The Transformative Joy Of Rereading

[Nonny]

I came across this article the other day, and thought you all would enjoy it (especially now that we are a much livelier board!).

You Can Go Home Again: The Transformative Joy Of Rereading

www.npr.org/2016/04/17/474404440/you-can-go-home-again-the-transformative-joy-of-rereading?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20160417

What do you reread the most often?

For me it's YA series (Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Chronicles of Narnia) and my favorite Stephen King book, The Eyes of the Dragon.  I think of them as literary comfort food.

My H gave me a hard time once about all the rereading I was doing one year, because I should be reading new things.  I told him that I read more new books in a year than he did even with rereading my favorites, and maybe he should just read more in general.  LOL! 

[berrysweet]

My H re-reads things over and over, but I can probably count on one hand the number of books that I've re-read in my lifetime. With very few exceptions, I don't enjoy it at all.

[dorothyinAus]

I love to re-read favorites. I think of re-reading as good visits with old friends. I re-read the Anne of Green Gables & Emily of New Moon series every other year or so. And I just finished re-reading a series of mysteries I had read 10-12 years ago. It was such fun to get to know the characters again.

I have always re-read favorites and see nothing wrong with savoring the visits with friends again. DH is not a re-reader, but he doesn't say anything about my re-reading. My mother has re-read the Nero Wolfe mysteries continuously for as long as I can remember. She works through the series in varying orders over the course of every year & a half or so. She has never not been reading a Nero Wolfe book in-between the other books she reads. My Dad had re-read The Hardhats more times than I can count. He has lost four separate copies of that book -- usually by leaving it somewhere -- planes, hotel rooms, high school gymnasium, etc. My older brother is not a reader, but for the few books I know he has read, he does re-read them. My younger brother goes through phases of reading only new stuff and re-reading favorites. The biggest thing with him si that when he's on a new reading kick, he gives away his favorites and then had to re-buy or find the favorites again when he gets on a re-reading kick.

[revjen]

I think of the characters like friends. I like to visit my friends again and again. Why wouldn't I want to revisit a book friend?

[charlatti]

I use re-reads as comfort food when I'm stressed or busy or as a way to get out of a book slump. The Harry Potter series definitely tops my list of highest read counts, but pretty much any book that rates five stars for me is a re-read contender. I always notice new things when I'm re-reading, which is always interesting.

[ufcasey]

I have so many books I want to read but sometimes picking one gets overwhelming because I've had a crazy day and don't want to make even one more decision - that's when I tend to reread a book. Also, shortly before a new book in a series comes out, I like to reread the previous one to remind myself where it left off.

[aurora]

Apr 18, 2016 16:35:09 GMT -5 Nonny said:

I came across this article the other day, and thought you all would enjoy it (especially now that we are a much livelier board!).

You Can Go Home Again: The Transformative Joy Of Rereading

www.npr.org/2016/04/17/474404440/you-can-go-home-again-the-transformative-joy-of-rereading?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20160417

What do you reread the most often?

For me it's YA series (Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Chronicles of Narnia) and my favorite Stephen King book, The Eyes of the Dragon.  I think of them as literary comfort food.

My H gave me a hard time once about all the rereading I was doing one year, because I should be reading new things.  I told him that I read more new books in a year than he did even with rereading my favorites, and maybe he should just read more in general.  LOL! 

My H doesn't criticize my re-reading, but I think most of us on this board could use this argument with anyone who did! I thought 2015 was a "bad" (not really) one for me for re-reading, with close to half of my books re-reads. And yet, that still left me with ~25 new books, which isn't shabby!

[aurora]

My most frequent re-reads are The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings (which I've re-read every 1-2 years since I was 11) and the Harry Potter series. Beyond those, there are probably ~50 (maybe more?) books that I've read at least twice, some three times.

I'm having fun these days re-reading a couple of books from high school every year, just to see what else I get out of them as an adult.

[monkeyfeet]

I think I stress over my ever-growing the list so rarely do I reread books. I did reread TKAM before I read Go Set a Watchman. I think I'd enjoy the classics much more now that they aren't required reading. I also want to reread HP one of these days.

[snshne322]

I'm a serial rereader, and I'm not super picky on which ones. I've reread Mariana a couple times, a lot of UF series that I've really enjoyed, and several YA books. Oddly, one that I haven't reread is Harry Potter.

