• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

Do you ever reread your books?

Ell said:
When I was younger, I would re-read books, but now I take the quote, "So many books; so little time" to heart.

I re-read portions of books for reference and discussion purposes, but otherwise I don't re-read....
Click to expand...

This is me exactly. I don't think I've ever re-read a book, save a few short ones of my childhood. Of course, I tend to not re-watch movies either.
 
A good book, like a good movie, should be like an old friend you return to over and over again, seeing new things and enjoying old familiar things.
 
I get the appeal for others, but have never enjoyed it myself. For me, it feels like having the same conversation with a friend that we've already had. Though I love the friend, I don't want to repeat our previous experience exactly.

I prefer to read a sequel or prequel so I still have access to the characters from the story, but I don't want to re-read the SAME story. :)

I know I'm in the minority - with books and movies alike.
 
SuperReaderGirl said:
I get the appeal for others, but have never enjoyed it myself. For me, it feels like having the same conversation with a friend that we've already had. Though I love the friend, I don't want to repeat our previous experience exactly.

I prefer to read a sequel or prequel so I still have access to the characters from the story, but I don't want to re-read the SAME story. :)

I know I'm in the minority - with books and movies alike.
Click to expand...

No I think it has a lot to do with kind of book you are reading. If it is the literary equivalent of fast food, then no you don't want to reread it because there is no depth to the story, nothing more to extract from it. A good book however is like fine wine, it matures with age, and when you go back to it, there is more to it that you didn't see before, if only because you have changed in the interim and now bring a new sensibility and experience to the reading.
 
Meadow337 said:
No I think it has a lot to do with kind of book you are reading. If it is the literary equivalent of fast food, then no you don't want to reread it because there is no depth to the story, nothing more to extract from it. A good book however is like fine wine, it matures with age, and when you go back to it, there is more to it that you didn't see before, if only because you have changed in the interim and now bring a new sensibility and experience to the reading.
Click to expand...

This is true a really good book should age with you and always bring a new emotion or layer to the story as what you have experienced changes and grows and therefore relate to. I have a few books that have been with me for years and I have found something new in them or they have been like an old friend or that favorite comfort for that is always there when you need it :)
 
I reread books but not all books are worth rereading. For instance, I'm now reading Ulysses for the fourth or fifth time but I would never even consider rereading any of the detective books I've got or anything else in the "pulp" genre. (By which I mean stuff that is very easy to read and forget and has a somewhat predictable plot, I don't mean to step on anybody's toes here).
 
I don't re-read a lot of books, but re-reads are a necessity to me. They're a bit like comfort food, it's good to know my favorite books are there if I need them.

My main re-reads are the Harry Potter series. I've lost count of how many times I've read them. I particularly like reading them over the Christmas period.
 
It depends on the book. Some yes. Some no.
Same thing with movies.

And it doesn't matter if I liked them or not. Some are rereadable (yes, I invent words) and some are not.
If I didn't like the book, it simply gets recycled to a used books store instead of going to my library.
 
Not often. There are some I come back to, either because I think I might pick up on something different that I missed last time, or just because I like them. Books like Frankenstein, The Divine Comedy, Jane Eyre, a lot of Poe, O.Henry, and Lovecraft's stories, some of Orwell's stuff. It's like comfort food in a way.
I re-read poetry and humor books a lot too; as far as "entertainment" reading materials go like romance, Jennifer Weiner,Harlan Coben, Stephen King etc., that's mostly read once and forget about it :p
 
I re-read books all the time. Just recently I've started the Harry Potter books over again just to get my brain back into the mode of reading but after the third time of reading "...Chamber of Secrets" I lost interest and had to put it down again. Grr.
 
I think our time of life has a great deal to do with rereading. What we liked as a teenager may or may not gel with our older selves. OTOH, rereading a book from our youth will give us an entirely different take on the novel. Different perspectives and all that.

So, yes, I reread on occasion. Sometimes to have that new perspective, or simply for comfort of old friends. :)
 
I used to re-read books all the time and then went through a stage where I thought I would never re-read a book again. However, in the last year or so I find myself re-reading all sorts of books.

In the end, I think it depends on the book itself. For me anyway.
 
I have not re-read a book. But I am contemplating on rereading a series. The third book of this particular series will be released this year. I may start over to refresh my thoughts.
 
The only books/literary works that I reread are the Narnia books and Shakespeare, especially Hamlet. With the Narnia stories it is like visiting my past and with Shakespeare I always try to find a new way of looking at the plays.
 
:welcomeDepending on the book, but yeah guilty I do re-read my books. Hey its those types of books that take you to another world another dimension takes you to a place that you fell in love.:cool:
 
I reread books all the time. I have read To Kill a Mockingbird, To the Lighthouse, Orlando, Wuthering Heights (and many others) dozens of times. Good books get even better with rereading. You notice so much more detail on repeat readings :)
 
When you re-read book, do you feel the same nostalgic feeling, memories the first time you read it? Do you feel excited again and make new memories to the re-read book? Or is that some thing women do? (Tie memories to emotion).

I look at my book shelf; even if the book was God awful, I tie them all to a memory, to the past, where I was at the moment, what I was drinking, wearing, the time, the place I was laying or sitting at, emotions (before/after) when I read it.

So my bookcase is essentially a photo book of stories and emotion. So when I re-read a book, will I be adding onto those memories, or overriding them? The story will stay the same, and I will be further immersed, gathering details I missed. however what is your experience rereading your favorite book twice?

Or am I babbling on like a garrulous giddy girl?
 
jennybug87 said:
When you re-read book, do you feel the same nostalgic feeling, memories the first time you read it? Do you feel excited again and make new memories to the re-read book? Or is that some thing women do? (Tie memories to emotion).

I look at my book shelf; even if the book was God awful, I tie them all to a memory, to the past, where I was at the moment, what I was drinking, wearing, the time, the place I was laying or sitting at, emotions (before/after) when I read it.

So my bookcase is essentially a photo book of stories and emotion. So when I re-read a book, will I be adding onto those memories, or overriding them? The story will stay the same, and I will be further immersed, gathering details I missed. however what is your experience rereading your favorite book twice?

Or am I babbling on like a garrulous giddy girl?
Click to expand...
That's an interesting way to read books. For me books aren't specifically memorable unless they leave me with strong emotions or impressions, or something particularly interesting happens while I'm reading them, or the item itself has sentimental value. Sometimes when I re-read a book, the story isn't as good as I first thought, or it will be even better than I remember. My opinions change, but my initial memories of those books don't.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top