To All The Books I’ve Loved Before: Reflections on Reading and Nostalgia

By Karolina Zentrichova

Many people will look at their past and remember formative events, important people or strong emotions.  For some of us (and if you are reading this blog there is a fair chance you are a part of this select group) these formative events and people are not only real but also imagined.

This week PublishEd hosted a pub quiz alongside the Literature Society and more than anything else I felt that the event provided me with a great opportunity to reflect on the important role that books have played in my life. It was particularly enjoyable because I could do so alongside people who could relate to the feeling of nostalgia that talking about books brings out of me, even if their views on specific books differed astronomically from mine. It may take me a while to forgive a particular person who insinuated that ‘The Order of the Phoenix’ is everyone’s least favourite Harry Potter book, but we have probably both spent countless hours daydreaming about shenanigans we would get up to with Harry and Dumbledore’s Army, so I might well have a lot in common with that person despite their (in my opinion) highly questionable opinions.

The Young Adult and Children’s fiction round in the Pub Quiz in particular made me realise how much the way we read changes over time. It’s been quite a while since I cried my eyes out the way I did alongside Charlie from ‘Perks of Being a Wallflower’ and I think a huge part of that is the fact that I simply don’t read in the same way I used to. It’s a lot more difficult to immerse yourself in a long series of books as a busy student than a kid without the distractions of looming essay deadlines and flatmates convincing you that tonight’s night out is one that cannot be missed.

Often, rereading or even just talking about old favourites is enough to revive the strong connection you have with them and see the characters alive in front of you the way that you used to. But revisiting childhood favourites can be a risky business, as memory is a fickle thing. If you have a good memory for details this might not be a problem you will encounter, but I certainly felt like I was betraying a past version of myself when I tried and failed to remember the names of all five Bennet sisters from Pride and Prejudice – props to the people who remembered Mary because her existence had completely slipped my mind.

Whilst the knowledge that your memories of small things have become a bit hazy can be addressed quite easily, the same cannot be said for the conflicting emotions that arise when you see a book in a completely different light. Becoming aware of racist or sexist undertones in some of your favourites can be genuinely heartbreaking and can often be one of the ways we realise that books are not necessarily the safe havens we saw them as in our younger years. Other times, disappointment comes in the realisation that a book you used to adore is just badly written and you can no longer understand what you used to see in it.

Whilst we sometimes have a tendency to dismiss child and young adult fiction, childhood favourites may be the closest thing we have to time travel, allowing us to be reminded of the person we used to be and relive the same excitement we experienced when first reading them. Anyone who still has an inclination to look down at old favourites from a high horse should be warned that not a single person at the Pub Quiz was able to distinguish a J. K. Rowling quotation from quotations of the traditional canonical authors. I’m taking this as providing stone cold proof that Harry Potter is a genuine masterpiece.

Whether you attending Pub Quizzes or rereading books is your method of choice to indulge in a bit of bookish nostalgia, doing so will probably be a journey full of surprises, both the good and the bad kind. There is definitely something special in being able to share this nostalgia with others, so I hope you consider attending a bookish event near you soon: if nothing else, you will leave with a lot of great book recommendations, which can only be a good thing.

P.S. In the name of inspiration and entertainment, here are some of our favourite names created by teams during the Pub Quiz:

• Tequila Mockingbird
• You’re a Quizzard, Harry!
• The Pitcher of Dorian Grey
• Confessions of a Justified Quizzer (the winners of the quiz and possibly the best team name)

Our next event will be the launch of The Inkwell! Come along and see all the amazing things that people have imagined and created. More details will be posted on the Upcoming Events Page.