Read. Reread. Repeat.
I confess. I am a rereader. I reread books. And I’m not talking about rereading them once. There are books I have probably read a dozen times. Or a hundred. I’m currently rereading the first five Percy Jackson books (second time round, I think), and I have Anne of Avonlea sitting around the kitchen (possibly about the twentieth reading) and The Little White Horse (getting up towards the hundred mark, I reckon) somewhere in the living room. I know some people don’t ever reread books, but the thought of putting a book I love aside for all time makes me shudder. How could I ever not visit again? It would be like emigrating, watching the shores of a beloved home recede in the distance, knowing all the time that these are the last few glimpses of something that will never come again. My heart would break to think I might never come back.
I accept that it takes time I possibly don’t have. I also know that there are many wonderful new books to read. I read those too, but they’re in a different category, and I think they use a slightly different part of my brain. They certainly live in a different part of my psyche. They’re more like first dates. Something wonderful might happen, but there’s an element of the unknown. Will we like each other? Will we possibly even love one another? But there is a time and a place for adventure. Like the morning. I particularly hate starting a new book just on my way to sleep. Those few gentle moments are not a time for a journey into the unknown. I want the embrace of the beloved familiar. I want to feel safe, loved and lulled. What if the book turned out to be especially dreadful? What if I were plunged into a knife-lined pit of bad writing? Or just a scratchy grey wool suit of dull, worthy writing? Ugh.
I have been known to part ways with books I merely like. Sometimes once is enough. The book gave me whatever it had to offer and I go forward, enriched but not attached. That’s fine. No hard feelings. Then there are others which demand to be read a second time, but then I’m done. Then there are those which I will reread and reread. And reread.
I’d do it, even if there weren’t a writerly justification, but there is. Rereading good books unveils their structure. The first time round it’s all magic, all the breathless rush of story. Later readings allow you to look for craft. Not that I’m always doing that, but let’s say I am. You can examine plot arcs, character development, description, tension, dialogue — so many things. Every beloved book is a course in good writing, if we’re willing to go back and read it again.
And again.
“I want the embrace of the beloved familiar”
I know exactly what you mean! I don’t know how many times I’ve read Harry Potter, or the Philip Pullman series His Dark Materials (or Enid Blyton’s Adventure series, when I was little! I just about recite sections of those!). And you’ve got it right – it is about something comforting and familiar, characters that you already love and know so well. *sigh* Feel like rereading Harry Potter now!
Do you know the quote, “The greatest pleasure of reading consists in re-reading” (Vernon Lee)? Have it stuck onto the cover of my diary!
Wonderful post. I feel the same way about my favorites. As a reader I can be with the characters I love in familiar worlds, and as a writer I can learn so much! I notice something new each time I read a book, even when I get up to the hundred mark. I also love how rereading a book can take you back to where you were on previous readings. Each time I read ‘Gone With the Wind’ I am eleven again, waiting on my grandmother’s porch for the news that my little brother has finally arrived…magic!
Thanks for this, Francesca. I have multiple copies of a few books I couldn’t live without, because I fear I’m going to read them to shreds and they’ll be out of print one day.
I don’t like to reread anything. I feel like I’m wasting my time. I only have so much that and I intend to spend it (as much as I possibly can) on things that are new and different and relying upon my memory of things I’ve already done to give me pleasure in the past.
The idea of rereading something was completely foreign to me until junior high. Then, a teacher (I think it was my French teacher) asked us a question: did we only watch our favorite movies once? Then why would we read books we loved only once? We hadn’t considered that before. Since, I find that I like to go back and revisit beloved stories.
I will reread stuff if a good amount of time has lapsed. Or I will listen to it on audio or vice versa.
Found you from crusade. New follower.
I love to re-read my favorites over and over and over again. They are like old friends coming to visit. I can savor my time with them, without rushing to find out what happens next. Like you mentioned, I can study the words, the structure, the development. I always learn something new I hadn’t seen before, which casts the characters in a new light.
I’m with you, I reread all the time! I reread The Lord of the Rings every year, for one. And I’ve been rereading the Harry Potter books before each movie comes out. Then there’s Anne of Green Gables, and all the other YA…
Passed you an award, fellow crusader! http://thegirdleofmelian.blogspot.com/2011/02/passing-on-awards-and-passing-on.html
Yes…I re-read also! Some books are so worth the time.
Hello fellow crusader! I re-read books, too, but non-fiction ones. I’ve got a lot on my TBRs that I can’t afford right now to re-read. I agree that some books are worth the time, especially if they are written by an author you love.
I rarely re-read books–only about a half dozen in my life. My daughters keep re-reading Harry Potter, but generally, what I love about books is not knowing how they’ll end. So after I know how they end, my motivation goes down.
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