Rereading Books

[kromanjon]

I like to think of myself as a literary explorer. I travel from book to book, author to author, never treading twice on the same spot if there are new vistas to explore, new trails to blaze, new adventures to be had.

But sometimes I do return to especially valued books and look at them again,reevaluating them in the light of all my new experiences. Neuromancer I’ve read three times, Heroes Die two, and I’ve just started rereading American Psycho for the third time.

Are you like me or do you tend to stick to what you know? What books do you keep returning to? Discuss.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

There's five main books that I return to regularly: LOTR/The Hobbit, The Book Of The New Sun, Helliconia Trilogy, Dune and the children's novel The Weathermonger. I think those five pretty much "define" me and my reading...

 

[Boneman]

Shogun every year or so. A kind of Loving trilogy every few years. Dune every year or so (but none of the others in the series) The Name of the Wind is a recent addition to the list, I've read it about five times in the last 4 years. LOTR I've read about ten times in the last 40 years, but not recently. Jack Reacher books (I tend to forget them, so it's good to rediscover...). Quite a mixture when I look at it.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I read most books two or three times. I've read thousands of books over the years and the ones I haven't reread are small in number. (Catcher in the Rye, Perfume, Lord of The Rings and Tess of the Durbervilles(sP??) being high on the list).

My favourite and I reread it three or four times a year is called Mist Over Pendle by Robert Neill and everytime I am as gripped as I was the first.

 

[biodroid]

I don't re-read for the simple fact it takes me too long to just read one book. So I normally just go through books and never return to them. Maybe after 10 years I might but I know the story and it wouldn't be the same for me as the first time I read it.

 

[alchemist]

I've only ever re-read one book, and that was LOTR. There are so many new books to read and I prefer to go to new pastures. I also tend to look for new authors -- given the choice between reading my second book by a good author and reading my first by a well-regarded author, I'll plump for the new one.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I am an inveterate re-reader. They are like old friends. I do read new stuff too, though, and if I love it will read again. Most reread sff/spec includes some stuff from when I was a teen - Rama, Heinlein. Mostly, though I tend to not reread spec so much as mainstream, but there are some movels I have read fifteen times.

 

[Extollager]

Kromanjon, here's a related thread where you'll find some relevant comments on this topic.

http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/537466-from-way-way-back-in-your-reading-life.html

For myself -- rereading is a great source of pleasure. I reread more than I read for the first time, I suppose; but then I have something like 45 years of reading experience to draw upon.

 

[Randy M.]

Almost every year I reread something. Recently I reread some short stories by Algernon Blackwood, and last year I reread The Hobbit, the year before a few Martin Beck mysteries by Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall.

I've read a few books 5 or 6 times including,
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles Finney

A few books 3-4 times including,
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett
Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
The Underground Man by Ross Macdonald
Roseanna by Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall

And probably a dozen or more twice, including,
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
My Life and Hard Times by James Thurber
The Wonderful O by James Thurber
The Werewolf of Paris by Guy Endore

And I have a lot of books I'd like to reread, given the time to do so. All of these books have rewarded rereading by being as entertaining as they were the first time and frequently by presenting layers I didn't recognize on first reading.

I don't mean to suggest we have too many books, but we have a glut of books. Past generations reread quite a bit because a book meant something to them and further readings often illuminated what appealed initially and often offered still more to think about and discuss. And maybe that is what the best books do, not reveal all they hold on one reading.

Randy M.

 

[Fried Egg]

These days I re-read very little, mainly because my pile of books to read is always some thirty or forty books (and would be much larger if I let it) so there has to be quite a special reason for me to go back and re-read.

Lately, I have been re-reading some of Robert Aickman's stories but he is one of those rare authors that I enjoy going back over and over with a fine tooth comb, looking for hints and clues to what they're all about.

To be honest, I just don't understand how people can, being members of forums like this, find so much time to re-read their favourites again and again when they know there's so much else out there to experience.

