Jami Rereads a Book

I love to read and the books I really enjoy, I'll read over and over. There are books that I have probably read 10 time that I still cry at the sad parts and giggle out loud at the funny parts. I like a good story and it's okay if I know it. When I find an author I like, I tend to "out-read" him/her, that is, to read everything I can find that he/she has written until I'm caught up and waiting for more. I have several authors that I tend to buy (used) because I know I'll keep reading them. That's not the point of this post, just getting us on the same page. A couple days ago, Eddie had gotten enough into his trains that he wouldn't notice if I stopped pushing my one assigned train and read. However, the book I am currently trying to find time to read waited for me downstairs, meaning that to get it, I'd have to stand up and walk out of the room, drawing attention to the fact that I'd stopped playing trains. In my reach, on the upstairs bookcase, sat a book by one of my favorite authors, albeit the one book by her that I didn't like. It'd been so long since the last time I read it, I couldn't remember why I hadn't liked it. I'm not going to tell you the title or author, because that's not the point of this story, either. I picked it up, figuring it would keep me entertained for whatever brief time I had and then when I reached the point where I remembered why I hadn't liked it, I'd put it back. But, I never reached that point. I read the thing, cover to cover, in a couple of days. I really enjoyed the story, even when I got around to remembering the ending, just a chapter or so before I got there. So what happened the previous reading? I don't know, but I have some guesses. The author is generally reputed as writing comedic novels and this story wasn't funny. I mean, a few places where I chuckled, but not a hilarious romp through anything. Maybe I'd started it expecting a good laugh and been disappointed, so I'd missed the goodness of the story. I can tell you that it's probably been 5 years since I first read it, and I'm a different me than I was before Eddie was born, before I became a full-time Mommy, before some of the other things that I've experienced in that time. Maybe I just wasn't ready for the story then and now I am. It makes me wonder what things in life we experienced at just the wrong time. If I hadn't bought this book, just borrowed it from the library and returned it, I'd never have read it again, and I wouldn't know that it really is a good story. What other books or movies or places or people have I come across when I had the wrong attitude or expectations or emotions or maturity? How can I ever know?