Read the book online at www.archive.org
I often struggle to articulate to others the pleasures and surprises I derive from rereading books I read many years ago, at a time so long ago as to almost belong to a different life. Compared with reading, the act of rereading is far more personal -- it involves the interaction of my past self with my present self.
This is beautifully explained in "Nothing Remains The Same - Rereading and Remembering" by Wendy Lesser, which I found at Vinnies yesterday. And what a treasure it turned out to be! Its flyleaf bears the inscription: "To Helen, Merry Christmas 2009, Love Stan, Jill, Julia & Viv".
Instead of an introduction the author quotes Mark Twain:
I have never been back to look at the flat I grew up in but I discovered it on the internet - click here - and it had quite definitely shrunk. The dimensions were still the same, the flat hadn't altered; instead, it was the first time that I really looked at it in focus. And so it is with the rereading of books which I read many years ago in a previous life: they are the same and yet they are not the same because I have changed.
This book is a lovely hardcover edition, beautifully bound and in almost mint condition, so thank you, Helen, for looking after it so well. I shall continue to treasure it and reread it as so obviously you must've done.
