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Do You Re-Read?
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Sometimes I'll reread a book before the a new volume in a series comes out, or sometimes I'll reread a book just because I really like it and I've had some poor luck with the recent books I've read (like a palette cleanser). Also, if I read a book for free online and then buy the physical edition once it's published, I'll reread it once I have the physical edition.
I re-read books a lot, mostly my favorite or those that fit the mood I am into. It's also something that helps when I am in, what I call, book-saturated state.
JasonReads wrote: "If it's a book that I really enjoyed the first time, then I generally do. I've read Magician: Apprentice and Master by Feist, and Storm Front by Butcher three times apiece. I plan on adding Ender's..."i love your explanation. i call them comfort reads. I also have re read Feist series, but also lie the empire one. Enders game is great, shame about the film, but who wrote Old man"s war, sounds like i would like it
Old Man's War is by John Scalzi. It is the first book in a series generally called by that name. I thought they were very good and recommend them.
Creed wrote: "I never reread."Why no rereads?
I guess to each their own. I reread books quite often. I used to reread Dune every year up until 3-4 years ago. I don't why I stopped. I guess I just didn't make the time. I hope to get back to that this year.I reread Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy throughout grad school to help keep me sane.
I currently am rereading the whole Murderbot Diairies, as well as Witch King also by Martha Wells, while I undergo treatment for cancer. These have been my comfort reads.
There have been a few books I loved so much that I immediately reread them after finishing them the first time. Aside from Murderbot, recent ones have been Homeland by RA Salvatore and This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
CJ wrote: "I guess to each their own. I reread books quite often. I used to reread Dune every year up until 3-4 years ago. I don't why I stopped. I guess I just didn't make the time. I hope to get back to tha..."CJ I too find that some books bring comfort and put you in a good place. I find myself rereading because I just cannot get enough of the book or sometimes so I can understand it or figure out what i missed if the plot is particularly intricate.
Tara wrote: "CJ I too find that some books bring comfort and put you in a good place. I find myself rereading because I just cannot get enough of the book ..."Same thing here! I am actually rereading the first installment of the Dune series for weeks now, and I found myself surprised that even some of the major events of the book I have already forgotten. I also found comfort in them knowing that I already had the gist of the whole series, so diving into them was more like paying more attention to details and intricacies.
Creed wrote: "Tara wrote: “Why no rereads?” Because what’s the point? You’ve read the book. You know everything that will happen. I would only reread something if I wanted to become a nerd on the subject. Whic..."
I often re-read (I probably already said that in this thread) books when a new book in a series comes out to refresh my memory of the characters and events leading up to the current book
Creed wrote: "@CBRetrieverOkay, fair point. God, I might actually need to do that with the fifth Percy Jackson book so I can read the sixth and seventh ones that apparently exist. Or maybe not. I’ll probably j..."
I will have to re-read George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones books and Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles books when, and if, the next book in those series comes out. It's been far too long since I've read those books.
However, for more prolific writers who produce at book every 12-18 months I usually don't need to re-red them
I basically never re-read. There’s so much new stuff why would I spend my time in old books instead of new?
I don't often - as I have seen a lot of people saying above, there's so much I haven't read yet that I always feel a bit bad going back to books I already know.Exceptions are when I need to refresh my memory for a new addition to a series (looking at you, Robert Jordan) and absolute favourites that I haven't read for years and find myself missing.
Someone recommended taking December each year for rereads and I actually quite like that idea. But with 123 books on my *physical* TBR right now, I will have to argue hard to justify it 😅
I never used to re-read, but in the last few years, I've had a sea change of opinion. Of course the book doesn't change over time, but YOU change. You may need to get a little age on you to experience those changes, or have some life-changing experience(s) that speed it up, but you may come back to a book and find that you read it completely differently - maybe you have a drastically different opinion of a character than you had the first time Or your reaction to the book is the same, but deeper. That isn't true for every book - but I think books that really dive into what it means to be human - those may be the ones that goose you into noticing that you've changed. In fact, maybe you wouldn't have realized how much you've changed until you re-read the book.
I haven't done it yet, but I'd also re-read a book that was just so much damn fun that I want to get on the ride again.
All that said, I still suffer from FOMO that I'll miss a great book (no time to waste!) so I don't re-read a lot, but every time I do, I realize that the experience was worth 10 new-to-me books that were ok to decent, but not really good or great.
I’m in Nadine’s camp. I never used to reread books, because there are so many others I really want to read (FOMO!), but I did use to read one of my favorite books (Fahrenheit 451) every couple of years, but I haven’t done that in a while. Now, the past couple of years I’ve started rereading books by Ursula k LeGuin and continue to be astounded by them anew. I also started to reread (or rather listen to the audio books, the narrator of which I can’t stand actually!) the Realms of the Elderlings. I read each one as it came out and already then couldn’t remember certain details, but better than being reminded of details, I have also found there were details in those early books, which I hadn’t even known to take notice of, that don’t even come to fruition until later books. It is a true delight to reread them. I have also really enjoyed rereading books I loved as a child as I read them to my son. My point is, there is a point to rereading books, for just the reasons others have mentioned.
I re-read my favorites... whether a series or standalone.Let's see, if a new book comes out say a year or two after the last book I read in a series, I might re-read the entire series. Another one, a series is written with spin-off series I will read all the books again in the order they are meant to be read rather than the order of release because you might catch something you might have missed.
I also read books again if I like them.
I often re-read. There are some wonderful authors, whose stories just sweep you up into them, and despite knowing the outcome, they're still absolutely marvellous. Characters become old friends, and sometimes, when I need to relax, and undemanding old read is really comforting.
And I often re-read via audiobook, which is a whole new way of experiencing the story.
