I re-read because I want to re-experience the story. I have trashy comfort re-reading (Kushiel books, Diana Gabaldon, Recluce series), and I re-read all my favourites. I can’t imagine tackling a new book every day, but I have to be reading something. I’ll probably read a new books or so a week, and maybe re-read three.
I can’t think of a single book I’ve read and enjoyed that I haven’t re-read.
I re-read quite often. Sometimes I get in the mood for a certain kind of book, and I don’t want to risk a new one that might not satisfy me, so I grab an old favorite. I’m also prone to picking up a book and skimming it to re-read just my favorite sections, or maybe just the sections that involve a certain character.
Some I’ve read more than twice:
Dune, but only the first one
Gone With the Wind
James Herriot’s books
Anne McCaffrey’s early Pern books
Pride & Prejudice
The Six Wives of Henry VIII by A. Weir
Katherine, by Anya Seton
I, Claudius and Claudius the God
I re-read whenever I can’t afford new fiction.
I probably need to quit re-reading as much as I do.
That, or start going to the library more.
Isaac Asimov falls into the pleasant re-read category for me. I’ve gone through the original Foundation Trilogy three times in full. Same for The Gods Themselves and loads of his short stories.
One cool thing about these books is that I can kill small blocks of time with them – I can bring one to the doctor’s office, say … turn to any place in the book, and knock out 20 engaging pages while I’m waiting.
I’ve read Garrison Keillor’s *Lake Wobegon Days * probably five or six times, John Steinbeck’s East of Eden three times, and Mervyn Peake’s Titus Groan and Gormenghast three times (haven’t brought myself to read Titus Alone yet).
All three authors have wildly different writing styles, but they all appeal to me.
Books are like crack to me, crack that keeps appearing fresh the more you use it. The books I teach , I re-read almost every term (sometimes, when I’m harried, I just give a quick skim). I must have read THE GREAT GATSBY and THE NIGHT IN QUESTION and DON JUAN thirty or forty times apiece by now.
And you know what? They keep changing. Maybe it’s me growing older and looking for different things, maybe it’s that I’m a more careful or subtle reader, maybe it’s early Alzheimer’s kicking in, I don’t know, but the books are always different, and I always see things I never saw before.
I re-read - as someone said above, if I didn’t there wouldn’t be the need for all these bookshelves I have to try to keep dusted.
I read a lot, but sometimes I just am not in the mood for something new and untried. I can pick up a book I’ve read and know what I’m getting myself into, and usually take something new away from it.
Discworld.
I haven’t reread everything in the series – I didn’t like Eric or Moving Pictures very much – but there is so much in there that I’ve only seen on a tenth reading. In Reaper Man, the beautiful dance scene near the end of the book with Miss Flitwick. In Guards! Guards!, the imagery of the city as a woman unfolding into the woman who was a city (Never said she was a small woman. Be fair. :D). Oh, some of the puns I didn’t get until the third time 'round, but there’s always something new.
And in a really good book, reading it at different times and different stages of your life is remarkably rewarding. Just after I lost a dear friend, the lines in Return of the King about the afterlife just set me to sobbing uncontrollably. (I can’t find the ones from the book, so the movie will have to suffice – )
I’m tearing up right now. 
I’m such a nerd. I love that paragraph.
Loving that paragraph only means you have taste, dear. Now, being able to recite it upon demand means you’re a nerd. 
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read LOTR, but haven’t reread it now for several years (not counting a German copy that my wife bought me a couple of years ago). But The Hobbit not so much; I think I’ve only read that two or three times in my whole life.
Most books I don’t usually reread, but a few of the outstanding exceptions, besides LOTR, would be: [ul]
[li]The City And The Stars, by Arthur C. Clark[/li][li]Lest Darkness Fall, by L. Sprague de Camp[/li][li]*Any or all of the Foundation series, prequels, postquels, etc., by Asimov[/li][li]The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk[/li][li]Occasionally, any number of musicians’ memoirs or biographies. I don’t necessarily have to like their style of music, either. I though Lawrence Welk’s memoir was interesting. [/ul][/li]
My general take on rereading is that a good book is like a good meal; just because you’ve had prime rib, baked potato, and asparagus, washed down with a nice glass of Cabernet, you can’t say you won’t ever have the exact same meal again.
