How often do you reread?

[SophiaY]

I finished reading again Patricia Highsmith’s “The Price of Salt”, and was so struck by not only how great a novel is it, but also by how much I read into it this time around (I read it first back in college). Not only because of the experiences I have had, but also the layers beneath the surface that I found that I hadn’t seen before.

I was wondering, how often do people reread, and found a story better (or worse), on rereading?

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Depends on the book. I can't pick up Kerouac's "Dharma Bums" without sitting down and reading it again.

I've reread my Patrick O'Brian novels probably 5 times apiece inthe span of three years. I've always got one going. I'll read any Raymond Chandler stuff again too, just like that.

Then there are things I'll never read again. Dune for one. As soon as I put the book down, I'd forgotten what it was about and never wanted to find out again.

 

[carsonshepherd]

Ha. I like Dune. Even liked the movie *blush*

 

[AppleBiter]

I have read Pet Sematary and The Catcher In The Rye both more times than I can count! They were both just as good each and every time I read them. The best part about rereading them is that you always find something new that you either forgot was there or didn't notice before.

 

[Shendude]

Then there are things I'll never read again. Dune for one. As soon as I put the book down, I'd forgotten what it was about and never wanted to find out again.

You realize that in some circles that could be considered blasphemy, yes? And that in others, they'd feel a need to burn you for heresy?

 

[Quiet_Cool]

I've reread The Beach by ALex Garland twice. Other than that, I can't say I've reread much. I found nothing better the second time than the first, but I did re-find what turned me on to the book the first time.

As far as rereading goes, if it's no great, I won't even consider.

Q_C

p.s. I've never read Dune but I have enjoyed both the origianal version, with Sting, and the newer version, with William Hurt.

 

[Guest]

 

[elsol]

Anything by Heilein... I'll re-read ESPECIALLY Starship Troopers which I read at least once a year.

Andrew Vacchss Burke series I've read multiple times.

Sincerley,
elsol

 

[Goldie Munro]

I love re-reading books after a period of time - you get so much more out of them!

 

[~hellbaby~]

I finished reading again Patricia Highsmith’s “The Price of Salt”, and was so struck by not only how great a novel is it, but also by how much I read into it this time around (I read it first back in college). Not only because of the experiences I have had, but also the layers beneath the surface that I found that I hadn’t seen before.

I was wondering, how often do people reread, and found a story better (or worse), on rereading?

There is an old book of John Steinbeck's short stories I found at my grandmothers years ago that I reread every couple of years and I enjoy it more each time.

 

[minsue]

I constantly am rereading books. It's the only way I can afford my habit & it's like visiting old friends.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

You realize that in some circles that could be considered blasphemy, yes? And that in others, they'd feel a need to burn you for heresy?

I apparently enjoyed it while I was reading it (Dune). I mean, I read the thing, and as I recall I couldn't put it down. (What did Groucho say? "It's a book you don't want to put down. No, you want to hurl it violently against a wall.")

I remember them riding sandworms and wearing suits that let them drink their own sweat. All the rest was filler, wasn't it?

 

[LeahLo519]

I've read all these books twice...

The Stand
Gone With the Wind
Scarlett
Clan of the Cave Bear
The Pillars of the Earth

They weren't better the second time around, but I caught a lot of stuff I must have missed the first time.

 

[English Lady]

Oh I re-read most books I enjoy first time round.


I still re-read my kiddie favourites now and then, The BFG, The Narnia Stories, The Chronicles of Prydain and I love all of'em. I've read all the Pratchetts in my collection at least 3 or 4 times each and I uncover new jokes each time.

David Gemmell is a wonder to re-read, even when you've an idea of whats going to happen next his writing is a joy to read.

Wuthering heights is one I go back to intermitently, as is Jane Eyre and they both still make me cry!

The sign of a really bad book is that I'll not re-read it. I'm never disappointed when I re-read a book.

 

[impressive]

I've re-read the entire Dune series several times. Pick up something new each time. They could be used for studies in sociology, IMO.

Re-read LotR about once every 5 years. Have re-read The Stand and a couple Heinlein books (Stranger ... and Number of the Beast, in particular) many times.

Apparently, I gravitate back to the books which deal with social commentary & behavior of large groups of people. (And yes, I did enjoy Asimov's Foundation series.)

 

[ElizabethWest]

I'm a rereader. My favorite genre is mystery so I like to reread them after a time, knowing whodunnit, and see how the story unfolds from a different perspective.

 

[cloudy]

My bookcase is overflowing, but I'm constantly buying more. And, I reread them after 8 months or so have passed....just long enough for me to forget most of the twists and turns in it.

I loved the Dune series up until about the 6th book, then it became WAY too overtechnical, and out there. The first one rocked.

The Stand, Pillars of the Earth, It, and quite a few others are read until they fall apart, and then I go buy a new one.

There's also an author who writes about medieval Europe who is fantastic! I reread her books all the time. Hell, can't think of her name, but the first book I read by her was Here Be Dragons, about the life of Llewellyn the Great, and his wife, Joanna, who was supposedly a bastard daughter of King John.

 

[ishtat]

I think that I have read everything Karen Armstrong has written at least twice.

I read The Lord of the rings every 7 or 8 years, so must have read it 4 times now. The first read was when I was at Uni and it was finished in one sitting of 26 hours straight . Not surprisingly I got more from it second time around.

I have read the Old Testament as a literary history which is quite tricky but rewarding as the first bits to be written are not at the beginning.

Gogol's Dead Souls is my most read and favourite book - very black humour

Maybe a more interesting idea might be great books started but not finished?

 

[SophiaY]

My bookcase is overflowing, but I'm constantly buying more. And, I reread them after 8 months or so have passed....just long enough for me to forget most of the twists and turns in it.

I loved the Dune series up until about the 6th book, then it became WAY too overtechnical, and out there. The first one rocked.

The Stand, Pillars of the Earth, It, and quite a few others are read until they fall apart, and then I go buy a new one.

There's also an author who writes about medieval Europe who is fantastic! I reread her books all the time. Hell, can't think of her name, but the first book I read by her was Here Be Dragons, about the life of Llewellyn the Great, and his wife, Joanna, who was supposedly a bastard daughter of King John.

Sharon Kay Penman! She is one superb!

An observation I remember from a visiting Frenchman who taught a class on 19th literature -- "We read too much and too little."
What he meant was that we read so many books, but too few of them deeply -- we speed along, and the words, the meanings, become like roadsigns that we pass by on the highway...

 

[Shendude]

I apparently enjoyed it while I was reading it (Dune). I mean, I read the thing, and as I recall I couldn't put it down. (What did Groucho say? "It's a book you don't want to put down. No, you want to hurl it violently against a wall.")

I remember them riding sandworms and wearing suits that let them drink their own sweat. All the rest was filler, wasn't it?

Erm, no. The Dune books are some of the greatest works of sociological and philosphical SF ever written, as well as one of the finest examples of world-building. Things get even deeper in later books also.

 

[rosco rathbone]

My memory is so bad that I have to read something at least 3 times before I feel like I really have an internal grasp on it. Books that are really important to me, like Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian and Suttree, I've read 8 and 10 times.

 

[Sabledrake]

I re-read a lot. If I like a book even tolerably well, I will read it at least twice. The ones I really like, I'll re-read many times. My faves (mostly horror), I'll re-read at least every other year. When a new one comes out in a series I enjoy (for instance, the Stephanie Plum books), I will go back and re-read all the others leading up to it before cracking the new one.

Probably the only reason I can get away with this is that I read uncommonly fast, and can finish a standard-size novel in about 3 hours on average.

-- Sabledrake