I’m stuck in a rut. This is my summer off, when I should be reading new books hand over fist, but instead, I’ve beenr rereading. Just went back through China Mieville’s Bas Lag Trilogy, just started Neil Gaiman’s *American Gods * for the second go-round.
My boyfriend thinks I’m crazy for doing this, but I enjoy it. I’ve read the Dune series from beginning to end at least 6 times since I first picked it up when I was in middle school, and I keep finding new things. Probably read the Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion as many times, and a few other favorites.
Maybe it’s just that I have a crappy memory and need to reinforce my favorite things with repeated exposures; I’ve seen my favorite movies half a dozen times too. Maybe it’s because on the first read-through, I always read very fast and need to pick up stuff I missed, but that doesn’t account for the 6 rereadings. Maybe I’m just a lazy weirdo who doesn’t feel like trying new things right now (though I have seen a ton of movies in the last year).
Do you reread your favorite books? Or do you think it’s a waste of time? I guess ought to force myself to read some new stuff and get out of this rut, eh? Feel free to suggest your favorite, multiply-read book if you want. I might even give it a shot.
I reread books contsantly. I don’t read it so much nowadays, but I have read Eddings’ Belgariad in the region of 50 times. I have read the “Wheel of Time” books multiple times, obviously as it is a work in progress I have read the earlier books in the series more often than the later. David Gemmell and Katharine Kerr & Pratchett also get the reread treatment, as do the Dragonlance books. If i didn’t reread, i’d find it hard to justify all the bookcases full of books around the place.
I definitely reread favorite books from time to time. One reason for rereading, though, is when a new book in a series comes out and it’s been a while since I’ve read the previous ones. Often, I’ll reread just to refresh my memory on the details.
But with some books, they are just good, so they are worth visiting again. Although right now, I don’t need to be doing it, because of the gajillion books I have lined up waiting to be read (many bookshelves overflowing in my house).
I read LOTR when I was much younger, then I reread it a year or two ago.
I reread Harry Potter 1-5 recently, before starting on 6 (that was mostly to refresh my memory on details).
I’ve read “Good Omens” (Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman) twice so far.
I’ve read the Hitchhikers Guide series many times, at least the first three. I’d already read those multiple times when “Mostly Harmless” came out. I think I’ve read that one twice.
Right now I’m reading “Snow Crash” (Neal Stephenson). Okay, it’s the first time, but I’m guessing this one may get read again some day in the future.
And I may go ahead and do “American Gods” again some time, even though I heard “Anansi Boys” doesn’t really depend on the first one. But I’ll probably do it anyways.
John Christopher’s Tripods Trilogy. I first read those when…I couldn’t have been any older than 11. I can’t remember how many times it’s been, since, but a few. Grand stuff.
I can’t imagine NOT rereading novels, as I only buy them if they’re worth rereading. (For things I only wish to read once, there’s this place called the library.) The books I most care for tend to be ones that benefit from a reread.
I think it’s a sign of a skilled writer that you can enjoy rereading their work.
Dick Francis (writes thrillers set in a horse-racing background), Elmore Leonard, Robert Parker, Larry Niven, Isaac Asimov, Rex Stout and Tolkien all live up to my expectations.
I absolutely do. Like Skald the Rhymer, I only buy novels if I’ve already been through them and think they bear repeating.
I have read Watership Down and The Chronicles of Narnia too many times to count since I was a kid. I have read everything Bill Bryson has penned to paper at least twice (better ones, like A Short History of Nearly Everything and In A Sunburned Country several more times). A lot of Heinlein’s stuff gets repeated.
I like popping into old books. I know what’s going to happen later, but I always forget the details that make the story worthwhile.
Someone’s got to be the contrarian – it might as well be me.
No, I don’t, in general. There’s no way in hell I’m going to get through all the books I want to read before I die, so I’m not going to waste reading time on something I’ve read already.
There are some – few – exceptions. Two that occur to me: Magister Ludi, which I read in high school or college, and totally wanted to learn how to play the glass bead game, but didn’t understand the ending. I reread it again when I left academia, and got the ending. It’s on my list of things I’ll reread some day – hm, it’s been 20 years, I might be due, come to think of it.
Another was a book by a favorite genre author of mine, Sheri Tepper. I was telling a friend about her book The Family Tree, which has … not a plot twist, exactly, but some stuff happens in the middle that throws the whole beginning of the book into a different light, in such a way that I wanted to reread it to see how she set that up. He and I were supposed to read it at the same time so we could discuss it, and I did, but he didn’t – but I’m glad I reread it anyway.
There are a few classic novels that I read when I was too young to fully get, I think, and I plan to reread those – Mme. Bovary, for one, and Remembrance of Things Past, which I slogged through when I was 22 or 23 and which I got zero out of, other than bragging rights. None are on my immediate list, though I did buy a copy of Mme. Bovary a few years ago – it’s in the queue…
I used to reread a lot. Back then I had less money and more time - and a smaller selection. Now I have more money and less time and access to Amazon and Borders and I have dozens of books in the queue at all times. So no, not any more.
I have reread To Kill A Mockingbird and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn every couple of years since I first read them forty years ago. Every one in a while I pick up one of Stephen Jay Gould’s books from the library and reread it. I’ve reread Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia a few times.
When I was in college, majoring in Literature (“Would you like fries with that?”), one of my professors once said “Great literature cannot be read, it can only be re-read.” You can’t really appreciate the the specifics until you have the whole book in your head. You can enjoy the writing style more the second time, when you’re not hurrying to follow the plot. You can’t fully appreciate things like foreshadowing until you know what it was pointing towards. I 've found that Dr. Brooker was right. I re-read most books; it’s not uncommon for me to finish a book and turn right to the beginning again.
Count me as a re-reader … Besides PerditaX’s comments, I’ll add this; the words on the page may not change over the years, but the reader does - re-reading a book after some time, you come to it with more knowledge and fresher insights.
I re-read occasionally. Sometimes because i feel like reading that particular book again, sometimes because I just want to read something and there’s nothing new at hand.
The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth Chimera by John Barth (the more you read it, the more you get out of it). One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez
I do far less rereading nowadays than when I was younger simply because I can barely keep up with new material.
I re-read my trashfics (That is things like the Resident Evil novelisations, the Aliens books not written by ADF, the Amtrak Wars series) when I need something to read before bed, that I don’t have to think too hard about.
I re-read my favourite books because (IMHO) the stories are engaging and well-written, and I like the headspace the books put me into. Snow Crash, The Diamond Age and Richard Morgan’s books fall into this category, as do things like The Stand and the (first five) Dark Tower books.
