Re-readers - what do you re-read and why

Aurelian

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The purpose of my question is twofold...the balance of "books to read" has been so great, along with increasing time commitments for family and oh, WORK...that I can't remember the last time I re-read a book. There have been several occasions where I've checked in for a reference, or bet something on a particular element of a book, and maybe went over a chapter, but not the whole book. I have been known to purchase books that I like, or seen as a resource, but not to re-read.

So there you have it - I'm not in the habit of re-reading.

Then I get the "Survivor" question...what book(s) would you bring to a desert island, knowing that it would be the the only thing (s) to read? Religious texts are excluded, like the Bible.

Well, since I don't re-read, and the dire desert island may make several books sound like tripe...and with the time factor, longer books may be better...I'm working on this.:o

I have a re-reading niece, that would immediately pack her Harry Potters and be on to the next question.

So what makes for a good re-read? Is it the reader? The book? I'd like to know how that works for any of you.

Best,

A
 
This is probably not what you wanted to hear, but I keep re-reading books like the Harry Potter series and other read-them-at-the-beach-stuff like Grisham paperbacks, simply to keep my English up-to-date since it's not my first language.
 
Aurelian said:
I have a re-reading niece, that would immediately pack her Harry Potters and be on to the next question.

So what makes for a good re-read? Is it the reader? The book? I'd like to know how that works for any of you.

Best,

A
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as a kid i had all the roald dahl books and i'd cyclically read them all before re-reading them again.....it must have been an obsessive phase - but i reckon i read them all at least 10 times in a 2-3yr stretch.....

equally lord of the rings i've read at least half a dozen times.....

i think it's to do with how well you remember that which you've already read - my long term memory seems pretty shoddy - which means i can repeatedly be captivated by stuff that i used to know but have forgotten :)
 
A couple of times I have mentioned that I re-read books, and the response was "How can you re-read a book if you already know what happens?" I was just taken aback at that. Anyone else care to back me up as to why that seems a really dumb comment?

(btw is it "re-read" or "reread"? My dictionary says both. I see it as re-read being present tense, and reread as past tense.)
 
I have re-read The Burning Plain by Juan Rulfo many many times. It is a book of short stories. Every one of them is a beautiful piece, well writen, poetic, just wonderful. I love it and enjoy it every time I read it. I want to memorise every single word.
 
I re-read some stuff that originally kept me up all night because it was so interesting or exciting - Dune comes to mind. I also re-read some things because they're so rich in imagery and language - Gravity's Rainbow being the best example.

X books to take to an island... (forgetting practical things like survival guides)...
Every time I hear this question I have a different answer. Right now, I'd vote for: The 1 volume Columbia Encyclopedia. Gibbon. The OED.
 
alfaniner said:
I was just taken aback at that. Anyone else care to back me up as to why that seems a really dumb comment?
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Why should I refuse to eat a food I've eaten before and enjoyed, simply because I already know what it tastes like? In fact, it's because I enjoyed it so much the time(s) before that I want to taste it again.

Besides, it's possible to read some books for the first time no matter how often you've read them before. I've read War and Peace four times, and I always pick up something new. I've also read the Hornblower series several times.

And how many people watch particular movies over and over? The entire video and DVD industry is based on that (and Mrs Beady and I are doing our part to make sure they stay in business).

And how many people revisit the same amusement parks, campgrounds, national parks, whatever?

Why should books be the one and only thing that we never revisit? Why are they singled out for this treatment?
 
There are a number that I dig out and re-read every few years. Tolkien, of course. Greg Bear's Anvil of Stars and Forge of God (talk about big ideas...),
Gibson's stuff, especially the first three "cyberpunk" novels.
I'm about in the mood to do Varley's "Gaia" books again.
 
What Beady said. If I enjoy something once, I'm likely to enjoy it again. Also, if a book is well written, there will be stuff you missed the first time.

I also like to re-read childhood books for nostalgia purposes.
 
Tales About Timothy multiple times as kid, David and the Phoenix, Spaceship Galileo, Starship Troopers, all G.Dickson's Dorsai books and stories, 3 Hearts and 3 Lions, Hobbit and LOTR, all books by a female author whose name is eluding me but Ballantine published them in the mostly mid-60's and they now tend to be rare and modestly expensive. Why? They gave me information (I learned from them and or verified from them - which reminds me: Blue Denim)
and some reinforced the very important decisions when and why I would kill, happily.
 
I have re-read all my science books including a couple textbooks, my martial arts books and my kayaking books, multiple times.

I don't often read fiction but I have often read a good one more than once. Stuart McLean's Vinyl Cafe series is an example as well as several Douglas Copeland books.

