Quote:
Originally Posted by DMcCunney
Re-read all my life?
The most re-read would be Tolkien, whose work I have re-read about once a year since being introduced to The Lord of the Rings a long time ago.
(Tolkien was still alive when I first read LoTR...)
Other things are harder to nail down. An old friend had what he called a "comfortable old shoe" mood, where he would want to re-read stuff he considered classic. In my case, for SF I've re-read fair amounts of H. Beam Piper and Robert A. Heinlein, and am re-reading E. E. Smith's "Lensman" series now.
But the question has made me think about just why we re-read, and what we get from it. For me with Tolkien, I tend to discover a new subtlety each time, as I encounter something that has always been there but I just missed in passing. Other works may not have that, which makes me say "Why am I reading this again, since it's completely familiar and nearly memorized?" I don't know the answer to that question.
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Dennis
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I know exactly what you mean! I re-read All Creatures Great & Small - and large swaths of the dialogue play in my head as I read the words - I have inadvertantly memorized sections by continual re-reading. Maybe it is the "old shoe" mode for comfort, or familiarity - curling up with old friends!