I love finding the nuances and foreshadowing on the second (and third) time around. Like the article said, we change as people so we take away something different each time. I find that to absolutely be true.

[suzannesugarbaker]

Growing up I did a ton of rereading. Honestly, we didn't have a lot of money or access to the public library so sometimes it was out of necessity. I have read TKAM & Little Women over and over and enjoyed them every time. I also like to do rereads leading up to a new book in a series being released. This depends on the series though. If the previous books are complex or detailed, then I like to have everything fresh in my mind when I start the next one.

[susiebw]

I rarely reread anything. When I do, it's usually one of my classic favorites, TKAM, A Tale of Two Cities, and the Count of Monte Cristo. But even then, I've read each of those books only 2-4 times in my life. There are too many other things I want to read and learn about, so I don't like to spend time rereading.

[marigoldgirl]

I reread sometimes. I use to all the time before my kindle and easy access to the library on it. When I do reread it feels very good, like reconnecting with an old friend.

[abs]

I reread favorites whenever I'm in a book slump or need a "comfort" read. Harry Potter gets the title for most re-reads but I also revisit childhood favorites from time to time. I've also been known to reread series that I loved the first time around and wasn't ready to let go of.

[leeba25]

I have two kinds of rereads: the kind where I love the book so much I read it over and over for pure enjoyment (The Stand, Bag of Bones, and Harry Potter are my big ones); and the kind where I have to reread a series (or just the last in a series) before the new one comes out. If I'm not that interested in the book, I'll find a spoilery synopsis somewhere, but a lot of times I like to reread if I really enjoyed it originally.

Rereading The Fifth Wave right now for that reason, and will also reread Justin Cronin's The Passage books before the third and final comes out later this year. I fear I'll have to reread Pat Rothfuss' Kingkiller books when he finally gets off his ass and completes the final one, but man, that's going to take a lot of time and energy.

[kelliebeans104]

I love rereading. It's definitely a comfort thing for me and gets me out of a reading slump. Whenever I feel like I'm not in the mood to read anything, I just go back to an old favorite. I'm currently going through the Harry Potter series again. I'm on Goblet of Fire right now. I like a few classics and also some newer ones like the Scorpio Races and the Raven Boys series. I've read the three that are out a few times and will probably reread the whole series all together once the new one is out.

[snshne322]

Apr 19, 2016 8:28:29 GMT -5 leeba25 said:

I have two kinds of rereads: the kind where I love the book so much I read it over and over for pure enjoyment (The Stand, Bag of Bones, and Harry Potter are my big ones); and the kind where I have to reread a series (or just the last in a series) before the new one comes out. If I'm not that interested in the book, I'll find a spoilery synopsis somewhere, but a lot of times I like to reread if I really enjoyed it originally.

Rereading The Fifth Wave right now for that reason, and will also reread Justin Cronin's The Passage books before the third and final comes out later this year. I fear I'll have to reread Pat Rothfuss' Kingkiller books when he finally gets off his ass and completes the final one, but man, that's going to take a lot of time and energy.

Word. It's been so long that I feel like I have to reread them to make sure I don't forget anything.

[noradog]

I retread Harry Potter, but I also retread childhood favorites. "Cheaper by the Dozen", "My Side of the Mountain"! And Agatha Christie's Mrs. Marple stories are some all time retread favorites.

[Nonny]

Apr 19, 2016 9:46:39 GMT -5 noradog said:

I retread Harry Potter, but I also retread childhood favorites. "Cheaper by the Dozen", "My Side of the Mountain"! And Agatha Christie's Mrs. Marple stories are some all time retread favorites.

OMG, I love My Side of the Mountain. Did you ever read the other books in the series?  The first was written in the '50s and the others were written in the '90s, and I didn't discover them until after the book was a little too young for me, but I read them anyway.

Jean Craighead George was one of my favorite childhood authors. I actually bought a compilation of all of the Julie of the Wolves books that I came across at Costco a few years ago.

[Nonny]

aurora, dorothyinAus, my H never questioned my rereading again after I shut him down with his lack of rereading. Of course now he'd be hard pressed to tell if I was rereading anything since 90% of my reading is on my Kindle and he doesn't know what I'm reading I tell him.

