This is an interesting question that came up among some of my friends. Should you spend the time reading a book you like again or should you spend the time reading something new? I mention this because of my habit of reading some books over and over again. I’d say I spend 25% of all my reading time rereading old favorites. Am I the only one?
If I like a book enough to keep it after I buy it (as opposed to donating it to a library/second hand book store), it is going to get read at least one more time. Some of those books are very old friends, and I wouldn’t part with them for anything.
I just re-read Zelazny’s Amber series, and will probably read it again sometime in the next few years. My son is reading The Thief of Always, and as soon as he’s done I’m taking it back, because I have GOT to read it again. I have plenty of new books I can and will read. But, yeah, the old ones aren’t on my shelf just for looks.
It’s all about what YOU enjoy reading. After all, you’re the one sitting there reading it, right?
Not as much as I used to. I did quite a bit when I was poorer. But now I seem to be able to find plenty of new stuff to read. Still, the old favorites are like old friends.
I’m an inveterate re-reader. There’s a whole host of old friends on my bookshelves.
And, although the books don’t change, I do … I learn and experience new things, and I come back to those old friends with fresh perspectives. So re-reading makes sense, to me.
I once said, somewhat flippantly, “A book worth reading twice is worth reading once.”
Nobody ever quite got me, but I’ll bet the posters in this thread will.
Like Khadaji, though, I don’t reread as much as I used to. Possibly I read those favorites into the ground. More likely, I just feel this overwhelmingly weight of all the books that I haven’t gotten to, and much less time to get to them.
Grace and I were discussing this a couple of days ago. I have 4 authors whose books I can always go back to and still get the same level of enjoyment from as I did the first time: Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Tom Holt and Christopher Brookmyre. She, on the other hand, has almost never re-read anything and was surprised that anyone would want to. I told her she’s just obviously not read the right books yet.
I always like to be safe in the knowledge that, should I have inadvertantly picked up a crappy, boring book from the store, instead of being annoyed about it, I can just throw it on BookCrossing and pick up something that I know for a fact I will enjoy.
Oh, yea. I reread Slaughterhouse-Five about once a year and I feel like I need to reread Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius and see if it’s still as good as I thought it was.
I reread books all the time. I think it helps that I read rather quickly. Though that’s also why I like to reread in the first place–usually the first time I read a book I’m in such a hurry to get to the end that I end up missing some of the details. I like picking up an old favorite on a lazy Saturday afternoon, or if I’m looking for something to read before bed, or if I just want to reread a specific passage.
Then again, I also like to listen to CDs more than once and watch movies more than once, so I don’t see any difference between doing those and rereading books.
Exactly what he said. The way I “receive” a well-worn favorite is different every time, based on where my life is, I guess. I always come away with some new outlook on the book.
waves Hi!
I also reread a lot of Pratchett and Adams, also Tolkien and many others. I usually reread a lot of books that are part of a series that the author is still writing and it’s been a while between books or if I’ve just taken a long break between reading books in a series. I can never bring myself to get rid of any books because I might want to reread them.
I reread books quite often - sometimes I find it comforting to reread an old favourite. My most read books are “Pride and Prejudice” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” - I read them first when I was at school and I don’t know how many times since.
The overwhelming majority of my book reading are re-reads.
I read Cryptonomicon once a summer. It has a lot of “personal” stuff for me. I like to take Dune with me when I travel to Eastern Oregon for obvious reasons. When I am in “mood X”, I read “book Y” to reinforce or decrease the mood, depending on which way I want to go.
A lot of non-fiction too.
Yes.
Currently re-reading The Gripping Hand by Niven & Pournelle, having just re-read The Mote in God’s Eye. There are many others. Sometimes you see something you missed the first 10 times around, sometimes you have a different perspective because of new experiences in life, sometimes it is just good to spend some comfortable, relaxing time with, as someone said, an old friend.
Example: When I first read Dune back in my youth, after the 3rd or 4th time that the Duke said to himself “They have tried to take the life of my son!” I said to myself “Get over it! They didn’t get him.” Now that I have a son of my own (not to mention 5 other kids), when I read that same passage, I get more emotionally involved every time he says the line.
I have read some of my books upwards of 20 times. I just finished reading The Silmarillion for the first time a couple weeks ago and the first thing i did was start it right back again.
I’m currently re-reading the entire works of Margaret Duffy …the Patrick and Ingrid Gillard series primarily…because a certain phrase from one kept rattling around in my head. Unfortunately her most current works are not available in the library.
I like to put a few years between re-readings. It’s sometimes amazing what new things you find on the second and third go-round when you have become a different person. And some books that I thought were great are just deadly now.
I can’t afford to buy more than a couple books a month, and I’m too lazy to go to a library, so I just read the same ones a lot.
I could probably transcribe the entire Cleric Quintet from memory.
I re-read my favorites numerous times. I have books that I’ve had for 12 years that I’ve read repeatedly…
I just re-read The Devil’s Day. I tracked it down on amazon after losing my old copy, which I read until it was ragged.
Yes, I do.
How could anyone forsake their old favorites? That wouldn’t be very nice. These beloved stories and chapters have changed the very fabric of your being in both subtle and strong ways, they’ve become a part of your life and perspective. They have painted the landscapes of your mind’s eye and that’s something you can’t change. I love re-reading my books, over and over again. I have to say hello annually to all the characters I’ve loved over the years, I also share my favorites with other people so that they, too, might come to love these tales as much as I do.
I read these goodies so quickly though but I love to discover something new within them, and they still hold surprises for me occasionally. Some passage might have had a special meaning for me back then and now, as I re-read it, I’ll remember the good and bad of that time, along with just enjoying the whole story. One of my favorite authors recently passed away and I’m hunting down some of her work I haven’t read yet but because I love her style, I plan on making them a part of my collection. Maybe they’ll become favorites, too.
Indeed, indeed.
I wonder why one shouldn’t read a book twice. I mean, nobody ever raises that question about movies! If I liked a book, re-reading it is like re-visiting an old friend - I don’t dump those just because I like making new friends. Also, with books I know I can tell whether they fit the mood I’m in, and sometimes I’m just in the mood for Sam Vimes. Or Atticus Finch. Or Alice. Or Kay Scarpetta. Or Hercule Poirot (Here, it helps that I tend to forget who did it. I usually can remember every little detail of a whodunit other than whodunit.)