reading life
In defence of the reread
A book you already know the ending of is not a wasted evening. It might be the only honest way to read.
There is a copy of a novel on my shelf that I have read eleven times. The spine has gone soft. Someone spilled kopi on page ninety in 2011 and I have never wanted to replace it, because the stain is now part of the reading.
People are faintly embarrassed about rereading. There is a sense that with so much unread in the world, going back is a kind of failure of ambition. I have come to think the opposite.
The first time you are only finding out what happens
The first read is spent almost entirely on plot. Who is this, what do they want, what goes wrong. It is a good and necessary pass and it is also the shallowest one, because suspense is a loud noise and it drowns out everything quieter.
Only on a second read do you notice that the writer put the ending on page four, in a line about weather, and trusted you not to see it.
Suspense is a magician's patter. It is very entertaining, and it is not the trick.
What rereading is actually for
I reread the way I go back to the same stall for breakfast. Not for surprise. For the pleasure of a thing done well, done again, and noticed properly this time.
And there is a private measurement in it. The book has not changed since 2011. I have. Reading it again is the closest thing I have to a photograph of who I was the last time I opened it, which is not something a new book can offer, however good it is.
More from the journal
More by Tan Li Wei
- The man who mends shoes 8 Sep 2026
- Small things noticed before the coffee came 5 Sep 2026
- Under the awning 3 Sep 2026
- First light at the stall 31 Aug 2026
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House rules
- Sign how you like, but be one person. You may use the name on your account, a name of your own choosing, or none at all. What you may not do is wear somebody else's: no pen name of ours, no member's name but your own, and nothing that reads as the studio or its staff.
- Argue with the point, not the person. Robust disagreement is welcome; contempt is not.
- Nothing unlawful, hateful or harassing, nothing that identifies a private individual, and no advertising.
- Post only what is yours to post. That includes other people's writing and private correspondence.
- We may hide a remark, remove it, or close an account to the discussions, and we may do so without notice.
What a chosen name is and is not
A chosen name hides you from the room, not from us. Every remark stays linked to the account that wrote it, and the studio can see that link whenever it needs to. Please treat it as a way to speak freely, not as a way to say something you would not put your name to.
Where responsibility sits
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