I think someone is a fool to think they can absorb everything in a book in one reading. A different time in your life gives a different perspective.
 
Blimey, I haven't posted on here for years.....

I re-read for a variety of reasons:

1. In case I've missed something the first time round
2. If the plot has some sort of 'twist' - I'll re-read to see how stupid I was to have missed it during the first reading
3. Comfort. Familiarity is reassuring if everything else is in flux
4. To read from someone else's perspective; if, for example, I've recommended a book to someone, I'll re-read it putting myself in their shoes to second guess their response
5. Enjoyment. Some texts are so fabulously well-written that I can't help reading them again; surely this is similar to hanging a painting on your wall and never getting tired of looking at it, or listening to the same CD more than once.
6. If I'm teaching a text, I need to refresh my memory
7. To see if, now I'm getting old and decrepit, my view of a book has changed
8. Tiredness - sometimes after a long day it's too much effort to read and digest something entirely new.
 
All the Sherlock Holmes stories.

A Christmas Carol Although I am a soft atheist, I do like the theme of redemption. I am also fascinated by how Scrooge started out a pretty likeable guy and ended up so miserable.
 
I think anyone who questions re-reading a good (not even necessarily "great"... good is enough of a rationale) book is likely someone who associates reading with work and never got into it as a pastime and leisure activity, at minimum, and assuredly never thought of books and literature as an art form.

My wise old mom would retell her favorite one-liner every time someone made a new Shakespeare film.. "Oh, let's not see that, I know how it turns out."

You guys have mentioned a few of my faves... Dickens' A Christmas Carol... every two or three years since my daughter was born, so must be about ten times now. Holmes - The Canon as they call it... Wonderful stuff!

Isn't NOT re-reading like my mom's joke?
"Oh, Beethoven's 9th? No I heard that already when I was in school."
 
It is good to get reacquainted with old friends every so often. Same with books.
 
Aurelian said:
So what makes for a good re-read? .... The book?
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Stranger in a Strange Land...........Heinlein
The Black March.........................Peter Neumann
A Confederacy of Dunces.............John Kennedy Toole


SSL because it was a "hippie" bible, BM because it reminds me of my own experiences, and CD - i don't know why. It was just that good. Re-read others all for the same reason one may see a certain movie more than once. Sometimes emotions are evoked by them that one wishes to relive.

i like to see Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid because it reminds me of what i was doing in that era and also reminds me of with whom i attended that movie. Have seen parts of or in full (plus own the CD) Shawshank Redemption at least 100 times or more. Can never get enough of the theme of hope.

.
 
Stranger in a Strange Land reminds me of another reason to re-read certain books. I hated it. But I was in my virulent anti-woo phase then, and I wonder if I could suspend disbelief long enough to enjoy it now, 'cuz I generally liked Heinlein, and I've seen a lot of folks posting here who I respect who say they are very fond of it.

I re-read Dickens as an adult and found a lot of pleasure in much of his writing.
 
Yes, there are books where the point of them is not what happened at the end. Many good points have been made already but I will add that I can reread because the author may use fun, innovative moving language with great phrasings. Furthermore, some books make me think a bit.
 
I tend to skim through my books on the first reading for the general plot. If it's worth it, I'll reread. Sometimes, I reread books that I last enjoyed a few years ago, just to rediscover its pleasure.

Then there are books like Iain M. Banks' Use of Weapons with its shocking twists at the end that I just had to reread to check if Banks had cheated. He didn't, and the story reads surprisingly well the second time around despite my being aware of the twists. It was like reading the same story told from a different point of view and gaining fresh insight into the characters at the same time. That's the mark of a master storyteller.
 
Beady said:
For a fun use of language, try Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series (two volumes of which were the basis for the movie Master and Commander, the Far Side of the World).
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Thanks for that. I have seen and enjoyed the film a couple of times, but if the books are well-written too then town library here I come!
 
I wish I liked re-reading books, and I really tried quite a few times, but no, once is enough for me. When I see and hear about the pleasure that other people have in reading again and again a cherished book, I know I'm missing out on something, but it just isn't me. There is one sort of exception. I have an audio version of Pride and Prejudice (when I bought it there were only three unabridged versions available and on the other two the voices of the readers were all wrong) and about once every two years or so, I'll listen to remind myself of all the details in the story.
 
I love rereading books, for a number of reasons. I've read every book in the Discworld series at least 3 times, most of them more, and most Douglas Adams books close to 10 times. If it's a good book, I usually like it better the second or third time, because I don't have to worry about what happens next, and can enjoy seeing how the plot comes together, how well the book is written, and reading about my favorite characters.

