Rereading books

[jackm8]

What are your habits regarding this? Also, what are some books that you've reread lately.

I tend to go for light, cheerful novels, and can only rarely pick up anything serious, even if I really liked it. I told myself, that I'll certainly reread Karl Marlantes's Matterhorn, as soon as I finished it. I placed a copy on my 'to read' shelf, and it's been sitting there for half a year now, untouched.

[Sirtel]

I reread pretty often, if I liked the book. Most of what I read is genre fiction (historical fiction, mysteries, fantasy, science fiction, an occasional thriller or romance); not necessarily cheerful, but I read for pleasure, to relax and to escape reality, so I'm not interested in books dealing with the real-world issues. I dislike literary fiction and avoid depressing books (not only for rereading, I prefer not to read them at all).

For real world problems I read the news or web articles. I don't want to read about them in books.

Currently I'm not rereading anything, though. The most recent reread was the Murderbot series by Martha Wells - when the latest book came out, I reread the whole series.

[Karellen]

Sometimes I fall into a slump when trying out new authors because I end up not enjoying them. Then I find it difficult to pick up another book. Just before Christmas I hit 4 books in a row that I did not like and did not finish.

To reset myself, I take a few days off reading then go back and re-read known books that I enjoy. At that particular time I re-read the Space Odyssey series and it seemed to boost me again and moved onto new books. I moved onto Airport by Arthur Hailey and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

What were the 4 books, you ask?
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King (I got about 15 pages into this and hated the one sided conversation)
The Mercy of Gods and Livesuite by James S.A.Corey. I felt I wasted my money on these and don't intend to continue. I was hoping for something at the level of The Expanse but was thoroughly disappointed

What have I re-read lately?
The Rho Agenda - 9 books by Richard Phillips. Absolutely love them.

[drofgnal]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I reread pretty often, if I liked the book. Most of what I read is genre fiction (historical fiction, mysteries, fantasy, science fiction, an occasional thriller or romance); not necessarily cheerful, but I read for pleasure, to relax and to escape reality, so I'm not interested in books dealing with the real-world issues. I dislike literary fiction and avoid depressing books (not only for rereading, I prefer not to read them at all).

For real world problems I read the news or web articles. I don't want to read about them in books.

Currently I'm not rereading anything, though. The most recent reread was the Murderbot series by Martha Wells - when the latest book came out, I reread the whole series.

Well said, I'm pretty much the same. My most reread books are probably LOTR, War and Peace, and Watership Down. I've read each at least 3 times. Several I've read 2 times.

It's like movies. There are some movies I'll watch multiple times, others one and done.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

It's like movies. There are some movies I'll watch multiple times, others one and done.

Yes, same for me.

[John F]

I seldom re-read, my TBR list is so long.

I'm currently re-reading the Dune series (those with Frank Herbert as the author). I'm on book 4, and this has been going on for over a year. I'm also re-reading John Irving, but I'm only on the 4th novel, and this has been going on for 4 years; although the next couple I expect to really enjoy and may read sooner rather then later.

[DiapDealer]

I re-read books all the time when I was young. I almost never do now.

[Tarana]

I reread maybe 20% of what I read despite the length of my TBR. Four examples of entire series I've reread are 87th Precinct by Ed McBain, LoTR, Pern & Crystal Singer series by Anne McCaffery

[issybird]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I re-read books all the time when I was young. I almost never do now.

Ditto.

I make the exception occasionally for “great” books which I haven’t read in literally decades and of which my memory is poor.

Originally Posted by John F

I seldom re-read, my TBR list is so long.

This, too. A re-read seems so dull and pointless when there are unread books.

[Graham44]

I reread often, like others have said reading for me is a pleasure and if I enjoyed a story the first time I like to revisit it and enjoy it again. Some books I've lost count how many times I've read them, Stephen Kings IT comes to mind. But I am very picky when buying books so it's not often I end up buying a book I don't want to reread (it does happen though)

But I also budget how much I can spend each month on books so this often leads to having to reread as well. I also have moods for what I want to read, I might fancy something ghostly/ scary, something adventurous or otherworldly and I have 'old friends' I gravitate too when this happens.

[sakura-panda]

I usually read multiple books at a time -- reading whichever genre or storyline I'm interested in at the time -- and often one or two of those are rereads. I pick those the same way I pick any other book, because it is something I feel like reading Right Now.

[DrNefario]

I've never been much of a re-reader. Very rarely I'd pick up something short and joyous, like The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujoid, but mainly I want to read something new.

At the moment, though, I'm doing an exercise where I pick a favourite and/or influential book published in each year of my life (to the nearest round number - to avoid giving too much away) and write a little piece about whether it still holds up, and what it means to me. I have been rereading these books as I go, and it's surprising how much I've forgotten, especially of the children's books. I'm into the YA/crossover era now - there are stlll authors and books I've grown out of, but I will soon be reading only adult fiction. I wonder if I'll remember that any better?

I'm typically doing the rereads alongside my regular new books, so they take a bit longer and progress unevenly, but it is interesting and I should probably reread more often.

[neil_swann80]

I rarely re-read, but have recently re-read "Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir.

[Karellen]

Originally Posted by neil_swann80

I rarely re-read, but have recently re-read "Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir.

What a fantastic book. I loved it.
Have you seen there is a film in the works...
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12042730/

[graycyn]

As a child, I re-read a TON, simply by virtue of a) being a fast reader and b) my parents weren't willing to subsidize my habit by buying me a constant stream of new books. My grandmother did indulge me some, mainly, I suspect, because she knew when she had me to visit her, that if she handed me a new book, she didn't have to worry about keeping me out of trouble.

As an adult out of college and on my own, my income went mostly towards food and rent, so again, I re-read frequently of my own paperback stash. And also utilized my local library extensively.

As a senior citizen, I'm pretty busy keeping house, making myself nutritious meals, so I re-read a bit less frequently, leaning more towards experiencing new books. But I still do it.

What I re-read varies widely. Last spring, I indulged in Dune, the entire freaking universe (yep, including the son's work with Kevin J. Anderson). I had previously read most of these, but there were a number of new ones and I decided to just go for the whole thing.

Same for the Mrs. Pollifax series. I finally, bit by bit, accumulated them as ebook, including the last few books that I had NOT read previously, and did the whole series in one delightful go.

Early last summer, I had a re-read of a Charles Dickens favorite, David Copperfield. I used to read it every year, but got to where I knew it too well, and hadn't done so for a while.

More recently, hubby had an itch to re-read The Hunger Games series, and I joined him. Just finished Sunrise on the Reaping this morning.

I re-read Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer not long ago. So what I re-read varies quite a bit. It could be a single title that I just want to revisit, or a whole series. It might be non-fiction, it might be fiction. It might be fluff or a classic. No rhyme or reason, just whatever my brain feels into between library books.

It's like some books are old friends and I just go visit from time to time.