What I want to know today is: do you reread books?
To answer my own question: Yes. I do. And I love it. I reread all sorts of books. Anything that I liked, I want to read again. Some are books from childhood, some are more recent. Some are quality literature and some are chick lit. I've read the Anne of Green Gables series countless times. Same with Bridget Jones's Diary. Same with most Marian Keyes books. Same with Jane Austen.
When I was living in France I only had two English books with me and I read them over and over and over. As a result I could practically recite passages from Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris.
I've always been this way. I love reading some childhood classics like The Agony of Alice and the Anastasia Krupnik series and pretty much anything by Judy Blume. I still love those books and will happily read them. But it drove my mom crazy when I was younger because I would read books that were too young for me and that I'd read a million times before rather than reading new things that were at an appropriate reading level.
It never gets old. I can read a book 10 times and still come across a nuance or subtle joke that I'd never noticed before. Also even when I've read the book a million times and know exactly how it ends, I still am tempted to skip to the end to get to the good part. For example, when I read Anne of the Island I always want to skip past the part where Anne repeatedly snubs Gilbert and get to the part where they get engaged. Even though I KNOW it's coming. I am ridiculous.
Torsten is the total opposite. He never rereads books, ever, and I don't understand it at all. I feel like he's missing out on so much by not getting the pleasure of reading a book where he already knows the storyline and can absorb more of the details and nuances that he might have missed during the first reading. But I know a lot of people feel the same way as him.
So tell me, do you reread books? If so, do you do it a lot like me or only occasionally? And whether you reread books or not, what are your reasons?
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14 years ago
Oooh, yes. I re-read books ALL THE TIME. And I love it. I know this will make me sound like a pretentious ass, but I mean it when I say: rereading a good book is almost as good as a long conversation with a good friend. And as you alluded to, I've found that the books I've reread consistently throughout my life change for me as I change.
ReplyDeleteI read Gone with the Wind first when I was 12, and I probably read it once every three years after that. Every time i went back to those people and places different aspects of the story would stand out for me, depending on where I was in life at that time. So cool.
Now I reread books as a kind of "book comfort food" situation. If I'm traveling or just relaxing and what to go back to a world that I loved, it's just such a nice treat.
I reread books often, mostly my favorites, and they really are like old friends to me. Especially when I'm sick or tired, I crave books like Jane Eyre and Anne of Green Gables -- all the ones that I loved growing up.
ReplyDeleteI pretty much can't do something stressful or new - start a job, face my mother's illness, etc. - without rereading Jane Austen. And every spring I get wanting to read Wuthering Heights again. And having kids means I can reread the kids' books I loved (although reading them out loud is different).
ReplyDeleteI have certain books that I never re-read, and others that I re-read regularly. I re-read all my Maeve Binchy books, and Jane Eyre, and Suzanne Finnamore. I thought I'd re-read Haven Kimmel because I love her so much, but I don't so far. I occasionally re-read the Stephen King short stories, but almost never the novels (exceptions: The Green Mile, The Stand).
ReplyDeleteI reread the books that I really love and sometimes flip through others to find a particular passage. But for me to reread it's got to be stellar.
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I don't have time to reread books anymore, but as a kid? Hells yes! Anastasia Krupnik, Harriet the Spy, all of the Christopher Pike books, the Boxcar Children, A Wrinkle in Time, Starring Sally J. Friedman as Herself, and Just as Long as We're Together were all in heavy rotation. As an adult, I know I've read Middlesex several times (I was so sad after I finished it that I flipped back to the beginning and read it twice in a row). I am considering reading twilight and harry potter again, just for kicks.
ReplyDeleteThere are very few books I can re-read. A couple of Julia Quinn's romance novels, some Anne Rice, and most Terry Pratchett are about it. Oh, and Little Women. I can re-read Little Women a few times each year.
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed introducing my kids to the "classics" like the Ramona books, Babysitters Club, and Mrs Pigglewiggle. But even as a kid I couldn't re-read a book over and over again.
I am an inveterate re-reader, and so is my mother. My father, on the other hand, never re-read a book in his life. So I guess we know which gene is dominant!
ReplyDeleteI find that if a book is well-written enough, knowing the end does not prevent me from enjoying the ride as much the second time as I did the first. And I don't have to worry about how it will end. It's very comforting, AND I can put the book down and go to sleep instead of reading "just one more chapter..."
I re-read books all the time! Actually, I often won't buy a book on Kindle unless I know it's one I'll re-read.
ReplyDeleteMy mother is where i got my reading gene from, and she NEVER re-reads. So I'm not sure where I get it from...
Yep, definitely! The two books I've read most often are To Kill a Mockingbird and Matilda, but I've read my favorite Stephen King books several times, as well as Lord of the Rings, some of the Harry Potter books, Anne of Green Gables and definitely Jane Austen (Sense & Sensibility is my favorite).
ReplyDeleteIt's been awhile since I've re-read a book, but I'm thinking of reading Little Women again this holiday season.
Yay Matilda! We are obvs kindred spirits.
DeleteYes. All the time. My favorites especially, of course. I agree with Liz's assessment.
ReplyDeleteThere are certain books I can re-read and some I have no interest in rereading. I have read Pride & Predjudice, and all the Ann of Green Gables books many times, along with Where the Red Fern Grows and Scruffy, childhood favorites.
ReplyDeletei re-read books ALL the time, and did even more so as a kid (although i guess i also read more as a kid too). recently i've been really enjoying re-reading books that i read over and over as a kid, but haven't read for over a decade at this point (madeleine l'engle, laura ingalls wilder) and re-enjoying them still :)
ReplyDeleteI too am an ardent re-reader of favorites: Matilda, The Giver, The Chronicles of Narnia, and more recently of course there's Harry Potter. It's like coming home, or visiting old friends. SO enjoyable. I don't re-read much literary fiction or non-fiction though...only thing I can think of is Lord of the Flies, which I read maybe 4 times in high school (only the last time was actually for class). Do others seem to have a type of book they re-read, but don't re-read others? I've loved plenty of literary fiction in recent years that I've never re-read.
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