I'm also a fairly obsessive reader, and I simply can't buy books as fast as I can read them.

And as Armi Shanks said, there's something comforting about a book you've read a few times, if only because the book is so constant. It's nice to know that the Vogons will always destroy the Earth to make room for a hyperspace bypass.
 
I'm not much of a re-reader, but I do re-read The Iliad (transl. Robert Fitzgerald), The Grapes of Wrath and Dracula every couple years.
 
Not much of a re-reader here aswell (except from literature pertaining my research) – I’m much of a re-watcher though (TV/Movies). But I do intend to re-read “The passing of the techno-mages” trilogy by Jeanne Cavalos. I know, it’s kind of silly, but I really like the story and the universe presented there (Babylon 5). I’m also contemplating on re-reading Dan Simmons’s Hyperion-Endymion saga.




hgc, if you like the Iliad, than you might want to take a look at Simmons's Ilium & Olympos. He's kind of re-writing the I'lliad in a weird way.
 
hgc said:
I'm not much of a re-reader, but I do re-read The Iliad (transl. Robert Fitzgerald), The Grapes of Wrath and Dracula every couple years.
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I'm with you on the Iliad, but I'll the Odyssey to that. Fitzgerald's translation is unsurpassed.

Michael
 
Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, every three or four years, during the summer.
 
OK, I read LOTR thrice (twice in French, once in English), The Hobbit twice (in French), The Silmarillion twice (once in French, once in English). And Menaud, maitre draveur twice (each time as a school assignment, though the requirement was just "written by a Canadian author"). I wish I had the time to reread some other books, or just get the time to read books period. Until the next Harry Potter comes out, it's unlikely I'll make the time...
 
Kullervo said:
Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, every three or four years, during the summer.
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Oh yeah. For me it's the language, his beautiful, beautiful use of words. I have Mark Twain's Roughing It is part of the Lavatory Selection - things that are worth dipping into (no giggling!). To be woken from by "Are you going to be in there all day!?".

I re-read fiction for the language - Mervyn Peake, Jack Vance, Le Carre spring to mind. I re-read non-fiction to re-evaluate in the light of what I've read since, and of what's actually happened.
 
For some odd reason Stoker's "Dracula", King's "It", Melville's "Moby Dick" and a novel by a great Indian writer and an old teacher "Samskara"
 
Susheel said:
For some odd reason Stoker's "Dracula", King's "It", Melville's "Moby Dick" and a novel by a great Indian writer and an old teacher "Samskara"
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Another Dracula repeater! I didn't think there were others.
 
I'm reading Medawar's Pluto's Republic for the umpteenth time, because it contains most of the essays anthologized in the smaller collections. The poor book is now more sticky tape than printed page, but I keep on reading it because Medawar was incapable of putting together a duff paragraph. [ Note to those who like Dawkins or Gould: both of them admired Medawar greatly.]

Volumes 10 and 12 of The History of Middle-Earth are on the bedside table, to be re-read half a chapter at a time. Because I like them. So there.
 
Ah the desert island question, with that subtle threat implied...

I'd bring a book on island survival, what sort of question is that?
 
Beady said:
The film gives you a small taste of the language as found in the books during the dinner scene in Aubrey's cabin (especially when the doctor is told to choose between two weevils).
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Thanks. I had a look at the library and the first book isn't available - I assume it won't matter too much if I start reading the books out of order?
 
Mr Clingford said:
Thanks. I had a look at the library and the first book isn't available - I assume it won't matter too much if I start reading the books out of order?
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Not so much the first quarter of the series. After that, the author seemed to develop a set of over-all plots and sub-plots that continue in chronological order.

BTW, I'm also a Dracula and Holmes re-reader. As I said earlier, I've also read War and Peace four times, as well as the Hornblower series. The most powerful novel I've ever read, however, is a little-known novel about the Boer War, called Rags of Glory, by Stuart Cloete.
 
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Beady said:
Not so much the first quarter of the series. After that, the author seemed to develop a set of over-all plots and sub-plots that continue in chronological order.
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Right, so one of the first few books will work then.

Beady said:
BTW, I'm also a Dracula and Holmes re-reader. As I said earlier, I've also read War and Peace four times, as well as the Hornblower series. The most powerful novel I've ever read, however, is a little-known novel about the Boer War, called Rags of Glory, by Stuart Cloete.
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Respect for reading War and Peace four times. Tell me about this Rags of Glory; I have studied the Boer War and have visited Spion Kop.
 
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With regard to the Illuminatus trilogy. I always say that you can't expect to make any sense of it the first 4 times you read it.
 
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