Rereading a book
Sorry if its been done before. Please say and I will delete.Does any one read a book more than once. Its something I do not do. Movies I can watch over and over again. But books seem to be a different matter to me. I have been thinking about reading Steven Kings It for the second time. First time was many years ago. But I am unsure if I will get anything out of it. I re-read my favourite books over and over, including, as it happens, It and The Stand.Mind you, there are lots, so it's not more than say once every couple of years for any one book.I get as much pleasure from watching the story unfold, even though I'm familiar with every word, as I did on first reading.Oddly, with films it's less so, though I'm quite happy watching old films on TV when they come round again. That's why I have hundreds of books but very few films on DVD.I'm quite happy to wait for a favourite film to come round again on TV.
My mother was different.I've known her start a library book, enjoy it thoroughly, realise halfway through that she's read it before, and be unable to go on with it.
Now I've got a Kindle, I'm having to re-buy some of my favourites in ebook format.It's a bit annoying, but I can live with it.
Incidentally, I can watch repeats of old TV programmes such as Morse or Silent Witness more readily than films. I tried not to last year, but yes, all the time. Whilst knowing the ending, the journey there is sometimes not remembered as well. I have re-read a few of my books a dozen times or more and wont stop there, although as mentioned, I am trying to limit it and find new authors. Sometimes the third part of a trilogy comes out and you want to re-read the others to be perfectly fresh in your mind the characters and setting. Yes plenty of times in the past but not so much the past few years. I've thought about this myself and wondered why I don't bother to re-read a stories anymore and I honestly don't know why. There are a few I would still go back to without any real hesitation as long as I hadn't read them in a while.
Most of Gemmells
Most of McCammons
The Necroscope series
The Magician series (the first 5 anyway)
Robert E Howards Conan books
There's lots more I've re-read down the years that I would also read again. However, I think now I have a Kindle and am overwhelmed with choice to read something new, that may be something to do with it.
Here's another question: Does anyone read more than one book (novel) at the same time or can they only put the concentration into one? Last month i was reading Clive Cusslers latest, Dan Browns Inferno and The Hot Zone, all at the same time...... The missus couldn't understand how I could remember each storyline with 3 plots going on data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 I have a few favourite books i like to re-read.Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman being amy all-time favourite, closleey followed by Pratchetts Lords and Ladies.
I do read more than one book at once too, but i have found that they have to be different genres.I tried reading The blade Itself and The Assasins Apprentice at the same time and got myslef very confused.But have had no problems with The Blade Itself and Rivers of London together and now Wild Cards.
But now i have finished The Blade Itself i can pick up The Assasins Apprentice again. There's a few books I've read more than once - in each case I've found I've come across something I don't remember from the fist time round.
I find I can't read 2 books of the same type at the same time (say, 2 novels), but I can read a novel and, say, a biography.
In fact a couple of times I'e had 3 on the go; a novel, a biography and a text-book while studying for an exam... Wow. Theres no way I could do 3 at once. Whenever I try and do 2
I always gravitate towards the one and end up reading just that. Before going back to pick up on the second again. Lords and Ladies was the second Discworld book I read, after Sourcery, for a school project more years ago than I care to remember. I've read it two or three times again since, and it remains my favourite Pratchett book, or possibly second behind Thief of Time (which would make a cracking film). Like a good film, there's something new or some reference you get each time, when you hadn't spotted it before.
There are some books I'd never read again, and some I would. I read and re-read the Adrian Mole books constantly in my teens. I re-read graphic novels, especially if I've got another in a series and need to remind myself what's going on.
I find it difficult to compare re-reading books and re-watching films, as a film takes a couple of hours, tops. Reading a book is a bigger commitment, time-wise. To be honest I never looked at it like that. You are right definately a bigger commitment time wise. I don't re read books , normally finish it and pass it on for someone else. there is so much out there to read I see it as a waste of time, which I really don't get enough of to be wasting these days data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
but if you have the time and you enjoyed it first time round then why not