I’m not big on re-watching or re-reading. I can think of only two books that I’ve read twice - The Great Gatsby, which I call my favorite novel (I’ve read that three or four times), and Lolita (also a favorite, I’ve read it twice). There are a few books that I’ll open to a random page and re-read for a few minutes when I’m bored - those are The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and a few Marx Brothers autobiographies.
I’m a little more lenient about movies, but usually I don’t like to watch them a second time until a couple of years later. That rule applies to almost everything except The Big Lebowski and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which I’ve seen about ten times. I’m planning on doing that again in two weeks, actually.
My BF and I are polar opposites on this issue. He doesn’t read much anyway, but all but flat refuses to watch a movie he’s already seen. About the only way I get to see movies again is if they’re on TV or I get it when he’s away.
I on the other hand can rewatch favorite movies anytime (just caught Serial Mom on Lifetime yesterday, I love that film!) I love watching TV series repeats and absolutely love re-reading favorite books. For me, rereading/watching is like revisiting old friends. I get to go back into settings that I love, be with characters I know etc.
A. and I have a collection of 200+ DVDs, all of which have been watched multiple times. We have thousands of books, most of which have been read at least 3 times by both of us. I can’t imagine NOT rereading and rewatching.
To all of you one-timers: what about music? Do you listen to the same album over and over?
I reread books all the time. My memory is very weird. I can never remember character names, for one thing. But I can remember weird details… like I’ll remember that such and such happened in the last paragraph on the page, on a left-side page, about 1/3 through the book…
Quite often when rereading a book I don’t remember all of the plot details, or even how it ends. There have been times when I am reading a book and I’m halfway through before I even remember that I’ve read it before at all.
I’m a very strange rereader. I’ve owned at least nine copies of Pride and Prejudice, three of them audio copies (does listening count as rereading?), four of The Handmaids Tale, at least three of To Kill a Mockingbird. I’ll have a compulsion to reread something and go pick up another copy. I’m also guilty of giving away books, so convinced I handed of a book, I’ll go buy it rather than check. I’m the only person not related to Susan Faludi to have owned three copies of Backlash. (And just so you don’t think its just women, or just Literature - three copies of Cidar House Rules, fifteen copies of the ten different books in the Belgariad - though several of them may be Brainiac4s that I’ve replaced. )
Oh absolutely! Sometimes I remember things I forgot, sometimes, if I haven’t read it in years, I get a new perspective. Same with TV and movies.
Reading a book or a movie isn’t just about finding out what happens. It’s about experiencing what the characters are going through, and being in the middle of their situation. It’s an escape.
Depends directly on the length of time it takes to reread/rewatch. I’ll rewatch TV shows all the time in rerun – yeah, I may have seen that episode of Seinfeld or The Simpsons or Whatever three times before, but hey – it’s still pretty funny, and it only takes half an hour. (Of course, much of the TV I watch nowadays is just background noise while I’m on the net, which helps.) Movies I’ll rewatch fairly often, though often it will be at least a year before I’ll rewatch something.** Books I hardly ever reread. I’m a slow reader, and I have soooo many new books I’m supposed to be reading anyways, that I’d feel guilty if I spent time going over something I’d already been through. Occassionally, if it’s a really short book and it’s been a while (usually thrillers and mysteries) I’ll reread something, but even that’s rare.
**Actually, I wish I would rewatch movies more often. The times in my life when I haven’t had a TV I’ve tended to go to the movies a lot more often, and I would even rewatch certain movies while they were still in the theater. It was an interesting and sometimes rewarding experience.
My dad is like that. He thinks I’m an alien because I love watching movies more than once. Well, he thinks I’m an alien for a lot of other reasons too, but that’s a big one.
I love reading books more than once too (I try to hit The Stand at least once a year).
Same here. I can’t imagine not wanting to re-live something you enjoyed once before. To not do so, at least once in a while, is like wilfully depriving yourself of something good. I can understand about time constraints and there being so many great movies/books, but so many of them get deeper and richer (or funnier) with repeated exposure.
Yeah, that’s a good question/comment, as was the one about chocolate. If someone had a delicious steak once in their life, would they never eat one again because they’ve already had one? It’s a different experience, because it’s not the same steak or piece of chocolate, but the concept is the same.
I can understand, sort of, why people don’t re-watch or re-read but to think we’re weird for not doing so? I tend to read really fast to find the ending. Then when I re-read, I’m always finding new things that I missed the first time. Same with movies! I’m not saying i memorize every plot, but I do like to re-watch and notice stuff in the background.
Sometimes I think my comics or Graphic Novels are shocking value for money… I usually blitz through a G.N. in an hour or so. I think that about twenty euro is bad value for an hours entertainment… But then, comes the re-reading! Over and over, finding things you missed, wondering at the art, etc. Money well spent. Does anyone here re-play Video Games? The only games that spring to mind that I have played to completion more than once (5 times apiece, I think) are resident evil4 on the 'cube and Ico. Now thats value. Paying sixty euro for a video game you only play through once, for about ten hours? Not such good value.
