I like to re-read my favorite books about once a year.
I re-read all the time. New things too, of course, but I do go back to certain books for comfort.
Certain books really repay rereading, like anything Joyce wrote. Every time I pick up something of his, I get more and more out of it. Really, that’s true of most “classic” authors; Shakespeare is also notable in this regard. Zillions of little nuances that you might not pick up the first time, but you see the fourth or fifth…
I read certain books with the seasons, too. Breakup, by Dana Stabenow, is one of my “I’m sick and tired of waiting for spring!” books. I also like Lindsey Davis in the long cold winter, because via her words I can “virtually” travel to early Empire Rome.
I don’t reread nonfiction nearly as often, but I do like to re-listen to it when it’s on audio. I could listen to Shelby Foote’s civil war narratives every day; he’s got the perfect voice.
Mrs. Furthur
I love this. May I borrow it for my sig?
Big re-reader here. Some books I never read again, some I read again repeatedly for a while, then never return to, some I return to decade after decade. New insights, old thrills, familiar comforts.
The only books I’ve re-read simply because I wanted to read them again are:
Armor (John Steakley)
Rage (Steven King)
Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
Neuromancer (William Gibson)
If I saw a copy, I’d probably re-read Knowledge of Angels (Jill Patton Walsh).
That said, I’ve also re-read a number of books, simply because the first time I read them I was young and wanted to see what I made of them now (Animal Farm and Brave New World come to mind). I suppose in another 15 years I might re-read them again, with exactly the same reasoning. 
If I like the book, I will eventually re read it. If I love it, I will read it over and over and over until it falls apart: and probably the 4th or 5th replacements will wear out as well.
This goes for my favorites (Lord of the Rings) and my more casual reads (selected Dean Koontz titles, for example). Or even the Vampire Chronicles. Or Harry Potter.
How I see the characters, the plots and all changes over time, as I change over time. I can’t imagine just having read Tolkien as a 11 year old and never picking it back up again. That’s…sacrilege.
But I can see why people wouldn’t want to re-read murder mysteries. It’s not my genre, however.
I re-read comics voraciously as a child – a format that easily lends itself to portability, swapping and re-reading. More than half the books I own are comics and comic book trade paperbacks. Some, like my Will Eisner The Spirit archives, are hardbound books I’m buying for the likelihood of re-reading for pleasure and scholarship years and years from now.
I re-read fiction far more often than nonfiction. But then, I don’t own nearly as much nonfiction as I do fiction.
One of the added benefits of teaching is built-in time for reading indulgence.
I re-read because I don’t have a good memory for facts and dates and numbers and such. I also re-read some authors because they are dead and they only wrote so much while they were alive, and they have singular voices. I re-read Lovecraft because there’s no one else like him. Every few years I re-read Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin, around winter (I’m working on it again right now for the fifth time – plus I own four copies of it for various reasons, I guess, just in case). And wow do I always catch new things each time.
It’s just any other artistic medium that you want to experience multiple times, just a slower process.
I also re-read comic books constantly. Novels…not so much. I’ve read the Hitchhiker’s Guide maybe 5 times, LotR twice, Hobbit twice. I’m sure I’ve re-read a couple other but I can’t think of any right now.
What I do do though, is another form of “re-reading”.
As soon as I finish a book, I immediately turn straight from the last page to the first and read the first 20 or 30 pages again, and then skim the rest of the book. I’ve just consciously noticed myself doing this within the last few years but, looking back, I realize I’ve always done it.
Anyone else do this?
I have neither the money nor the shelf space to buy new books constantly. Ergo, I re-read, out of necessity.
Currently re-reading Terry Pratchett’s “Thief of Time.”
Yes, I reread. I reread Dorothy Dunnett yearly and I reread Georgette Heyer every 5 years or so. I read very fast and I miss stuff even when I try to slow down.
But mostly I like revisiting old friends.
I can reread magazines and magazine articles over and over again, but I rarely do so with books. I’ve read The Great Gatsby, which I consider my favorite, maybe three times. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, my other favorite, I’ve probably read in full several times- but I’ve never reread it in order. I read it all the way through once, and sometimes I flip to random sections and read a chapter or two just to waste some time. The only other book I can remember reading twice was Jane Eyre. I read it once on my own, and had to do it again a few years later for a class. I’ve done the same with a number of Shakespeare plays, I suppose.
Big re-re-reader here. I only keep books on my shelf I’ll want to reread. What else could be the point in keeping them on your shelf?
I find myself to be re-reading my favourite parts of the book rather then starting from cover to cover each time.
Worthwile books that I won’t be rereading, I give to the library. They’'ll give them a good dustjacket and if I need to see them again, I’ll borrow them. In the meantime, I have the pleasure of knowing others will enjoy them too.
Crappy books that I won’t be rereading, I give to the Salvation Army. That’ll teach them ! (the books, not the Salvation Army)
Some books are comfort food, as **the Lady ** said.
Other books I reread books just as much to see how I’ve changed, as for the book itself. When reading a book, I often remember how I felt reading it the first time; I compare that to how I feel now.
Revisit old friends? Check.
Savor the deliciousness that is The Losers Club kicking the shit out of their tormentors in the rock throwing scene in It? Check.
Comfort books for when I’m not feeling well? Check.
See if I can find something new in a book I’ve already read three times? Check.
See if a book that didn’t speak to me ten years ago might do so now? Check.
Yup. I re-read. Hubby does, too, and I’m glad; it’s just one more level on which we understand one another.
Of course,
Both fiction and non-fiction.
How can you only read Pride and Prejudice once if you love it? Or To Kill a Mockingbird?
I’m perhaps the only person on Earth to have read Susan Faludi’s Backlash three times voluntarily (once I was looking for something in it near the beginning, and had finished it before I knew I was reading it).
I don’t read nearly a much with kids. Takes too much time and I don’t have nearly enough attention. But I reread a lot of kids - because I can pick up a book and not have to worry if I never pick it back up.
I’ve taken to books on tape on my commute, since I don’t own too many, the ones I own tend to get re “read.” Since they are expensive, I only buy the stuff I know I’ll like.
Sooooo true. also, I live abroad and only limited access to english language books. If I didn’t reread books, I’d have nothing in English to read – and that would be horrendous. Dang, I think I’ve probably read Kim by Kipling about 100 times, and it gets better each time.
Big re-reader here, also. Both fiction and non-fiction. My 18-year old son is also a re-reader – between the two of us, we’ve read some of my books into shreds!
I love re-reading books, but my parents think it’s strange. “You’re reading that again?” They read books just once.
I’ve been participating in that 50-Book Challenge, and I’m horrible at it because I keep re-reading my favorite books. 
Exactly, Maastricht. The books are constant, but every time I read them I am different.
To give just one example, I read Gone With the Wind as a child and wanted to be Scarlett O’Hara. Now when I read it, I wonder if the evil people of the world even know themselves to be evil. Am I evil? Gee, it’s possible. 
Nah, you seem okay.