How about knowing exactly where to find it, and that the intro to the movie is actually Treebeard to Galadriel and Celeborn, in RoTK? Would anyone like to hear me recite Earendil was a mariner?
:eek:
You’re going back in?
*salutes
God speed, twickster!
I’m re-reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtrey right now- for the fifth or six time, I think. I usually re-read one in that series every 6 months or so. They never get old, always something new to discover and the characters are so well drawn that you feel like you are just hanging out with them again …
I do tend to get in a re-reading rut and not try new authors out… I might work on that after I get done re-reading this and Porno by Irvine Welsh.
This is why I re-read.
Right now I’m re-reading The Dollmaker by Harriette Arnow.
It’s about a hard-working woman from the hills of Kentucky. During WWII, her husband gets a job in a factory in Detroit, hoping to “better” their lives. She uproots her family and follows him. Not begrudgingly, but with some trepidation.
The first time I read it, I expected a rags-to-riches story. (Or almost riches – indoor plumbing, at least.)
This time the story isn’t affected by my expectations – I’m reading what Arnow wrote, and the experience is ten times richer.
Basically, while I loved the book, I didn’t truly appreciate it the first time. I knew I’d have to read it again someday.
From beginning to end? Never. Random passages from all over the book? Often.
Darling, I’ve always wanted to marry a woman who can recite Tolkien on demand. How 'bout the elegy for Boromir, though? It’s so beautifully sad.
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.
Most of my books I’ve read at least five times. Some are into the double digits by now.
I reread fiction and non-fiction alike.
I’ve read “Winter’s Tale” by Mark Helprin multiple times, and even bought copies when I thought I had lost it – so now I own three copies though I’ve read it five times. And I have to read it in the winter, it’s just a sort of prerequisite for me.
Every few years I reread a variety of Lovecraft stories. Since I have read them all, it’s a little less fun as I know how each one ends, but there won’t ever be new ones, so I try to hold out as long as I can before I reread them.
In that vein, I reread various Ligotti stories, because he’s a little pokey as a writer and when I’m in the mood what can I do?
I also reread various Brautigan books and short stories about every five years.
“Low Life” by Luc Sante is non-fiction I’ve read three times and will read it again.
“High Rise” by Ballard I’ve started to reread twice but haven’t finished due to various circumstances.
I anticipate within a few years I will pick up some Goodis books and reread them, and try to fit in one I haven’t read but I’m running out.
I just finished rereading “Stiff” by Mary Roach. It seemed more humorous the first time though.
Just last night I thought to myself that I need to reread “Malpertuis” by Jean Ray.
Some authors are so singular that they are worth returning to, when you can’t find their particular sort of magic with anyone else. And when it comes to non-fiction, I second what has been said by others – if you are interested in the subject matter but don’t have the best memory, then it’s always interesting.
I love re-reading a book or especially a series after a hiatus. In fact, if I’m up-to-date on a series and have to wait a while for the next book, I’ll usually end up reading the entire series again when the new book arrives so it’s all fresh in my mind when I get to the new volume. It’s a bit like revisiting a place you liked being in being in before, seeing old friends and familiar places.
I’ve read Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series about 6 times so far, David Eddings’ Belgariad, Malloreon, Elenium and Tamuli series at least twice each (I need to get the omnibus editions of these, as I only have box sets right now), Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series twice, LE Modesitt Jr.'s Saga of Recluse series twice (though I’m missing a few volumes of these and they’re bloody hard to find in conventional book stores), and everything Douglas Adams at least twice, plus a bunch of random one-offs 'n stuff. Sadly my reading time these days is limited, and I really need to get back into it, plus pick up volumes I’ve missed.