Do you reread books or are you done with them once you’ve read them?
I like to reread books sometimes! Rereading is especially good if I’ve just finished something heavy or intense; I can follow that up with something that I’ve enjoyed before so it doesn’t take too much effort and I can have a bit of a break. I also don’t have the greatest retention for what I read, so even if I’ve read something before there’s no way I’ll remember everything. And there are certain books that are comforting and cozy and those are great to reread when I want that kind of mood.
I re-read books frequently. But then, I am a fast and voracious reader. I’ve recently been trimming down my library from around 7000 books due to an upcoming move, and there’s a hardcore of about 2000 I’m unwilling to get rid of because they’re either reference materials or old friends I expect to re-read before I die. There are some things (LOTR, much Heinlein, Oz books, Alice in Wonderland…) that I’ve read a dozen times or more.
I do re-read some non-fiction, mainly history. But most of my well-worn books are fiction.
Alright, I like you.
I typically re-read the LOTR, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion once a year. Well, The Silmarillion is once every two years because, whew, it is a dense one.
Wow, that’s a lot of rereading. Me and some friends do a LOTR watch party every year, making food and eating food as they eat it in the movies. But reading the books every year, that’s quite a feat!
It’s just evokes a feeling of deep comfort for me. The Hobbit was the first novel I read by myself as a kid, was so proud to finish it haha
Ever since, returning to The Shire and Arda brings out that same feeling of a warm childhood home.
Makes it easy to go back for a visit every year 😄
I’ll get around to The Silmarillion eventually; I have to psyche myself up for it, ha ha!
Definitely. There are books that have hit me differently as I’ve grown. :)
Sometimes - Dune before the release of film.
But usually rereading books in en when I read translated version before.
I had to reread Good omens because teacher said that it is necessary to read translated version.
Oh heck yes, probably more than I should. I have a shelf next to my bed of my most frequently re-read books (novels, a few short story volumes) and honestly the last few years those are almost all I have read
Most books only once, a few a couple of times, and my favorites multiple times.
Oh definitely. I’ve read the Dark Tower series by Stephen king 3 times! There are others, but that’s probably my top
Dark Tower is on my radar to reread soon!
There are a few books and series that I go back to every couple of years - they’re my old dependables when I want to sink into a story that I know I’ll enjoy.
I definitely reread my favorite series. The thing about re-reading a book is that you don’t actually ever get the full experience the first time around. Well-written books are full of foreshadowing, not just of plot points, but themes. The first time you read a book, you don’t really know what it’s about yet, what the book will eventually decide is it’s overall thesis, and where the characters’ journeys will take them. Critical moments that shift the trajectory of a story may happen quietly, only important in retrospect.
When you read a book a second or a third time you get to do so with all of the context of where the story is going, and it lets you catch so much more.
This example is from television, but The Good Place is my favorite show, and (spoilers) one of its central theses ends up being the modern world makes unethical choices unavoidable.
Very early on in the show we get a scene of Eleanor making fun of her boyfriend when he says they should find a new coffee shop, after the owner of their current one is outed as a sexist pig. She lists a bunch of other products they buy like smartphones and sports games and says that bad stuff is unavoidable so why bother?
At that point in the show, the scene is just a way to show you what a dirt bag Eleanor was on earth. But on a seconds viewing, with foresight, you can clock it laying early groundwork for one of the main arguments that the show wants to make.
This is one of the reasons I don’t mind getting spoiled on stuff, and in some cases will spoil myself on purpose. When you know how the story ends, you get to pick up all the little things it does to get there, without reading or watching it twice. I went to film school and am a bit of a story nerd so for me that’s the most enjoyable part of watching someone else tell their story.
The Good Place is one of my favorite shows, too! I need to rewatch it, again, soon.
I’m on my third Sanderson Cosmere reread… So yes :D
I haven’t done a full Cosmere reread, but I like to reread the previous books in each series before a new one comes out. There’s so much forshadowing that you pick up on in rereads!
I’m in a similar boat. Some of his books I’ve read 3 or 4 times, some only a couple times.
I actually missed a Stormlight Novella and the fourth Wax & Wayne book is coming out so there’s lots of new material too!
I still need to read that novella, but the last wax and Wayne book has been out for a minute
The 4th book came out in Nov last year. I kinda forgot what happened in the 2nd and 3rd books. So giving those a re-read before I sink my teeth into “The Lost Metal”.
Honestly, might re-read the first trilogy too afterwards.
I might go again before the next stormlight release
So worth it!
Yes! I love to reread my favorites. It’s like visiting old friends. Pride and Prejudice, Lord of the Rings, the Wheel of Time, Matilda, Watership Down. Can you look at a favorite painting too much? That’s how it feels to me- another visit to a beautiful work of art.
I only reread my so-called “comfort books”. Whenever I feel like I’m having a hard time in my life I grab my Dune or my Foundation and feel amazing for a little while, being immersed in these worlds I love so much.
I find myself going on jags of rereading. I always have something new that I’m reading with some others in the wings, but sometimes I get an itch to reread books. Usually I’ll pick up an old Vonnegut novel, for example, and realize how much I’ve missed his style and message. That leads me to binge several more of an authors books.
But when digital library isn’t a thing, I would keep re-reading Dragonlance and Wheel of Time over and over. I do still re-read books, but only when I can’t find anything good.
@squawkduck
@TimTheEnchanter
I’ve read most of the Wheel of Time books more than anything else.I recently did a reread of the Death Gate Cycle. Kinda felt like the prototype to the cosmere.
And recently reread the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy from Tad Williams
I just finished a reread of the WOT books. Would you recommend the Death Gate Cycle as a good way to fill the gap that I’m now feeling from a lack of a 10k-word series to sink into every night?
@BricksDont
Death Gate Cycle is a classic, dragonlance-like fantasy. It takes itself noticeably less serious than WoT. But it’s pretty fun, good cast of characters.It’s the first fantasy series I ever read so it holds a special place for me, even if WoT is my favorite.
Of course I do.
I go through several phases: sometimes I am busy reading new books, and other times I am in “reread” mode. This happens for novels and essays as well. I have always been doing that, since I was a kid, and there are books that I have been re-reading since then.
And this is without even mentioning poetry which, in my experience, expects to be read multiple times (in no small part due to the same processes by which we enjoy music - based on repetition and familiarity).
