Re: 25 Classic Books That Have Been Banned

On Fri, 14 Feb 2025 08:46:55 +1100, Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org>
wrote:

On 14/02/25 08:21, D wrote:

On Wed, 12 Feb 2025, Judith Latham wrote:

>

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

>
Excellent! Will read again.

>
I did read it again, and was disappointed. Somehow, for me, it had lost
its air of originality. I'd almost classify it as a "read once" book.
Many of the other books on the list can be read with pleasure multiple
times.

"Read once" vs. "read multiple times" -

In my youth, almost every book of fiction was "read once".
I read fast, but I remembered large amounts word-for-word
and that made re-reading less pleasant.  But I did develop a
habit of re-reading series, where the latter stories added
depth to what I had picked up on first-read.

I still read fast, which I've realized is often "too fast."
Especially, I still missed a lot of social interplay and clever
dialog, even though I try to pay more attention. These days,
I'll re-read a book within a few weeks if I did enjoy it.

Back in the early days when I seldom re-read, the one book
that fascinated me enough to re-read was "Cat's Cradle."
To my surprise, it did not surprise me at all -- it seemed to
evoke only the same insights and reactions that had impressed
me on the first reading.

>
Having said that, I still acknowledge that Catch-22 is an important
literary work. In fact, when I released my mailing list manager, I
called it MajorMajor.

--
Rich Ulrich