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Do you ever re-read a book?

(143 Posts)
Eloethan Thu 08-Feb-18 15:40:35

I was interested to read on the "If you could only save one book ..." thread a poster's comment that she never re-read a book.

Do you?

Even if I have enjoyed a book very much, I'm unlikely to re-read it but there have been a few exceptions:

The Accidental Tourist, St Maybe, Breathing Lessons - Anne Tyler
Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Orchard on Fire - Sheena McKay

My, I think, all time favourite book - Secret History by Donna Tartt, I'm a bit scared to re-read. I loved it so much that I'm nervous that I'll be disappointed if I read it again.

Charleygirl Thu 08-Feb-18 15:44:39

Only if the brain has forgotten that I have ready it already! I am usually half way through when I stat thinking that this is familiar, I have read this before. I think it is called old age.

M0nica Thu 08-Feb-18 15:54:35

I reread every novel I read many times and every time I notice different things.

First read tells me the story, second read I begin to understand the nuances and subtleties of the story, third time I start to appreciate the language, fourth time I notice subtleties in the plot I had missed before. After that, for books I really love: Jane Austen, I just enjoy rereading the book for the sheer pleasure of enjoying it yet again - and I keep discovering, things in it that have never struck me before.

I am currently doing a class studying 'Middlemarch' by George Eliot. I studied it at A level and have reread it a couple of times since (nearly 50 years), but reading it with a tutor who has us looking at the language used, how it varies, how the authors voice changes and so one is adding this book to one of those I am now going to be coming back to again, again and again, just to admire the craft of a superb writer.

Bathsheba Thu 08-Feb-18 15:54:57

Yes, I'm much the same Charleygirl. A few months ago I accidentally re-read a Jojo Moyes book - well accidentally to begin with, but I realised about a quarter of the way in that I had read it. It was so good, though, that I was more than happy to finish it. Not the first time I've done that - once I got to within a few pages from the end before remembering I'd already read it grin (but it had been many years before wink)

hildajenniJ Thu 08-Feb-18 15:56:11

Pride and Prejudice I have read more than once.? I have also read Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett twice, and I might read it again.

Anniebach Thu 08-Feb-18 16:05:10

Gone With The Wind

To Kill A Mockingbird

Rebecca

Cry Freedom

Goodnight Mr Tom

mollie Thu 08-Feb-18 16:08:16

I do read books again, sometimes several times. I know people say they remember the story from the first time so why bother but I say why not? You wouldn’t have one bit of cake and then refuse to eat it again because you can remember what it tasted like! If it’s a well written book then no doubt you’ll find things in it that you didn’t appreciate the first time round so it’s worth another go. I’ve a whole list of favourite books that I’ve enjoyed a second or third time round and no doubt I’ll keep adding to the list.

Alexa Thu 08-Feb-18 16:33:17

I not only reread stories but I tell some well-learnt stories(particular novels and a particular film) to myself a way of getting to sleep.

SueDonim Thu 08-Feb-18 16:41:25

I almost never reread a book, not when there are so many others out there waiting to be enjoyed!

The exceptions are books for my book group when I may have read it previously and I need to freshen my memory.

One book I used to read again and again was The Loving Spirit by Daphne du Maurier. Despite that, I can't recall what it is about apart from fishing boats being involved!

M0nica Thu 08-Feb-18 16:42:56

There is more to a book than the story. That is why any book I read, unless I really dislike it gets re read. For me Wuthering Heights was a one read story and I only read it once to get the English teacher off my back.

f77ms Thu 08-Feb-18 16:44:56

I do reread books if I find a really good one . Anything by Annie Proux (not sure if that is the right spelling)
Pure by Andrew Morten is my go to when I need to get lost in a book , it is so well written and unlike anything I have read before . Any novel about old China ie Anna and the secret fan , all about being a girl , foot binding and marriage 100 +years ago . I tend to go for books which imo are well written rather than something which has a good story , I dislike romance and thrillers .

Eloethan Thu 08-Feb-18 16:52:52

I too love "Goodnight Mr Tom" anniebach and it will be no chore - when my younger grandchildren are older - to read it to them again. There is one bit where I really had trouble reading it to my other grandson because I was so choked up.

Stella14 Thu 08-Feb-18 17:09:51

I rarely re-read, but I have done so with the ‘Comoran Strike’ novels by Robert Galbraith (JK Rawling) - twice! They are so, so good smile

SueDonim Thu 08-Feb-18 17:15:28

In the interest of full disclosure, I should say that I am rereading a book for my next book group meeting. Little Women. grin

We reread Jane Eyre last year, many of us for the first time since we were teenagers. It certainly takes on a different meaning when you're older and hopefully wiser.

Fennel Thu 08-Feb-18 17:35:02

I re-read some of my favourites many times.
eg Pickwick Papers, 3 Men in a Boat/ on a Bummel, Diary of a Nobody, Short stories by I B Singer etc.
I intend to re-read Dr. Zhivago but haven't mustered up the energy yet.
I also love Chehkov's short stories, have them in various paperbacks, and re-read them often.

Sar53 Thu 08-Feb-18 17:55:44

My favourite book is 'Birdsong'by Sebastian Faulkes, the only book I have ever deliberately read more than once. I occasionally start a book and realise that I have read it before.

Daddima Thu 08-Feb-18 17:59:36

Because I speedread, I am happy to reread books, especially ones by Marian Keyes and Bill Bryson.
I’m always happy to read a Hercule Poirot murder!

Eloethan Thu 08-Feb-18 18:12:43

I've also re-read Anita Brookner's A Closed Eye and Brief Lives. Throughout her books there is an air of melancholy and rarely, if ever, a conventionlly "happy ending" but I find them very real in characterisation and so poignant.

She died in 2016 and I often wonder if that ever-present sense of melancholy and stoicism was a reflection of her own life.

BBbevan Thu 08-Feb-18 19:01:57

Many years ago someone gave me a book called 'The Source' by Leon Uris . It is about an archeological dig in Israel. I have read it four times now, albeit with several years between each reading. I will keep it always

Menopaws Thu 08-Feb-18 19:05:17

Love Dick Francis books, have read them over and over

phoenix Thu 08-Feb-18 19:38:55

I've reread "The Passion" and "Sexing The Cherry" by Jeanette Winterson many times, for the wonderful pictures she paints with words, and the words themselves.

Every time I visit the books again, I get more from them, even though they are not what you might call complicated.

Niobe Thu 08-Feb-18 19:59:25

I too have read Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice and Rebecca several times. Recently I read the Matthew Shardlake books by CJ Sansom for the second time and enjoyed them as much as at the first reading.

Nanabilly Thu 08-Feb-18 22:32:34

I have read David Niven`s book called "The moon's a balloon" 5 times, it is hilarious and the James Herriott trilogy 3 times.

Mapleleaf Fri 09-Feb-18 09:04:34

Yes, I sometimes re-read a book, more than just once on occasions.
I agree with mollie's sentiments.

MaizieD Fri 09-Feb-18 09:36:25

Gosh, yes. I re-read my books all the time! Sometimes for the sheer pleasure of the writing and sometimes when I just need to switch off with something that requires very little thought.

If I don't intend to re-read it at some time the book goes off to a charity shop (like my entire set of Game of Thrones which I will never want to wade through again much as I sort of enjoyed it the first time!)