Do you re-read? Why?

[Shades]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It strikes me as seriously strange not to re-read.

"I really enjoyed that meal" - but I'm never going to eat that food again.
"That was a delightful piece of music" - but I'm never going to listen to it again.
"I had a great night out with that girl" - but I'm never going to see her again.

Why on Earth would you not want to repeat an enjoyable experience? To reason that "the world is full of other books" doesn't make any sense to me. The world is also full of girls (or boys), music, and food, and yet many people get pleasure from repeated encounters with the same one.

I tend to not reread. My reason is simple and probably common: I remember what happens, so it's not the same.

Now, I don't re-watch movies often either. Same reason, if I know what happens, it's just not that interesting.

Though I do watch movies that someone has already spoiled or I spoiled for myself by reading a synopsis. That doesn't seem to bother me a bit. Same goes for books too. I guess it's my personal memory of the story that stops me from re-watching or rereading.

Music is different. It's the rhythm, the beat, the noise, the feelings. The story, if it tells one is secondary to all that. That's my opinion at least.

[HomeInMyShoes]

I tend not to reread. Part of this is the time involved and the volume of stuff to read out there. I could re-read this, but much of the suspense and wonder is gone. I re-listen to music a lot, but it doesn't force me to stop talking to my family or not get the dishes done. There's too much in life to do to spend another ten to twenty hours of my life reading a novel again. Music is easier. In the span of ten hours I can experience fifteen albums and still get things done.

Rereading for me seems a waste of time. Much of my love of reading is experiencing new things. The wonder of not knowing where the story is going is part of that experience.

[Catlady]

First time around, it's all about the plot; I want to know what happens. On a subsequent reading, I'm experiencing the book on a different level; I'm seeing why it happens: how the author has set up the story, created the atmosphere, chosen details that misdirect or foreshadow, etc.

Plus even though the book is static, I'm different when I return to it years later, so the experience has changed.

[Luffy]

I'd rather read a new, and conversely 2 star book than reread the best book I've ever read.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Shades

I tend to not reread. My reason is simple and probably common: I remember what happens, so it's not the same.

Now, I don't re-watch movies often either. Same reason, if I know what happens, it's just not that interesting.

Though I do watch movies that someone has already spoiled or I spoiled for myself by reading a synopsis. That doesn't seem to bother me a bit. Same goes for books too. I guess it's my personal memory of the story that stops me from re-watching or rereading.

Music is different. It's the rhythm, the beat, the noise, the feelings. The story, if it tells one is secondary to all that. That's my opinion at least.

Well, the thing you say about the music is what holds for books for me (and for a lot of other people). The plot is secondary. You get this in opinions like "knowing who is the killer should in a good crime story not make the experience of the book worse" and so on.

I cannot understand reading primary for the plot. Why then just read a plot synopsis? The things you miss with a plot synopsis you maybe can get more efficiently through music or through something else that is non-narrative.

[tompe]

I have also heard the opinion that a book that is not worth re-reading is not worth reading at all. But that was based on deepness and different layers and all that.

You can re-read just for getting the same experience. I re-read Anthony Price books regularly. And it is not to get a deeper expereince. It is just to re-experience the positive and fun experience you get reading the book. The same with re-reading Georgette Heyer. You want the experience.

[ApK]

This thread had made me realize that I very rarely re-read.
In fact, it's so infrequent a thing for me that I don't know if I could ever justify paying more than a couple bucks a book. Other than reference-type books of course.

It does happen, but it's the exception rather than the rule that I will want to revisit a book, cover to cover. And quite often those visits would tend to be years apart, when either I've forgotten enough of the first experience for it to seem new again, or I've changed so much that I want to read it as the new me.

I see all the analogies about dating the same girl again, or ordering the same meal, or listening to the same song.

Maybe those people just read much faster than I do, but for me it's more like having a long relationship, and then parting as friends, or going to school and moving on to another interest, or doing a stint in the military.

I'm not usually going to call that girl back a few months later, or re-enroll in the same classes, or re-enlist. I had the experience, got out of it what I could and I have the memories.

ApK

[Geralt]

I generally don't re-read.
However there's an exception to every rule and in my case it's this:
- If I have started a series few years back and haven't finished it (which happens a lot), now, 5 or 6 years later I want to finish it, so I will start from the beginning, because after that time I usually don't remember much about first 3 books I've read of a 7 book series for example.
or
- If I have started a series which hasn't been completed at the time I started reading, but now a few years later is, well than I will re-read those books that were available at the time, and finish the series.

So for me it's all about starting and finishing series and there has to be a significant amount of time passed between the first read and the re-read.

[drofgnal]

Books I've reread. Tolkein, War and Peace, The Good Earth, Catcher in the Rye, and Watership Down.

There are more I'd like to reread, but too many I haven't read yet to invest the time. I don't buy the parallel that rewatching a movie or listening to the same music again is the same thing. For one rereading a novel is a larger investment in time than watching a movie or listening to an album. A novel has to be beyond outstanding to me and just grabbed me in a certain way to warrant a reread.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

Books I've reread. Tolkein, War and Peace, The Good Earth, Catcher in the Rye, and Watership Down.

There are more I'd like to reread, but too many I haven't read yet to invest the time. I don't buy the parallel that rewatching a movie or listening to the same music again is the same thing. For one rereading a novel is a larger investment in time than watching a movie or listening to an album. A novel has to be beyond outstanding to me and just grabbed me in a certain way to warrant a reread.

But if you use different time accounts then re-watching a movie has the cost of one new movie you will not see. Re-reading a book has the codt of one new book you will not read.

Or if you do not want to look at it that way. Re-wathing 2-3 movies is the time you could have read a new book.

[Luffy]

[gmw]

For the first twenty-something years of my life I didn't re-read at all. Then I met someone who convinced me to give it a try. So I did. Some twenty-something years on and a very significant part of my reading is re-reading. In fact, my own 1-5 star rating for books these days is largely based around how much I want to come back and re-read the book.

Just like some movies aren't really up to being watched a second time, some books aren't up to re-reading either. But I find it's very rare for me to have really enjoyed a book but not want to come back to it.

For me personally, I find that a second read of a good book can be very useful, because the first time around I tend to read quickly, wanting to see how it all comes out. The second time through I can relax a bit more and enjoy the ride, often finding subtleties that I missed the first time around. ... And then there are my favourites that I re-read quite regularly, just because I enjoy being there.

Someone mentioned Pratchett above. And sure, if you read Pratchett's books mainly for the humour then once is probably enough, jokes wear with age and familiarity. But his books are more than the one-liners - though the context still means that I get many laughs even from familiar lines. As a contrast/comparison: I really enjoyed many of Tom Holt's books the first time through, and enthusiastically recommend them to others, but on re-read it becomes more apparent that the much of the humour comes from set pieces, and once you're familiar with the stories you can see the pieces being built up, and that spoils the punch-lines. They're still very good books, just not as good for re-reading.

[crossi]

On the average only about 1 in 10 books are keepers for me. That means with new books there is a 90% chance that I won't like it all that much (they run from so-so to frankly un-enjoyable). With my favorite keepers I know I'll enjoy them.