I re-read, but not immediately. I wait until nothing interests me or when I just feel I need a book I know I will love. I tend to get very involved with well-written characters and I tend to want to go back and visit them.
I don't normally re-read just for fun, but I will go back and re-read if it's been a while between a book and a new one coming out in a series!
I often re-read fantasy books whose authors have a great writing style (like Patricia McKillip, Barbara Hambly or Tanith Lee). Their books are like beautiful music. Reading them is like listening to a favourite song over and over again.
i have been collecting books since the 1980's. So often when i am sick of the books in the library etc i re read my own books. i have about 800 books and always bought the complete seriesNow i have a kindle i am trying to get some of my fav series but it is an expensive thing.
And I am also spending a lot of time checking to see if the author whose series i have been following has another book out
Kateb wrote: "i have been collecting books since the 1980's. So often when i am sick of the books in the library etc i re read my own books. i have about 800 books and always bought the complete seriesNow i ha..."
If you sign up at fantasticfiction.com, (it's free), they'll email you when one of your favorite authors publishes a new book. It's much easier!
i belonged to fictfact, or was it fact fict years ago. is this like that
thanks i have joined , now to put all the hundreds of authors i like ha ha ha
Kateb wrote: "thanks i have joined , now to put all the hundreds of authors i like ha ha ha"There's always a downside 😂
Michelle wrote: "If you sign up at fantasticfiction.com, (it's free), they'll email you when one of your favorite authors publishes a new book. It's much easier!"do they let you know when one of the back catalog of an author's books is released in digital version? I'm waiting on Louise Cooper's Indigo series and several Charles de Lint's books to be released in digital format.
I'm sorry- don't know. Under a given author the works show. I haven't looked to see if new ebook releases are considered just published!
Michelle wrote: "I'm sorry- don't know. Under a given author the works show. I haven't looked to see if new ebook releases are considered just published!"on Amazon and Goodreads the publication date of a digital edition is not the same as the original publication date of a book as show here:
704 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2002
Original title
City of Saints and Madmen
Series
Ambergris (#1)
This edition
Format
704 pages, Kindle Edition
Published
May 8, 2014 by Tor
It can't hurt to try it. Maybe the digital release will generate an email to you.
Michelle wrote: "It can't hurt to try it. Maybe the digital release will generate an email to you."we'll see. I find the 70s-90s paperback books often don't have digital equivalents
There’s also eReaderIQ.com or uk.eReaderIQ.co.uk, which you can set up to trigger an email to you if a book by a favorite author reaches a certain lower threshold. So if an author you’ve opted to track has a book the price of which has gone down to $.99 you will get an email if you have it set up for “when the price goes below $?? (whatever)”.
DivaDiane wrote: "There’s also eReaderIQ.com or uk.eReaderIQ.co.uk, which you can set up to trigger an email to you if a book by a favorite author reaches a certain lower threshold. So if an author you’ve opted to t..."I use that (US) all the time and have over 200 books waiting there
CBRetriever wrote: "I continued to like Arya, disliked Sansa and thought Danerys was a hormone driven teenager w/o a speck of common sense to her."Your statements about these characters are exactly the same as mine. But strangely enough, my impressions were the same when I first read the books, and they haven't changed much since then. The funny thing is that I was 13 myself (i.e. a teenager) when I first read A Game of Thrones.
Nevertheless, and this is what I appreciate most about fantasy books, George Martin has managed to create a well-constructed imaginary world and describe it very vividly.
Sarah wrote: "The Hobbit is definitely not one I'm willing to endure again."HA! Honestly, I'm with you. It bored me to tears. Sorry to Hobbit fans :)
Simon wrote: "Sarah wrote: "The Hobbit is definitely not one I'm willing to endure again."HA! Honestly, I'm with you. It bored me to tears. Sorry to Hobbit fans :)"
book was OK, movie was too much
i read the Hobbit as a teenager , it was a novelty , not so much these days
CBRetriever wrote: "Simon wrote: "Sarah wrote: "The Hobbit is definitely not one I'm willing to endure again."HA! Honestly, I'm with you. It bored me to tears. Sorry to Hobbit fans :)"
book was OK, movie was too much"
The book was a different genre from The Lord of the Rings. Trying to make it both into LOTR AND a movie was too much.
Absolutely. One of the fabulous things about getting really old, is you can go back a reread a book and find you have entirely forgotten much of it from twenty years ago or more. I first read Stranger in a Strange Land in the 70's. Loved it. I have gone back and reread it several times now and still love it every time.
I absolutely reread. I try to only keep books that either are 4 stars on their own or part of a really good series and I want them for completeness. Mostly I buy used books and then don;t feel bad if they don't end up getting shelved in the permanent collection,
I would if I had more time. Needing a house and yard slave so I have more time.
SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
The Lord of the Rings (other topics)Old Man's War (other topics)
Casino Royale (other topics)
Orlando (other topics)
Underworld (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Marlon James (other topics)Jennifer Roberson (other topics)
Adrian Tchaikovsky (other topics)
George R.R. Martin (other topics)
Philip K. Dick (other topics)
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If I recall correctly, I've re-read . . . maybe 6 books."
So, in 2015 I mentioned having re-read maybe 6 books. As of today, I've reread 105 books. 10 of them I've reread twice (as in I've read the book 3 times), and 2 of them I've reread three times (or thrice; as in I've read the book 4 times). Then, of course, there's The Raven and Princess Bride, mentioned in the 2015 post, as works I've reread many many times.
Hmm. That number count is from shelves. Not sure it is completely accurate.
In terms of Science Fiction/Fantasy: I've read each book in one series three times each. The 5 book Past Imperfect series. A fanfiction series based on Star Trek Voyager.