to reread or not to reread?

[Andy]

thinking about rereading a book I really enjoyed more than a decade ago, but not sure if it will seem as good now as it did to younger me
anyone have recommendations for books that stood the test of time and revisiting for you?
or ones that were better off left in the rose-tinted past?

in my case, considering Walden by Henry David Thoreau

[Colleen]

I don't usually reread a book but I have a few times and either liked as much if not more, Off the top of my head I have reread
Jamaica Inn
1984
A Christmas Carol
The Jungle
Great Expectations
and the only one that I still don't care for even more isGreat Expectations
I have never read Walden and I live near there lol but I think you should . I doubt that it will be a disappointment .

[Maria Hill]

I love rereading - 5/6 of my books last year where rereads . I expect with rereading Stephen King from the beginning that I will reread about 20 this year (12 King).

[Bookworm with Kids]

I used to reread a lot more than I do now. GRI has just given me more and more new books to read! My TBR pile is huge!! However, it is comforting to reread an old favourite at times. Sometimes when you go back and read a book after a long time, you discover new aspects to it that you didn't see before. I had to study Hard Times by Charles Dickens in school and hated it. I read it again years later (I don't know why!) and discovered a work of excellent comedy and biting satire. The other side is that you question why you thought it was a good book in the first place because you now think it isn't good.

[Patrick]

About one-quarter of my reading these days is re-reading. There are so many classics I read many years ago, especially at university, that I have not looked at since, and at age 59 I bring a lot more to them now, so I'm anxious to have those experiences again. However, there are also an infinity of good books that I need to read for the first time. As Nietzsche once aptly said, one has much to do!

[Patrick]

Bookworm with Kids wrote: "I used to reread a lot more than I do now. GRI has just given me more and more new books to read! My TBR pile is huge!! However, it is comforting to reread an old favourite at times. Sometimes when..."

Hard Times is SO underrated. It proves decisively that Dickens could tighten and harden his style when he wanted to. He was in complete control of his artistry.

[Allan]

I'm in a severe reading slump at the present time and think that a reread of a book that I love may well be the answer...

[Hans]

I hardly re-read a book at the moment as there are so many good books I have not read yet. My bookcases are full of new journeys to be travelled and new people to be met.

Also GR gives me plenty of new ideas to order form Amazon. So my TBR pile is increasing all the time. There's no time left to re-read a book.

[Phil]

I try to reread a couple everyyear, start off with the intention of having a reread as 1 in every 7 books i read. this works well for the first couple of months and then i lose my way.

The first book I read every year is a reread, this year was Lean On Pete by willy vlautin. for a while, it tended to be a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel as first reread (twice, this has been One Hundred Years of Solitude

Some rereads work out well, I was more intune with the book Man in the Dark, same with The Outsiders when rereading them while Hope by Glen Duncan was a disappointing reread unfortunately.

[Maria Hill]

Phil wrote: "I try to reread a couple everyyear, start off with the intention of having a reread as 1 in every 7 books i read. this works well for the first couple of months and then i lose my way.

The first b..."

Just wondering. Is there a particular reason to attempt one in seven?

I love to reread. While I agree there are more books than can ever be read; there is also more books than can ever be reread. The experience doesn't diminish with a reread. It's just different. Sometimes better and sometimes not as good as the original read. That is the reason I buy books - so I have them to reread in the future.

[Peter]

I have a compulsive problem with books in that I can't stop buying them and now the Kindle makes it so much easier. My first promise to myself is to read all the ones I bought and so have never totally reread a book. I tried rereading once and just felt - I've been here before and I know what happens.

Interesting to hear that you can get a different experience, so maybe someday!!

[Phil]

Maria wrote: "Just wondering. Is there a particular reason to attempt one in seven? ."

i didn't think i had a reason but thinking about it, i tend to pick 3 books from my to be read shelf to read next when i get to the last of my previous selection so it goes 2 cycles of 3 new books then a rereadp

[Maria Hill]

Phil wrote: "Maria wrote: "Just wondering. Is there a particular reason to attempt one in seven? ."

i didn't think i had a reason but thinking about it, i tend to pick 3 books from my to be read shelf to read ..."


Ah that makes sense. I normally have read a paperback (for the bus), a hardback (at home) and a audio (for on the go) at the same time. But it's gotten a bit complicated recently as I also have a couple of readalong books that will take a couple of months. So I am reading several at the same time :) At least one is a reread at all times.

[Ali]

I don't reread as much nowadays, as so many new books on TBR, and since joining GR the list grows practically on a daily basis...
But still have some that I love to delve in every so often and re-live the journey. I also have a few books that I might not bother reread fully but rather certain parts of the book.

If you considering rereading book that you read long ago, I'd say give it go. Might be interesting to see how/if your perception has changed since.

[Andy]

Ali wrote: "I don't reread as much nowadays, as so many new books on TBR, and since joining GR the list grows practically on a daily basis...
But still have some that I love to delve in every so often and re-l..."

have to agree here Ali, so many newly added TBR, can be hard to take the time to revisit an old favourite

[paul togher]

I reread all the time. I have favourites that I read every few years. I also love to reread a series every so often in advance of a new book (read all of Ace Atkins' Quinn Colson earlier this year in the run up to "The Shameless" and a few years ago, the first twenty Jack Reachers in sequence).
I go through fiction at a fair clip, I couldn't afford not to reread a bit

[Lissa]

I would be the same. Favourite characters are like old friends, I often miss them and feel the urge to meet up with them again. And sometimes, as with Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice) and Fred Archer (John Welcome) I felt so totally overwhelmed by the story I couldn't let go, so I just turned straight from last page to first page and reread at once! I also "reread" my own books, because I'm seeing them as someone else's book and reading them as a whole for the first time. Without picking them up as the completed published book, I would have only "read" them in progress while writing. It's good to go back to old haunts and old friends!