Marissa Lingen

Okay, here's my #ReaderQuestion of the day:

At what point or with what criteria do you determine that you read a book too long ago to be a useful source of information about it?

For example: I plowed through Anna Karenina when I was 12, Les Miserables when I was 13. And not since. At this point if I read them, I promise they will NOT feel like rereads.

Feb 7, 2023 at 5:38pmWeb
Show threadMarissa LingenFeb 7, 2023
On the other hand, I feel like I remember all I need to about James Michener's Hawaii, which I also read when I was 13. So clearly it's not just the time elapsed, it's also the complexity of thing I feel I need to have taken in? and/or be able to process now?
Show threadsjgochenourFeb 7, 2023
@MarissaLingen I think it also matters how much time you invested the first time around! I spent an entire month listening to Ulysses as an audiobook in 2015, listening to a short section every day. I feel more confident talking about that than discussing Edward Said's Orientalism, which I sort of rushed through as an audiobook in 2017.
Show threadMarissa LingenFeb 7, 2023
@sjgochenour That makes a lot of sense!
Show threadsjgochenourFeb 7, 2023
@MarissaLingen I think the switchover happens sometime between 5 years ago and 10 years ago, assuming there are no rereads. I still feel comfortable chatting about some things I read in 2016, but 2013 feels like another land.
Show threadMarissa LingenFeb 7, 2023
@sjgochenour Is that a question of what you remember, what issues you're likely to process differently now than 10 years ago, or both?
Show threadsjgochenourFeb 7, 2023
@MarissaLingen mostly memory for me! but also I was in a fairly bad mental state in 2013, so I didn't make memories as clearly as I did in the years after.
Show threadAliette de BodardFeb 7, 2023
@MarissaLingen generally if I didn't particularly care for the book maybe 5 years or so after having read it? More like 10 for books I loved.
Show threadMarissa LingenFeb 7, 2023
@aliettedb Hmm, that's interesting! Because for me the split doesn't come in whether I disliked it, it's whether I had *strong feelings* about it.
Show threadAliette de BodardFeb 7, 2023
@MarissaLingen oh interesting! 🤔
Show threadLgbookwormFeb 7, 2023
@MarissaLingen I think it’s a combination of how long it’s been, how intensely the book affected me, and how clearly I currently remember the details. Also probably the subject matter of the text. Oh, and how much personal growth I feel like I’ve experienced in the meantime—that’s not a constant rate, and it affects my view of some things more than others. Hm. This is probably not a very useful answer for you, but I think it’s a complicated question.
Show threadMarissa LingenFeb 7, 2023
@lgbookworm What I wanted was interesting answers to complicated questions, not a number to average, so it's all good!
Show threadLgbookwormFeb 7, 2023
@MarissaLingen Books that deeply affect me “expire” sooner than ones that didn’t, because that kind of intense emotional response is so specific to a time and place and situation. I feel less confident about my memories of those books because I think the experience would be very different on a later reread. A “you can’t step in the same river twice” kinda thing.
Show threadMarissa LingenFeb 7, 2023
@lgbookworm That is the opposite of me, which I find FASCINATING, thank you for elaborating.
Show threadLgbookwormFeb 7, 2023
@MarissaLingen I worry about the Suck Fairy visiting those books more, because I can’t tell in retrospect how much of the experience was the actual book and how much was in my own head while I was reading it.
Show threadMarissa LingenFeb 7, 2023
@lgbookworm That's fair, sometimes the reader's 50% is more like 80%.