Poll: Rereading Books

[Defy V]

A discussion on Nine for Random Chatter has made me curious about how often people reread books.

[C is for]

Okay, I feel somewhat less than useful, having marked all of them. I'm a lazy reader, okay? Our bookcase next to the kitchen is full of books I've read before and enjoy, and when I'm bored I'll just pick one up. I'll usually start in the middle and stop before I finish the end, though; I know how things go so I only read for the pleasure of re-immersing myself in the universe. Sometimes I want to give books a second chance.

I'm still way ahead on first-time reads than rereads this year, though. I call that a good thing.

[Rifka]

I marked all of them too, C. I love reading and if there's nothing new around to read, I'll gladly pull an old favorite out of the bookshelf. Rereading a favorite book is like running into an old friend. It doesn't matter how well you know each other-- it's still fun to see them and remember all the good times you've had with them.
Plus, I also like rereading books if I'm feeling anxious or having trouble falling asleep at night. I can trust an old favorite because I know what's in it-- I won't be unexpectedly scared by some intense part of the book. That in itself relaxes me.

[Whistler]

I hardly ever reread books, but I forget them so easily that it seems like I should reread more often. Most of the time I'm just relieved to be done with the things.

[Dragon Lady]

I should have read this first. I didn't realize I could mark more than one. Because I'm an idiot. Oh well. I picked the one that fits me best. Which is if I liked it and it's been a few years.

[Imogen]

i love rereading books because i love discovering things i may have missed or forgotten. i especially love rereading them as i get older and understand more about the world. i get something new out of the same book each time i read it.

[bobtheenchantedone]

I chose several because it really depends on the book, but I should have marked "never" as well. There are some books I will never read again. Lord of the Flies, for example. I read the whole thing on the first day it was assigned, then hid it so I wouldn't even have to look at it until it was time to turn it in.

[Portia]

I read voluminously, and I keep acquiring more and more. There are the very top tier which are worth a re-read, but mostly I feel like I gotta knock down the next due up.

[Dragon Lady]

Yellow is too lazy to type this in, but not too lazy to tell me, so I'll type it for him.

Yellow likes to reread some books (not all) because there are things you didn't catch the first time because you didn't know. For example, he just bought Mistborn on his iPod and is rereading it. At one point (semi-spoiler here, but not really. Unless you care about minute details being spoiled) Vin walks into a building and there is a red stained glass window with blue lines on it. And at first read, that's just a nice detail for the story. And on second read, that's like, "Dude! They're portraying Allomancy and only Coinshots and Lurchers and Mistborn would know!" Ok, so that's something really tiny that's not really a big deal, but both Yellow and I love rereading books to catch all those little (and sometimes not so little) hints and details that we missed the first time through.

Yellow says that he wouldn't reread all books, but books "like this" he has to. But he had a hard time defining "like this". So I'm gonna guess he means fantasy by excellent authors. Like, pretty much anything by Brandon Sanderson. Or Wheel of Time. "Or probably even Charles Dickens, but I've never done it for that." So there goes my fantasy theory… So, pretty much any author that is good enough to put in foreshadowing and also tell a good story.

[Katya]

So, pretty much any author that is good enough to put in foreshadowing and also tell a good story.

Maybe any author who puts enough detail and thought into their work that you're not going to catch everything the first time through?

[Dead Cat]

Yellow is too lazy to type this in, but not too lazy to tell me, so I'll type it for him.

Yellow likes to reread some books (not all) because there are things you didn't catch the first time because you didn't know. For example, he just bought Mistborn on his iPod and is rereading it. At one point (semi-spoiler here, but not really. Unless you care about minute details being spoiled) Vin walks into a building and there is a red stained glass window with blue lines on it. And at first read, that's just a nice detail for the story. And on second read, that's like, "Dude! They're portraying Allomancy and only Coinshots and Lurchers and Mistborn would know!" Ok, so that's something really tiny that's not really a big deal, but both Yellow and I love rereading books to catch all those little (and sometimes not so little) hints and details that we missed the first time through.

Yellow says that he wouldn't reread all books, but books "like this" he has to. But he had a hard time defining "like this". So I'm gonna guess he means fantasy by excellent authors. Like, pretty much anything by Brandon Sanderson. Or Wheel of Time. "Or probably even Charles Dickens, but I've never done it for that." So there goes my fantasy theory… So, pretty much any author that is good enough to put in foreshadowing and also tell a good story.

This is basically my opinion, but I have reread books I hated before, usually because of Battle of the Books or school. I sometimes try to say to myself, "it's been a while, maybe it won't be so bad this time," but it usually still is that bad.

[Dragon Lady]

So, pretty much any author that is good enough to put in foreshadowing and also tell a good story.

Maybe any author who puts enough detail and thought into their work that you're not going to catch everything the first time through?

Yeah, that. But there are also people who do that who don't write great stories. Or maybe just surface stories. Like Twilight. It's more of a fun book than one that really deals with any issues. It's one to pass time and enjoy the story. Sure, she could have put foreshadowing in, but that doesn't automatically make it a book to reread.

[Rifka]

Usually I only re-read books if I really loved them, or if I'm bored and they're lying around the house. I have tried re-reading a few from AP English that I hated then, in hopes that I would appreciate them more, but to no success (Wuthering Heights and Tess of the Durbervilles, I'm looking at you!) Unless I'm trying a book again because I read it when I was in the phase of "I don't like anything that's really depressing because I just read for fun," I don't re-read books that I hated, or that were only okay.

[Dragon Lady]

Rifka, I agree with you. I don't re-read books I hated (Walden Pond, for example) or were only okay. But then again, I typically don't buy books I hated or were only ok. So they're not going to be sitting around my house waiting for a re-read. Typically I first read books from the library or borrowed from a friend, then if I like them, I buy them. There are exceptions, like when I find books really cheap that look interesting or am given books as gifts, but in general I've gotten really lucky and they've been good, or they sit on my shelf waiting to someday bulk up my library, or if I don't want my kids to someday read them or if I truly hated them, I DI them. (Which is always fun with books I get at a library sale. It always makes me wonder if DI calls up the Orem library and says, "Uhhh… one of your books got donated today… shall we return it?)

[Katya]

Which is always fun with books I get at a library sale. It always makes me wonder if DI calls up the Orem library and says, "Uhhh… one of your books got donated today… shall we return it?

It should have a stamp on it that says "discarded" (or something to that effect).

[Dragon Lady]

I think they just have a red marker through the call number. I've never noticed a discarded sticker.

[Wisteria]

I volunteered at the Orem library as a teenager and I sometimes got to stamp books with the "discarded" stamp. Those were good times.

[Katya]

I think they just have a red marker through the call number. I've never noticed a discarded sticker.

Ah, well that presumably serves the same purpose.

[Tao]

So, pretty much any author that is good enough to put in foreshadowing and also tell a good story.

Maybe any author who puts enough detail and thought into their work that you're not going to catch everything the first time through?

I've heard once that things written to only be read one way rarely qualify to be read even one time. (ie the 90 page booklet that comes with a Dremel tool, or the instruction manual for refrigerators)

[Emiliana]

I re-read books a LOT.

I took a literary theory course my senior year of college (three years ago) that gave me about fifteen new ways of looking at literature that I didn't have before. So now I want to re-read everything I read prior to that and look at it from feminist, postcolonial, deconstructivist, psychoanalytic, etc., perspectives.

Also, re-reading books at different stages of life changes your perspective on them. The first time I read Jane Eyre, I'd never been in love ... It was a completely different book when I re-read it a few years later.