# Do you reread fiction books? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 28, 2006, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371 "2006-07-28T07:34:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371/41 "2006-07-29T00:37:05Z")
I re-read everything. I mean, I re-read Agatha Christie novels, and I have a very good memory and can almost always remember who the murderer was. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371/42 "2006-07-29T01:31:33Z")
**Trinity** by Leon Uris – again and again. The last time my husband read it aloud to me. Ah, such luxury! ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371/43 "2006-07-29T01:33:10Z")
I reread a lot. Usually during weeks at work when I’m so exhausted, I can’t really concentrate on something new and challenging. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371/44 "2006-07-29T06:44:31Z")
[QUOTE=Lightnin’] I reread every one of my books. I pretty much have to- I read really, really fast, and I’ve got very specific tastes in fiction. If I didn’t reread, I’d be a lot poorer than I am now. [/QUOTE] But, **Lightnin’** , like **Skald** said, there’s these places called libraries where you can read 'most anything you like for free. You gotta give the book back after though. Seriously, to echo **Steve Wright** , the words might not change but the reader does. New readings bring new insignts except for the most shallow stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371/45 "2006-07-29T14:10:18Z")
> [@](#): > > Darling, I’ve always wanted to marry a woman who can recite Tolkien on demand. Boromir’s elegy is beautiful. Wanna join my harem? I have nine husbands so far. 😃 I probably re-read Robin McKinley Jacqueline Carey Audrey Niffenegger Nigel Slater Elizabeth David Chaim Potok Annie Dillard L. M. Montgomery Ursula K. Le Guin Laura Ingalls Wilder Diana Gabaldon and Tad Williams the most often. I have Tolkien and most of C. S. Lewis printed invisibly on the backs of my eyelids now, and don’t need to re-read them often. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371/46 "2006-07-29T14:28:29Z")
[QUOTE=Lissla Lissar] Boromir’s elegy is beautiful. Wanna join my harem? I have nine husbands so far. 😃 [/quote] Well, _sure_ I’ll join your harem, if you’re okay with me murdering your other husbands. (I am after all a member of the evil commuinty.) ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371/47 "2006-07-29T14:41:36Z")
Every few years I reread _To Kill A Mockingbird_ and _The Great Gatsby_ because one or the other is the greatest work of fiction ever written. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371/48 "2006-07-29T14:52:52Z")
[QUOTE=don’t ask] Every few years I reread _To Kill A Mockingbird_ and _The Great Gatsby_ because one or the other is the greatest work of fiction ever written. [/QUOTE] It’s Gatsby. Though Mockingbird is within a few hundredths of a point. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371/49 "2006-07-29T14:58:46Z")
I’ll get back after the next reading. I recently read part of the first page of _To Kill A Mockingbird_ to some people at work. They all went out and got a copy. ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371/50 "2006-07-29T15:24:02Z")
I have reread too many novels to remember. Books can be like friends that live far away. Every once in awhile you reconnect and enjoy for different reasons. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mgcklmoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Mgcklmoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mgcklmoon)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371/51 "2006-07-29T15:59:05Z")
Hello, my name is Mgcklmoon and I am addicted to books. Reading a book once only is very rare for me. Books have been a large part of my world since I was a child. Books are kind of like potential lovers. Sometimes it can be a quick and dirty affair, happening once and then never wishing to see them again and other times it can be like a long term love affair. You come back to them over and over because they are entrancing and exciting, or comfortable and inviting. My husband and I both reread books. We listen to songs of books we read, we sing songs of books have read. We enjoy our escapes from reality and walk through those doors often ---
**Author:** ![woodflute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@woodflute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodflute)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371/52 "2006-07-29T16:16:10Z")
Hello–I’m Mgcklmoon’s husband, and we do indeed reread books. I have read the Lord of the Rings maybe twenty times since my first exposure to it in the 8th grade many many moons ago, and I’ve read the Silmarillion maybe ten times. There is an incredible depth to these books and to the moral and ethical questions that underlie the story which you simply don’t get from just a few readings. Another set of books frequently visited by me are Susan Cooper’s wonderful The Dark Is Rising sequence, which I usually return to around Christmas about every other year. Some books get