[noradog]

Apr 19, 2016 13:17:27 GMT -5 Nonny said:

Apr 19, 2016 9:46:39 GMT -5 noradog said:

I retread Harry Potter, but I also retread childhood favorites. "Cheaper by the Dozen", "My Side of the Mountain"! And Agatha Christie's Mrs. Marple stories are some all time retread favorites.

OMG, I love My Side of the Mountain. Did you ever read the other books in the series?  The first was written in the '50s and the others were written in the '90s, and I didn't discover them until after the book was a little too young for me, but I read them anyway.

Jean Craighead George was one of my favorite childhood authors. I actually bought a compilation of all of the Julie of the Wolves books that I came across at Costco a few years ago.

I read the second one, but I can't remember reading the third, though I may have. 

[aurora]

Apr 19, 2016 7:09:17 GMT -5 monkeyfeet said:

I think I stress over my ever-growing the list so rarely do I reread books. I did reread TKAM before I read Go Set a Watchman. I think I'd enjoy the classics much more now that they aren't required reading. I also want to reread HP one of these days.

I started reading HP when there were only 4 books, so I re-read each time a new one came out. These re-reads where when I truly began to understand Rowling's brilliance, and how well she sets up so many things that happen later. For example, one of the huge plot lines in book 6 is set up by a seemingly throwaway Peeves encounter in an earlier book (maybe 2?). I got so much more out of the re-reads after I had finished the whole series and knew what happened.

Also tagging snshne322.

[snshne322]

I always intend on a reread, but I ultimately I think I'm intimidated by the length. It's odd because I read plenty of long books. Maybe it's more the emotional involvement of the reread?

I'm going to be slowly collecting the illustrated versions. I have the first and have preordered the second. I will read them when he's old enough, but I'll probably do a reread before then too.

Now the movies? I've seen them A LOT.

[kelliebeans104]

Apr 19, 2016 15:01:50 GMT -5 snshne322 said:

I always intend on a reread, but I ultimately I think I'm intimidated by the length. It's odd because I read plenty of long books. Maybe it's more the emotional involvement of the reread?

I'm going to be slowly collecting the illustrated versions. I have the first and have preordered the second. I will read them when he's old enough, but I'll probably do a reread before then too.

Now the movies? I've seen them A LOT.

HP is amazing on audio 

[revjen]

Apr 19, 2016 15:06:22 GMT -5 kelliebeans104 said:

Apr 19, 2016 15:01:50 GMT -5 snshne322 said:

I always intend on a reread, but I ultimately I think I'm intimidated by the length. It's odd because I read plenty of long books. Maybe it's more the emotional involvement of the reread?

I'm going to be slowly collecting the illustrated versions. I have the first and have preordered the second. I will read them when he's old enough, but I'll probably do a reread before then too.

Now the movies? I've seen them A LOT.

HP is amazing on audio 

So ... time for a readalong?

[booknerd]

I reread books all the time. Sometimes I just want to read something that I already know I'll enjoy, sometimes it's for comfort.

I've read HP more times than I can count. I've read it every single year except for last year, which felt weird.

Little Women
P&P
TKAM

[charlatti]

Apr 19, 2016 15:01:50 GMT -5 snshne322 said:

I'm going to be slowly collecting the illustrated versions. I have the first and have preordered the second. I will read them when he's old enough, but I'll probably do a reread before then too.

I've read the first three so far with my daughter -- it has been so fun. It's really neat to see what catches her attention and what questions she has. She's a little young yet for everything that happens in book four, but we might try it over the summer.

[monkeyfeet]

Apr 19, 2016 15:01:50 GMT -5 snshne322 said:

I always intend on a reread, but I ultimately I think I'm intimidated by the length. It's odd because I read plenty of long books. Maybe it's more the emotional involvement of the reread?

I'm going to be slowly collecting the illustrated versions. I have the first and have preordered the second. I will read them when he's old enough, but I'll probably do a reread before then too.

Now the movies? I've seen them A LOT.

Ha! I own the movies, but have never watched them!

[willyh19]

I reread HP every other year. They really are fantastic on audio.

I haven't picked it up in a long time, but I used to reread Little Women all the time.