This post by Andrea Romano originally appeared on Mashable on 8/17/14.
As you get older, you start seeing the world a little differently — the same goes for the books you read.
Whether it was a book you were forced to read in sophomore English class or your favorite childhood novel, some literary classics have a strange way of changing when we revisit them as adults. For better or worse, things just can’t stay the same.
You may find yourself rereading these familiar titles a little differently once you’ve started writing your own life chapters. It’s funny what a little life experience can do.
1. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
When you’re 15, you totally understand Holden Caulfield’s angst and isolation. However, reread this literary classic in your thirties and you start to roll your eyes every time this protagonist calls someone a “phony.”
2. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
The heartwarming story of the self-sacrificing tree that gave everything it had to provide for the boy it loved becomes a slightly sad and disturbing story when you gain a more worldly perspective. As the boy takes more and more from the tree in the story, you start to think, “how about some quid pro quo?”
Click here to read the full post on Mashable.