Sep 26 2007
Speaker for the Dead
I recently finished (over a long weekend at Steamboat Lake, details later) the second book in the Ender’s Game series, Speaker for the Dead. Just like when I reread Ender’s Game a few weeks ago, the second reading of Speaker for the Dead was even better than the first. For some reason though, the first reading of Speaker may have been as the last book in the series rather than the second. My (admittedly hazy) recollection of the Ender’s books finishes with Speaker. I think I read them out of order. No matter.
I have never really reread any books. Normally I read a book, put it away and forget about it. I was surprised by one thing in rereading Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead. I was surprised by how accurate my original interpretation of the events and storyline were. I don’t often pick up or understand in detail what is happening or how we got to where we are in a story. That’s just an indication of my inattentive and slow reading style and it’s something that I’ve been trying to figure out how to fix. But, with these two books - especially Speaker - I remembered the events and the storyline from the first reading and they played out the same way in the second reading. This may not be a big deal to most people, but to me it was a reassuring feeling to know I’m probably not the horrible reader that I thought I was.
A final note: Remember the new, crappy cover on Ender’s Game? The cover for Ender’s Shadow is no better. Oof. That blows.
