Re-reading old favorites

Erin Wathen

"Attention span has left the building."  I read that line the other day in an article by Erin Wathen, also know as Irreverin.  (Can you see "Ir-Rev-Erin" in that moniker?)  The article is entitled The Gospel of Reading What We've Already Read Before.

"Our old stories have some-thing to teach us.  And those that become favor-ites, have a place in our lives for a reason. They teach us how to find hope when that rare bird seems elusive; they teach us resilience and creativity; and most of all, they bring us to a place that is familiar, so we can catch our breath and then get back to the business of navigating the unknown.  The story itself is the gift.  And fact or fiction, it’s as true as anything we know."

I'm sure I'm not the only one who can empathize with the idea that my attention span is less that it used to be.  I haven't been reading nearly as much as normal for me.  But "normal" has changed a lot in the last few weeks, hasn't it?  When I got the book Purple Hibiscus last week, I knew I'd read it before, and it wasn't what I'd call "an old favorite."  I did look through the list of books I've read and discovered I'd given it a rating of 8/10 when I finished reading it in April 2013.  I consider 8 of 10 a "very good" read.  So I've started re-reading this 2003 novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.  I'm mentally traveling "back to Nigeria."

Then maybe I'll finish reading Erin Wathen's book that's here beside my chair that I started reading in March, when it was Women's History Month:  Resist and Persist.

Word of the Day

mon·i·ker /ˈmänəkər / noun informal = a name.
Example:  "Her real moniker is Erin Wathen."