all filling

You know, I've been meaning to start a thread about this. And maybe I should so I don't hijack yours... but I was wondering if anyone had gone back and re-read books from way back when that they liked and then on re-reading finding they didn't like them.

I had two that came to mind.

A Robert Heinlein book (and one reason I didn't start the thread is that I have to look up the title to the book). Starts off with a guy going to a party, meets a girl, her father, the lady hosting the party... they leave the house and it blows up and they are trying to escape whoever is trying to kill him.

I found the dialog... weird. It just didn't ring true. But the kicker was when the lady hosting the party asked the girl if she had had sex with her own father. The girl looks down and say no, but she would have if he wanted to because she loved him that much. The lady says something like 'good for you!'.

If I read this as a teen, and I probably did as I read many of his books, I probably just wrinkled my nose at the weird thought and kept going. As a father to a teen girl I had a WAY different reaction to this and stopped reading.

I do want to pick up another of his books... maybe Stranger in a Strange Land or Starship Troopers, and see if I still like them.

The other was Sword of Shannara. I REALLY liked that book way back when. I tried to re-read it and... uggg. Just couldn't get though it.


I did re-read Hitchhikers guide recently. I still liked those but not as much as I did the first time around.


Interesting project you have set yourself and I'm looking forward to any more you have to say on it.

rv

[zespectre]

The other was Sword of Shannara. I REALLY liked that book way back when. I tried to re-read it and... uggg. Just couldn't get though it.

Yes, that was another that I too liked as a teen and finally put it down halfway as an adult and moved on.

Another that held up really well was "Watership Down" though I understood a lot more about it now than I did then such as the parallels to Odysseus.

[DiapDealer]

I make it a point never to re-read anything that I truly loved from yesteryear. Why take a chance on spoiling a perfectly lovely memory? Too risky.

I would imagine the "I think I love it more" s would be vastly outnumbered by the "WTF was I thinking" s

[edbro]

The Dick and Jane Series.

"See Spot Run. Look Jane, look".

I just don't get it now.

(if you didn't grow up in the US in the 60's you won't understand)

[richvalle]

Originally Posted by edbro

The Dick and Jane Series.

"See Spot Run. Look Jane, look".

I just don't get it now.

(if you didn't grow up in the US in the 60's you won't understand)

It's all about running away from the Establishment. Do more drugs and it'll make more sense.


rv

[orlok]

Originally Posted by richvalle

A Robert Heinlein book (and one reason I didn't start the thread is that I have to look up the title to the book). Starts off with a guy going to a party, meets a girl, her father, the lady hosting the party... they leave the house and it blows up and they are trying to escape whoever is trying to kill him.

I found the dialog... weird. It just didn't ring true. But the kicker was when the lady hosting the party asked the girl if she had had sex with her own father. The girl looks down and say no, but she would have if he wanted to because she loved him that much. The lady says something like 'good for you!'.

I'm pretty sure that it's "Time Enough for Love", the story of Lazarus Long, who lives through 23 centuries. I loved this book as a youth, and maybe this thread has inspired me to finally give it another go.

[jgaiser]

Interesting thread. I'm 64 and some of my earliest memories of SF were the Heinlein books. Loved them until about the time of 'Stranger In A Strange Land'. Finished it, but didn't truly enjoy it. Really didn't read *any* of his later books. I've reread some of his earliest fiction (mostly the YA stuff) and still love his writing. Maybe I should reread Stranger and see if I see if differently now.

[zespectre]

I have often thought (looking back) that Heinlein's post-70s work demonstrated that his health issues were affecting what and how he was writing and that it really came to light in his 80s work. I'm not saying his work was ruined or anything like that, just different and in some cases wildly different from his earlier works. Whatever the reason he sure became less shy about putting forth some very "alternative" ideas about what society might consider proper in the future.

[DiapDealer]

Whatever the reason he sure became less shy about putting forth some very "alternative" ideas about what society might consider proper in the future.

And I loved him for it.
But I'm one of the weird ones who prefers his later works to his earlier stuff.

[richvalle]

I had read a document by... Spider Robinson maybe?, defending Heinlein's writing. Several 'issues' that people supposedly had against him were brought up and refuted. One that he was secretly gay supposedly brought to light by Starship Troopers.

The one I remember the most was that he was... prudish in his writing as there was never any sex or anything close to it. The rebuttal was that at the time the final editing was done by a lady with very stern ideas about what was allowed into books and ruthlessly cut anything that smacked of sex or anything like it. It was pointed out that after she left his stories became more open... such as Friday which could have been written as a "look, I can do sex!".

Anyway after all this I'm going to have to go back and try to re-read some of his writing, old and new and see if I still like it.

rv

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by richvalle

A Robert Heinlein book (and one reason I didn't start the thread is that I have to look up the title to the book). Starts off with a guy going to a party, meets a girl, her father, the lady hosting the party...

…But the kicker was when the lady hosting the party asked the girl if she had had sex with her own father.

My ghod, someone else tried reading The Number of the Beast!

Or it could still be Time Enough for Love, as suggested upthread. Heinlein was kind of … special that way.*

I still like much of his work anyway. Even some of the later stuff which was even more … special.†

* I personally chalk it up to late-in-life wish-fullfillment fantasy on his part: having the strong, ultra-healthy, ultra-fertile protagonist with no health problems who could solve everything and was always right and pioneered new worlds and stuff; whereas he was stuck with increasingly frail health and a declining space program and no kids due to infertility issues and a world where his views were kind of increasingly out-of-date and old-fashioned compared to shifting social change etc.

† I freely admit to often having trashy taste.

ETA: I should add that the most recent time I re-read my favourite Heinlein, Citizen of the Galaxy, it held up pretty well. But some of his other stuff from the same period simply didn't impress me as much as it might have when I was 10, although in retrospect, I think some of it might not have impressed me much at all.

I should probably add that all his classic stuff was written well before I was born and I originally found them as the really old books in the school library shelf, so it's not really a case of nostalgia working on me, because they were already "retro" when I started reading.

[Ron.]

The only book I remember reading growing up is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory I know I read some Hardy Boys but I don't remember them. I was to busy with other things to read as a teen..

[orlok]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

And I loved him for it.
But I'm one of the weird ones who prefers his later works to his earlier stuff.

Me too . "I will Fear No Evil" and "Time Enough for Love" were two of my absolute faves.