Re:Re-Reading

[jojajihisc]

Re: Re-Reading

I've always considered re-reading certain books but the thought that while doing so I could be reading something completely new to me always wins out. For me it's more about new titles and new authors than it is about appreciating the best books more than once.

 

[Rosemary]

Re: Re-Reading

I enjoy re-reading my favourite books while waiting for the next volume in a series I am waiting for. Or I will read the previous book, so that the series flows smoothly.

Those that I have read and really didn't enjoy are donated to the library but it's been a number of years since I had to do that.

 

[thepaladin]

Re: Re-Reading

I've said that before Urlik, a favorite book is like going back to a favorite vacation spot or going to see an old and dear friend. I have somewhere over a thousand books (I stopped counting ). I even keep extras of some books, the ones I recommend a lot and think I might want to "loan" to people. I've "given away" several volumes of The Deed of Paksenarrion. Somehow loans tend to turn into "gifts". But I expect it going in now. I once bough a copy of Bad Monkeys to replace the one I'd "loaned out" only to have the "loaner" returned. My friend had found it under a stack of books.

 

[AE35Unit]

Re: Re-Re-Reading

I think it should be made obligatory that every person who replies in this thread should add a Re to the subject line, watch it grow....

 

[Moggle]

Re: Re-Reading

I own a couple of hundred or sobooks. Not a massive collection by any stretch of the imagination. Whereas in the past I always borrowed from the library , I tend now to buy due to the reasonable cost of books from webstores like Play.

What I've realised however is that I have hardly re-read any of them. With the odd exception of my all time favourites The Hobbit and LOTR , the number of books I have read on more than one occasion is only a fraction of those I own. As far as reading twice through, (again excluding JRR Tolkein) -probably only two or three (HHGTTG , 1984 and Red Storm Rising are 3 that spring to mind).I tend to read them once every few years when I have 'forgotten' much of the content)

It seems to me that there are far too many new novels being released , and so many classics I haven't yet read to spend my reading time going over stories I am already familiar with.

Just because something is a classic doesn't mean you have to read it or that you will even like it and you certainly don't need to read every single "classic" out there. I've only started reading less than a year ago and I've read over a dozen old classics, the great majority of which were ok at best! If you've been reading most of your life it's hard for me to imagine you wouldn't have covered most of the classics by now anyway.

 

[cornelius]

Re: Re-Reading

There are some fantasy series that are so dense with detailed information that a reread is almost a necessity. I've reread LotR (+ Hobbit and Silmarillion) multiple times. I'm now rereading the Malazan books - I'm amazed at all the things I missed the first time. I actually think some books are better the second time around, once you have the jist of the story, you are not focusing on the forrest as much as the trees.
Another reason that I like rereads is my retention seems poorer now that I'm older. Sometimes I've forgotten so much it's like reading it for the first time.

I can follow you both on the Silmarillion and the rereading of the Malazan books. But I must admit i've only read the first two, they only translated those the first time around, and now the new (but flawed) translations cover the first three, and I hope they will keep coming

 

[j d worthington]

Re: Re-Reading

Just because something is a classic doesn't mean you have to read it or that you will even like it and you certainly don't need to read every single "classic" out there. I've only started reading less than a year ago and I've read over a dozen old classics, the great majority of which were ok at best! If you've been reading most of your life it's hard for me to imagine you wouldn't have covered most of the classics by now anyway.

No offense meant, but if you've only started reading that recently, I'm afraid you have no idea just how many genuine classics are out there, let alone things which are "classics" in the various genres. I've been reading for the past 46+ years, and what I've managed to read -- and I began reading with Poe, once I got past the "little kids" books -- would barely make (to appropriate a phrase from Dickens) "but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean" of the classics.

Also, the more you read, and the more widely you read, the more you're likely to find that those classics -- assuming you mean in the general, rather than generic, sense -- which you find "just ok at best" tend to grow with you over the years. The older you grow, the more you learn, and the more life experience you have, the more you'll find in them -- things that were always there, but which simply may not have struck you at the time. That's one of the things that makes them classics.

At any rate, welcome to the world of books; in a way, I envy you, as you have soooooo much that's really wonderful out there to discover....

 

[reiver33]

Re: Re-Reading

I had to ditch most of my books when selling up and moving a few years back, and my second wife isn't too keen on me cluttering up her house.

I've re-read 'Only Forward', 'Metropolitan', 'City On Fire' and 'Days of Atonement' recently - from the small selection I have (80-100), and I was prompted to pick up LOTR again when the first film came out, but just couldn't get back into it for some reason.

Off-topic (sff) I re-read both 'Polar Star' and 'Stallions Gate' while on holiday, but I'm so used to them now I find myself skimming.

 

[thepaladin]

Re: Re-Reading

Wow...what a scary thought. Your wife doesn't want you to have books as it will clutter her house......Trouble dude.

 

[Esioul]

Re: Re-Reading

I always re-read a good book.. sometimes I am lazy though and rather looking for a new book (which is expensive) I will just keep re-reading the ones I have...