# Compare your "to reread" pile to your "to read" pile: which is larger? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 10, 2012, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compare-your-to-reread-pile-to-your-to-read-pile-which-is-larger/631017 "2012-08-10T00:02:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compare-your-to-reread-pile-to-your-to-read-pile-which-is-larger/631017/1 "2012-08-10T00:02:40Z")
Basically, are you looking forward more to rediscovering old favorites or exploring new territory? For me, other than a handful of authors (Dick Francis, MM Kaye, Jane Austen), I like to read new work. The only rereads I plan are when I read a book that’s the first in a series and by the time the others come out I know I don’t remember the first one. Read or reread? And if you had to content yourself with one pile or the other, which would you choose? ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compare-your-to-reread-pile-to-your-to-read-pile-which-is-larger/631017/2 "2012-08-10T01:39:18Z")
My favorite books are Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin series, and I read through them once every year or two. There are 20 books in the series. I like to read new things and do so often, but my reread pile will probably always be bigger than my new book pile based on that series alone. If the author hadn’t died and could have kept on writing, another 20 books in that series would have been just fine with me. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compare-your-to-reread-pile-to-your-to-read-pile-which-is-larger/631017/3 "2012-08-10T02:14:01Z")
Initiating calculation: to read / to reread = !ERROR cannot divide by zero. I have a huge list of books I own and need to read. I don’t have any big compulsion to reread books in general, and nothing sticks in my mind as necessary to reread now. It’s not that nothing is worth rereading, it’s that I’d rather spend my time (which is nonexistent now) reading “new” things. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compare-your-to-reread-pile-to-your-to-read-pile-which-is-larger/631017/4 "2012-08-10T02:19:56Z")
To read is more or less infinite; to re-read is a fairly elite group. I have limited space, and knew that I was going to have limited space before I came into this situation. So I culled my library to just those books that were either (i) reference, (ii) of some special meaning to me and (iii) that I would re-read. This took my collection down from probably three or four 6’+ tall bookshelves to about 2/3 of one. I made some mistakes (why in the world did I throw out my Philip K Dick? Why do I still have \*\*\*Dagon and Other Macabre Tales \*\*\*when I have all of HPL on my Kindle?), but I did a pretty good job. To be a re-reader, a book really has to be something special for me–or maybe I just read a lot of crap. Who knows. (And actually, I see that I have _ **Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said** _ still, so good on me. :D) ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compare-your-to-reread-pile-to-your-to-read-pile-which-is-larger/631017/5 "2012-08-10T03:22:16Z")
To read: Almost everything ever written. To re-read: Maybe 2 dozen books. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compare-your-to-reread-pile-to-your-to-read-pile-which-is-larger/631017/6 "2012-08-10T06:05:04Z")
To read: A couple dozen currently in the pile. To reread: All the books on my shelves, eventually, otherwise they go to the book donation bin when I’ve finished reading 'em. This is, of course, wholly impractical, as I have well over a thousand books in the house, the accumulation of several decades, and I’ll never have time to get to them all; but every time I try to thin the herd, I wind up putting volume after volume back because, yeh, I’d like to reread that some day. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compare-your-to-reread-pile-to-your-to-read-pile-which-is-larger/631017/7 "2012-08-10T13:53:49Z")
I very very rarely re-read books. There’s probably under ten fiction books that I have read more than once (_Lolita_ and _The Master and Margarita_ are the only ones that immediately come to mind.) So, yeah, the “read” pile is bigger, although currently I don’t have anything in either pile. ---
**Author:** ![Rubixcube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Rubixcube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubixcube)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compare-your-to-reread-pile-to-your-to-read-pile-which-is-larger/631017/8 "2012-08-10T14:29:15Z")
I tend to only reread books after a few years once they get to the point where I remember only the overall plot and most of it’s like new again. On the other hand I find it nearly impossible to walk past a shelf of used books and not pick up a few things, even if I know that I’m likely to not get to them for months or years if at all. So my “read” pile is stupidly big, even if I limit it only to things I own, and my reread pile is rather small. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compare-your-to-reread-pile-to-your-to-read-pile-which-is-larger/631017/9 "2012-08-10T16:08:03Z")
I read really, really fast. And I have extremely specific tastes in books. As a result, I have to reread. I’ve read almost every book in my collection at least twice, most of them more than that. As soon as I get a book, I read it. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compare-your-to-reread-pile-to-your-to-read-pile-which-is-larger/631017/10 "2012-08-10T16:32:40Z")
I cycle through most of the books I own on a 2-year schedule, while some books like LOTR get reread annually. OTOH, there aren’t too many new books coming out at any one time that I’m interested in, so the ratio’s probably 5 to 1. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compare-your-to-reread-pile-to-your-to-read-pile-which-is-larger/631017/11 "2012-08-10T16:45:24Z")
I re-read much less than I used to thanks to my Kindle, [goodreads.com](http://goodreads.com) and our MUCH improved library system. When I got rid of my 300+ books recently, before a move, there were only a handful I kept to re-read and they have all been re-read at least four times. Any of the _Lonesome Dove_ series are not only re-read but most of the tv involving them is re-watched whenever I stumble on it. _Gone with The Wind_ and _Jane Eyre_ also have survived the move and will be re-read (although Jane Eyre is easily gotten for free now on my Kindle) again. Right now, I’m reading two new books and re-reading (through audio on my walks) Stephen King’s _It_. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compare-your-to-reread-pile-to-your-to-read-pile-which-is-larger/631017/12 "2012-08-10T21:00:16Z")
My to-read pile is much larger. (Basically, it’s a substantial proportion of my husband’s books.) I rarely re-read books, except for some childhood favorites. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compare-your-to-reread-pile-to-your-to-read-pile-which-is-larger/631017/13 "2012-08-10T21:45:14Z")
My to-read pile is larger, because my re-read pile contains a small selection of books that I will read over and over and over again. If you instead asked how much time I spend reading vs. re-reading, I think new reads would probably still come out ahead, but by only a small margin (say 60% reading, 40% re-reading). If I had to choose only one pile, it would be the re-reads for sure. I’d rather spend my time with 10 books that I know I enjoy than 100 that might be horrible.