Revisiting the Classics

Publishers Weekly has a great article this week called 10 Classic Books You Read in High School You Should Reread by Kevin Smokler, the author of the new book Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books You Haven't Touched Since High School (we don't have this yet, alas).  I think it is pretty flattering to most of us that he thinks we made it through 50 classics while in high school.  Maybe I hit that many by the end of college, but I wasn't tearing through them like crazy as a teen.

But I think he has a good point.  Just because you checked a classic off your list a few years/decades ago, doesn't mean you should be done with it forever.  I am not a fan of rereading books...there are so many new ones I want to tackle!  But the times I have taken the time to go back and revisit classics, I'm amazed by how different they are than I remember.  And that is because when you reread you bring new things to the book...your own broader perspective and gained experiences.  The two books that come to mind for me that I loved even more when I reread them as an adult:

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  As a teen this was pure history to me, oldy time things happening to oldy time people.  Now I read it with enormous respect for Atticus Finch as a character and a father, and someone I hold in high esteem.  I worry more for the kids in the book, and I have more context for the struggles and evolution their culture is going through.

A Room with a View by E.M. Forster.  I distinctly remember picking this up as a teen because it was short and I heard it was romantic.  Both these things remain true, but what really surprised me was just how funny this book is...it is filled with quiet humor that went completely over my head the first time around, but was just delightful when I listened to it on audiobook (I've linked to the cd here).

What classics have you re-discovered in your grown-up years?  Which books have you been meaning to re-read, but just haven't gotten around to it?