Re-watching. Rereading. Enjoying all over again.
I feel like that has been a theme for me the last week or two. And it's reminding me how much I love certain shows, movies, and books. I remember why I loved them in the first place.
Several years ago I borrowed The Absolute Sandman from our local library. I was captivated by the story. The bound volumes are expensive. And there are four. So we never picked them up. But then, on one of our regular trips to our friendly local comic shop, we picked up the trade paperback of The Sandman #1, Preludes and Nocturnes.
I reread Preludes and Nocturnes (the first Absolute Sandman volume contains the first three trade paperbacks) over the weekend. While not the strongest storyline in Neil Gaiman's version of The Sandman, I really enjoyed reading it again. I want to reread the rest of the series and the new storyline, The Sandman: Overture.
Saturday I sat down and watched Return of the Jedi with the boys. I've seen it many times, but the last few times they've watched it I have been busy doing other things. I think this is the first time in a couple of years that I just watched the movie. And I remembered how much I love the original Star Wars trilogy. I think a viewing of the complete saga will happen this summer. Yes, probably including episodes 1-3, because the boys will insist. (If only I could convince them to skip the podrace....)
Also over the weekend (what was up with this weekend?) I caught a couple of episodes of the Battlestar Galactica reimagining. Up late, waiting for Chris to get home, flipping channels.... and BBC America was airing Kobol's Last Gleaming parts 1 & 2. I've been wanting to re-watch the series and even picked it up on Blu-ray a while back (gotta love those Amazon deals of the day!), but it's not something we can watch while the boys are around. Now I really want to immerse myself in that series again.
There are other series I want to watch again: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Star Trek: The Next Generation. There are other books I really want to read again, although my to-read pile is now three shelves and some of the books are so long: Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series (I so love the Starz tv adaptation, another Ron Moore gem, along with the aforementioned Battlestar Galactica), the Harry Potter series (maybe I'll reread those when the boys are ready to read them), A Wrinkle in Time (actually, I just read the graphic novel adaptation, which, yes, reminded me of how much I loved that book), the Anne of Green Gables series.
What is it about certain books or shows that makes us want to read or watch them repeatedly? Is it like comfort food? I'm not sure that's right, at least not for me. Certain stories speak to me. They are like old friends that I know well, but they continue to surprise me. They tell me truths about myself or the world. I'm not sure I've found exactly the right words for why some stories keep hold of me or return to me while others can just float by, entertaining me, but not needing a return visit.
What books/movies/shows do you continually revisit?