Welcome to my new project, 2024: My Year of Rereading. For thirty years this year, I have kept a record of every book I have read in the back of my yearly diary. Come follow my journey of rereading on Instagram, and see how the experience of rereading opens the door to critical thinking about both the work and how my reading of it has changed / or not.
In January 2024 I will select books from my 1994 list, in February 2024 I will select books from my 1995 list, and so on, until December 2024 where I read books from 2005. Those years take me from first-year university, to my father’s death, the London years, and coming home to own Nova Models and Talent. Quite a seminal dozen years!
For My Year of Rereading, I make book choices on gut feel—channelling how it felt to read it back then and a sense of its impact on my life since. I’m interested in rereading those books with new (writerly) eyes, and recording the experience as I go.
I’m also writing about the books in greater detail in a Word document—who knows where that will go. But I do know that in my state of mind at present, having had three back surgeries in three months, it’s tricky to focus on the novel I’ve begun. But this project I can do. Perhaps because it has borders. An outline. Rules. Whatever the reason, I’M LOVING IT. What’s not to like about writing about the books that have made me who I am. These books exist in my bones and in my heart. I am doing this to:
-
Slow down time
-
Dive into nostalgia
-
Reread favourite books with a writer’s eyes
-
Reconnect with the girls and women I have been
I look forward to seeing you over at @myyearodrereading
Caroline x