Nothing Remains the Same: Rereading and RememberingA New York Times Notable Book and a San Francisco Chronicle Book of the Year: A look at the pleasures and surprises of rereading. Compared with reading, the act of rereading is far more personal—it involves a complex interaction of our past selves, our present selves, and literature. With candor and humor, this “inspired intellectual romp, part memoir, part criticism” takes us on a guided tour of the author’s own return to books she once knew—from the plays of Shakespeare to twentieth-century novels by Kingsley Amis and Ian McEwan, from the childhood favorite I Capture the Castle to classic novels such as Anna Karenina and Huckleberry Finn, from nonfiction by Henry Adams to poetry by Wordsworth—as she reflects on how the passage of time and the experience of aging has affected her perceptions of them (Lawrence Weschler). A cultural critic and the acclaimed author of Why I Read, Wendy Lesser conveys an infectious love of reading and inspires us all to take another look at the books we’ve read to find the unexpected treasures they might offer. “Delightful.” —Diane Johnson, author of Le Divorce “Anyone who has ever approached a once favorite book later in life . . . will find in this memoir moments of bittersweet recognition.” —The New York Times Book Review “Reflect[s] deeply and candidly on how a reader’s life experiences alter her perceptions of literature . . . [Lesser] has truly fascinating and original things to say about a compelling assortment of writers, including George Orwell, George Eliot, D. H. Lawrence, Dostoyevsky, and Shakespeare.” —Booklist |
From inside the book
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... whole point of the deluded knight's crazy adventures hinges on the difference. But making the distinctions is never simple. Who does more harm to Sancho Panza: the fake knight who promises him a real island to govern if he comes along ...
... whole point of the deluded knight's crazy adventures hinges on the difference. But making the distinctions is never simple. Who does more harm to Sancho Panza: the fake knight who promises him a real island to govern if he comes along ...
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... whole atmosphere. In the first, Sancho Panza is standing in the woods when he feels something bmshing his shoulder; he turns to look, and finds that he is surrounded by hanged men—legally strung-up criminals—whose bodies have been left ...
... whole atmosphere. In the first, Sancho Panza is standing in the woods when he feels something bmshing his shoulder; he turns to look, and finds that he is surrounded by hanged men—legally strung-up criminals—whose bodies have been left ...
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... whole, I would say that my daily experiences with Berkeley crazy people give me some sense of what might be going through the minds of the characters who encounter Don Quixote. Their two most common responses—anger and fascination—are ...
... whole, I would say that my daily experiences with Berkeley crazy people give me some sense of what might be going through the minds of the characters who encounter Don Quixote. Their two most common responses—anger and fascination—are ...
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... whole the larger universe in which we dwell. When Sancho Panza first learns from Sanson Carrasco, for instance, about the existence of the printed and disseminated Volume One, they have a detailed conversation about the logical errors ...
... whole the larger universe in which we dwell. When Sancho Panza first learns from Sanson Carrasco, for instance, about the existence of the printed and disseminated Volume One, they have a detailed conversation about the logical errors ...
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... whole question of class in England. The book is riddled with it, subtly and richly burdened with it; but having grown up in supposedly classless Palo Alto, and having never been to Britain except through books, I had no way of ...
... whole question of class in England. The book is riddled with it, subtly and richly burdened with it; but having grown up in supposedly classless Palo Alto, and having never been to Britain except through books, I had no way of ...
Contents
An Education | |
A Young Womans Mistakes | |
All Kinds of Madness | |
A Small Masterpiece | |
The Tree of Knowledge | |
McEwan inTime | |
The Strange Case of Huck and Jim | |
A Literary Career | |
Hitchcocks Vertigo | |
Back Matter | |
Back Cover | |
Spine | |
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Common terms and phrases
actors actually Adams's Aglaya Anna Anna Karenina become believe called Capture the Castle Casaubon Cervantes chapter character child childhood comes criticism Don Quixote Dorothea Dostoyevsky dream essay exactly experience fact feel felt fiction fool garden George Eliot George Orwell Henry Adams Henry James Hermione Howells Huck Huckleberry Finn humor husband idea idiot imagine instance Jenny Diski kind knew Lawrence Leontes literary live look Lucky Jim Madeleine McEwan mean memory ment Middlemarch Milton mother movie Myshkin narrator Nastasya never novel once Orwell Orwell's Paradise Lost perhaps person play pleasure plot poem prince Prospero readers remember rereading Road to Wigan Rocking-Horse Rocking-Horse Winner Sancho Panza scene Scotty seems sense Shakespeare sort story strange tell Tempest things thought tion true turn Vertigo WENDY LESSER Wigan Pier woman word Wordsworth writing