I remember somewhere that the rambling nature of it mirrors the writing of the book as a kind of exploratory journey for the writer in itself.

Yeah. It is a surprising book. The allusions to gay sex caught me off guard.

Totally. Reading it again this year. It’s great spending time with those guys again.

Sounds like you’ve had a bad time of it. Hope things get better.

But, it’s not ‘weird to read a book again and again to flee from reality.’ That’s what summer books are for. Some of thing are like an evening seeing an old friend and entire you’re reading it, it’s all good.

And for me, a children’s book with adult ideas - Wind in the Willows. The book itself is nostalgic for an earlier time. I first read it when I was sick as a child. I last read when I was sick as a 55 year old adult.

Maybe it’s not about too early but rather first taste. Rereading The World According to Garp thirty years later feels like a deeper experience certainly. But I also had a sense of me reading the book while watching the 19 year old me reading the book 30 years earlier. In a weird way it was like summoning my younger self