My mother in law, a voracious reader (from murder-mystery trash to high literature) says she’s never knowingly reread a book in her life. She was deeply surprised when I told her I reread several of my favorite books each year, and some of them I’ve read a good 10 or 12 times.
She asked me why on earth anyone would reread a book after reading it once. My off-the cuff and very glib answer was “Well, you’ve been to Paris once, why on earth would you want to go again?” She kinda got my point…I think.
To continue with the travel anology: I reread because I love the journey. I love seeing old familiar landmarks, and new sights I never noticed before. Each time I reread a book I see the route a little clearer, and enjoy the anticipation when I know what is coming around the next bend. Every time I read, just like every time I drive back to my parent’s house after a long while away, I get a comfortable familiar feeling but look at things with new, older eyes. And unlike on a real trip, when I reread my favorite books I can just drop right into my favorite sections and then skip past the flat boring stretches.
I think if a book’s worth reading once, it’s worth reading twice. A quick look at my bookshelf confirms it --all the books I’ve read once, I’ve read at least twice. Of course, there are exceptions (Bringing Out The Dead comes to mind), but they aren’t on my bookshelf.
Heh. I reread non-fiction too - history books, especially.
Asking me whether I re-read is like asking me whether I watch a movie or listen to an album more than once. It’s not knowing what happens that I enjoy, it’s the reading itself.
I re-read again and again. Hell, I’ll even reread a book I’ve disliked after a few years have passed to see if I still don’t like it. My husband was surpised that I did so, and I explained it to him that it is like watching a favorite movie again. It is just an enjoyable experience.
I rarely reread, though I do occasionally. For me it’s partly because I have a fairly good memory when it comes to things I’ve read, so while I don’t remember everything in the book, I remember a good deal after only one reading. Part of it is also I want to read new books.
Sometimes though I want to read something and don’t have anything new at hand, so I pull something off my bookshelf. Other times I feel like reading a book I particularly liked. But it’s still a little rare that I do.
I don’t often re-read mysteries (other than Dorothy L. Sayers, for some reason). But I will reread almost any other book I like. Some childhood books, such as the Narnian Chronicles I read over and over until the spines broke. I’m more careful now.
Rarely, just because I’m old, and am more conscious of all the wonderful books yet to be discovered.
I think the only books I’ve reread are Ghost Story, The Gunslinger, The Godfather, The Stand, Stinger, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and Blind Voices.
But there are times when I finish a book and want to read it again right away, or I wish I hadn’t read it so it’d still be there to look forward to.
I think rereading is great. If I were 20, I’d be doing more of it.
I reread like crazy. I’ve worn out books, and I’ve gone to replacing them in hardcover so they last longer.
Each time I reread, I see something new. I read pretty quickly, and once I’m immersed in a book and not really paying attention to the actual process of reading, I suspect that I do a fair amount of skimming. And then, I read quite a lot and tend to forget parts, so it’s really nice to find them again the next time.
But sometimes it’s really about revisiting old friends and familiar places.
I will usually go back through a book and re-skim it just to see if I missed anything good, but I no longer re-read like I used to.
When I was younger and poorer and the only place to get books was the Waldens at the local mall, I re-read quite often. But now I have enough money to buy whenever I want and there are so many wonderful places to find books, including Amazon, that I usually have 3-4 in the queue.
I’m a rereader. I have a lot of books that interest me enough to read a 2nd or 3rd time and then there are my obsessive compulsive rereads that get read once a year or two.
Some are exactly as you say. They are a warm, familiar journey. I can never take too many trips to Middle Earth, that galaxy far far away, Troy, or Camelot.
Others are like visiting with a good friend. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is the friend who never fails to make me laugh.
This goes for non-fiction as well.
I do this too. I have started The Grapes of Wrath at least a dozen times. I still don’t like it.
I read and re-read and re-re-read. There’s some books I read every year. I re-read for all the reasons mentioned above, including hoping I’ve “grown into” a book I didn’t like (Mom always said I’d like more things as I got older!). With my very special books (not necesarily the best books, just ones that speak to me for some reason or another) I read them and get something absolutely new and different from them each year - like they have new lessons and things for me to think about as I get a year older.
Recently, I was reading one of my special books, and realized I now relate to the grown-ups in the book more than I relate to the young girl protagonist. Now I have a whole new experience from that book I was never able to have before.
I do, but not that often. There are books I read every year, and there are books I read when I’m in a certain mood or having a certain problem. Like when I hate the whole world I read Franny and Zooey. I’ve read the Bridget Jones books a couple of times, usually when I feel fat and single and like I do everything wrong. I read Alice in Wonderland about once a year to get that childhood feeling.
Oops and I re-read some of the Lemony Snickets. I’ve read Pride and Prejudice twice and will read again.
I can think of a lot of books I want to read again. Especially books that I was nuts about ten years ago, it’s great to read them again and see how you’ve changed. I used to be a nut for Kurt Vonnegut, and read all his books in one summer, and it’s funny how now when I re-read them I’m still sick of his style.
I am also one of those people who does not finish something she doesn’t like so I think that gives me that extra time to re-read.
I reread. It’s not only because I get more out of a story each time I read it. It’s also because I simply love the way some authors use language. Like the brushstrokes of a favorite painting, the way certain authors write just *speak *to me. I get drunk on words and it doesn’t matter how many times I read them.
Based on my habits so far a book has to be particularly good, and a sufficient amount of time passed for me to re-read it.
I re-read Nightwatch (Discworld) because my fave character was the main focus of the story. I am in the middle of my second reading of Thief of Time, to get a better understanding of the character who’s name I chose as my Dope Name. And I plan to re-read His Dark Materials as it has come back into my conscious for the subject of a recent thread (is it do-able as a film).
My mother has read LotR seven times. I had difficulty reading it once. (I find it hard to read a story when I know what it’s leading to in advance. The beauty of Discworld books is that before you read them there is no way of knowing what the end will be)
Who knows. As I become older I might re-read books more than once.
The Godfather (Mario Puzo)
The Princess Bride (William Goldman)
No Comebacks (Frederick Forsyth) [actually a collection of short stories]
The Road to Gandolfo (Robert Ludlum)