New Old Books

I recently re-read several books from my childhood.1 Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World and J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye.2 What I found so striking about both experiences was how the context changed for me now that I am an adult. The words are the same, but almost all of the stories are different. I still enjoyed the hell out of them, but I now have a split memory of these books. Thinking of A Brave New World now makes me excited and sad for the future.

  1. My arbitrary demarcation of adulthood is the beginning of college. I'm probably off by several years in both directions. ↩

  2. I re-read a lot of my favorite books. I've read every Vonnegut book multiple time. Each time is as good, if not better than, the previous. ↩