reread because they are great fun reads: Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover novels, Steven Brust’s Jhereg novels, and James P. Hogan’s Giants books come to mind. Some books you find yourself returning to with active dread (the Thomas Covenant trilogies come to mind here), but you can’t help yourself–you pick them up again anyway, even as you curse yourself for doing so. Books are magical and in a real way they open doors to other worlds. When people tell me they don’t like to read, I always look at them in amazement and pity, and hope for them that one day they too will discover the only real magic left to a world grown deadly cold, where people are disposable commodities and your only value is the money someone else can make from you. But then I look at my lovely wife, and I remember there is yet beauty in the world. And she smiles–and we both turn back to our books, and keep reading. 😃 –James ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371/53 "2006-07-29T16:42:34Z")
I have read “Alice In Wonderland” and “Alice Through The Looking Glass” at least once a year for more than fifty years and they have never failed to transport me to another, a more magical, world. (And unlike most movie critics who, I suspect, have never read the books or seen the movie, I think Walt Disney’s version of the two Alice books is a very faithful adaptation and well worth the viewing.) ---
**Author:** ![Carlyjay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Carlyjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carlyjay)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371/54 "2006-07-29T16:59:24Z")
I’m a serial re-reader. I have a bookshelf full of books that I read over and over again. These include: - Almost all of **Stephen King** ’s books (except for the really, really bad ones) - _River God_ and _Warlock_ by **Wilbur Smith** - _Lord of the Rings_ trilogy by **J. R. R. Tolkien** - _Chronicles of Narnia_ by **C. S. Lewis** - _The Power of One_ by **Bryce Courtenay** - _Leading With My Chin_ by **Jay Leno** (Excellent inspirational book for those of us trying to make it in the entertainment industry) - _Shogun_ by **James Clavell** - All of **Dave Barry** ’s books, both humour and novel - All of **Roald Dahl** ’s books. And I’d be rereading the _Harry Potter_ series if ALL of my Harry Potter books hadn’t mysteriously disappeared. ---
**Author:** ![Taters](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/taters/32/2845_2.png) [@Taters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taters)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371/55 "2006-07-29T18:15:02Z")
I re-read books constantly. It’s like visiting with an old friend. Additionally, I find that sometimes I missed something on the first reading, or, I interpret it differently, or I can relate better because of more life experience. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371/56 "2006-07-29T18:16:44Z")
If I didn’t reread books, I be the only guy on skid row living in a box with book shelves. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371/57 "2006-07-29T19:01:22Z")
I warn you, **Skald** , at least four of them are hard to kill. I seem to attract martial artists. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371/58 "2006-07-29T20:52:24Z")
[QUOTE=Lissla Lissar] I warn you, **Skald** , at least four of them are hard to kill. I seem to attract martial artists. [/QUOTE] Surely you didn’t think I’d be assassinating them MYSELF. That’s why I employ ASSASSINS. Or occasionally polar bears. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371/59 "2006-07-29T22:02:00Z")
Another re-reader here. I re-read “To Kill a Mockingbird” probably once a year. I can also pick up anything by Raymond Chandler whenever I’m not reading anything else. Robert B Parker, too. I’m currently re-reading Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle Triology, now that it’s in paperback, and I don’t have to borrow the hardbacks from the Library. Yes, I bought books specifically to re-read them. Bruce Sterling gets re-read a lot, too. Any Cyberpunk, really. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371/60 "2006-07-29T22:10:59Z")
[QUOTE=The Sonoran Lizard King] Another re-reader here. I re-read “To Kill a Mockingbird” probably once a year. I can also pick up anything by Raymond Chandler whenever I’m not reading anything else. Robert B Parker, too. I’m currently re-reading Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle Triology, now that it’s in paperback, and I don’t have to borrow the hardbacks from the Library. Yes, I bought books specifically to re-read them. Bruce Sterling gets re-read a lot, too. Any Cyberpunk, really. [/QUOTE] Of course you buy books to reread them…what OTHER reason would there be? 😕 Hardbacks, in particularl, should only be bought if you’ve already read & loved them. Um…unless I publish my novel. That you should all buy IMMEDIATELY. In multiple copies. And persuade your book clubs to undertake. But I’m special. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-reread-fiction-books/366371.md?page=4)