Chris Re-Reads: A new series

I’m a fast reader, always have been; in third grade I raced a classmate to be the first to finish H.G. Wells’ Journey to the Center of the Earth. I was also learning to skim, of course.

These days, I find myself now surrounded by books I’d meant to review and haven’t, promised to editors at’s Waging Nonviolence, Democratic Left and On Watch. Others belong here, including newest from old role model John Irving. But re-reading is an underappreciated skill, I think.

Because I read to write, now I’ll write to read: this series will make my second readings more deliberate and less a rushed effort to find quotes I can use. Also more public; I’ve already shared these paragraphs on social media and told my writer-BFFs which books I’m starting with.

And I’ll proceed in the spirit of Oscar Wilde, who said “If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.”