I'm envisaging sitting down in my eventual retirement (still decades away), with my pipe and slippers, and finally getting around to re-reading all those favourites I've accumulated over the years.

 

[steve12553]

I reread the Complete Sherlock Holmes every couple of years.
I've read Dune three or four times. I've gone back to Asimov's future history series more than once and at least part's of Heinlein's future history. Also Starship Troopers . One reason I collect books is in case I get the inclination to reread them.

 

[Grunkins]

My TBR stacks are huge, so re-reading books is more of a dream than a practice of mine. I really want to re-read the Song of Ice and Fire books, all of Banks' Culture books, Abercrombie's The Heroes, and eventually I know I'll want to re-read Malazan Book of the Fallen (I would already like to re-read Deadhouse Gates and Memories of Ice).

But again, my TBR is so huge and unwieldy I just don't know when this is going to happen.

 

[clovis-man]

One reason I collect books is in case I get the inclination to reread them.

Yep. You never know when the urge might strike!! As I approach my curmudgeonly dottage, I find myself rereading older titles, e.g., The Space Merchants, The City And The Stars, etc.

 

[steve12553]

I once was layed off from my job and could not get work that paid more than my unemployment benefits for 53 weeks. This was before cable television, the internet and many of the entertainments available today. I had few books at the time and during the winter I nearly died of boredom. Never again, I keep around 600 books in the house not counting ebooks. Once I retire, I intend to be mentally busy even if I live to 206. And i'm sure I will reread a few book out of my collection.

 

[Connavar]

Im very conscious, focused on being a literary explorer who travels from book to book. So i can discover more interesting type of books,authors. I rarely or almost never re-read. It has to be an huge fav book for me to re-read it.

I rather read a new book i havent read before by a favorite author than re-read his best book.

 

[bluenimbus]

i almost reread than i read! mostly because I've built up a small stack of gems and i hesitate to try new material, not knowing what to choose.
there is something comforting in returning to a book, re-immersing oneself in the world, reacquainting oneself with the characters, and occasionally discovering things one had not noticed before. this is especially true with The Name of the Wind which i read recently, or should i saw half read, i got bored 20 pages in so skipped 100 pages and then couldn't put it down.

 

[Mr Fraaz]

I think I go back and forth between phases of re-reading or exploring. I am now in an exploring phase, after a re-reading phase. Nostalgia was an important part of that latest re-reading phase.

In another re-reading phase I chose to re-read books I liked because I didn't feel I had time to waste on stuff that could possibly be boring or disappointing! I wanted to know for sure that the books were good!

I return to LotR every 4-6 years.

 

[Extollager]

I don't mean to suggest we have too many books, but we have a glut of books. Past generations reread quite a bit because a book meant something to them and further readings often illuminated what appealed initially and often offered still more to think about and discuss. And maybe that is what the best books do, not reveal all they hold on one reading.

Randy M.

This is a good comment.

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

I used to reread a lot, back before I discovered this site and the internet. I had a hard time finding new stuff to read. But these days my TBR pile is fairly large so I feel like I don't have the time because there are so many books I currently want to experience.

However, I finished my current book last night and was thinking maybe I would reread something next. When I look through my books on my shelves, I see so many that I have loved and enjoyed in the past, that I want to reread them again. Sometimes it's fun to explore something a little deeper the second or third time you read it. It's comfortable, you know whats generally going to happen, but you discover new things too. You can also find out if the book is as good as you remember it. I love the nostalgia factor as well.

Some books I have reread are:
Harry Potter books
LOTR and The Hobbit
A Song of Ice and Fire series (GRRM)
Dragonriders series (McCaffrey)
Anne of Green Gables books

 

[Glisterspeck]

I reread Kafka and Camus often, but they're sort of like the bible for me, so I'm not sure they should count. Dune, every once in awhile. Soldier of Sidon (not sure why I go back to this one). Nightwings for sentimental reasons.