Literature

I re-read books frequently. But then, I am a fast and voracious reader. I've recently been trimming down my library from around 7000 books due to an upcoming move, and there's a hardcore of about 2000 I'm unwilling to get rid of because they're either reference materials or old friends I expect to re-read before I die. There are some things (LOTR, much Heinlein, Oz books, Alice in Wonderland...) that I've read a dozen times or more.

I do re-read some non-fiction, mainly history. But most of my well-worn books are fiction.

I typically re-read the LOTR, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion once a year. Well, The Silmarillion is once every two years because, whew, it is a dense one.

Definitely. There are books that have hit me differently as I’ve grown. :)

Sometimes - Dune before the release of film.

But usually rereading books in en when I read translated version before.

I had to reread Good omens because teacher said that it is necessary to read translated version.

I only reread my so-called "comfort books". Whenever I feel like I'm having a hard time in my life I grab my Dune or my Foundation and feel amazing for a little while, being immersed in these worlds I love so much.

I'm on my third Sanderson Cosmere reread... So yes :D

Oh definitely. I've read the Dark Tower series by Stephen king 3 times! There are others, but that's probably my top

Most books only once, a few a couple of times, and my favorites multiple times.

There are a few books and series that I go back to every couple of years - they’re my old dependables when I want to sink into a story that I know I’ll enjoy.

I definitely reread my favorite series. The thing about re-reading a book is that you don't actually ever get the full experience the first time around. Well-written books are full of foreshadowing, not just of plot points, but themes. The first time you read a book, you don't really know what it's about yet, what the book will eventually decide is it's overall thesis, and where the characters' journeys will take them. Critical moments that shift the trajectory of a story may happen quietly, only important in retrospect.

When you read a book a second or a third time you get to do so with all of the context of where the story is going, and it lets you catch so much more.

This example is from television, but The Good Place is my favorite show, and (spoilers) one of its central theses ends up being the modern world makes unethical choices unavoidable.

Very early on in the show we get a scene of Eleanor making fun of her boyfriend when he says they should find a new coffee shop, after the owner of their current one is outed as a sexist pig. She lists a bunch of other products they buy like smartphones and sports games and says that bad stuff is unavoidable so why bother?

At that point in the show, the scene is just a way to show you what a dirt bag Eleanor was on earth. But on a seconds viewing, with foresight, you can clock it laying early groundwork for one of the main arguments that the show wants to make.

This is one of the reasons I don't mind getting spoiled on stuff, and in some cases will spoil myself on purpose. When you know how the story ends, you get to pick up all the little things it does to get there, without reading or watching it twice. I went to film school and am a bit of a story nerd so for me that's the most enjoyable part of watching someone else tell their story.

Oh heck yes, probably more than I should. I have a shelf next to my bed of my most frequently re-read books (novels, a few short story volumes) and honestly the last few years those are almost all I have read

Yes! I love to reread my favorites. It's like visiting old friends. Pride and Prejudice, Lord of the Rings, the Wheel of Time, Matilda, Watership Down. Can you look at a favorite painting too much? That's how it feels to me- another visit to a beautiful work of art.

But when digital library isn't a thing, I would keep re-reading Dragonlance and Wheel of Time over and over. I do still re-read books, but only when I can't find anything good.

I find myself going on jags of rereading. I always have something new that I'm reading with some others in the wings, but sometimes I get an itch to reread books. Usually I'll pick up an old Vonnegut novel, for example, and realize how much I've missed his style and message. That leads me to binge several more of an authors books.

Almost never, at this point. I feel like I must be a pretty slow reader. I get through maybe 20 books a year right now. (This does not include all the kids books I read with my kid. We read together every night. Currently in early chapter books. Longer books it’s hard to keep his interest more than a few nights in a row).

But at my current pace it would take 10 years just to go through everything I own and want to read.

Very very rarely. I don't really re-consume media at all though. I don't particularly enjoy rewatching movies unless they are my absolute favorites. I don't like rewatching shows. I easily get burnt out on music, and will even go months without listening to my favorites because I've heard them too much.

I love to read, but I'm much more likely to find a new book than re-read one.

Yeah, I've actually reread several series usually with a year or more in between readings. I like it because it helps me solidify the book into memory more and it allows me to see all the little details the author hid that I may have not picked up on in previous readings.
Also my memory isn't always the best so I get to relive some of the fun parts that I don't remember after the gap between readings

Of course I do.

I go through several phases: sometimes I am busy reading new books, and other times I am in "reread" mode. This happens for novels and essays as well. I have always been doing that, since I was a kid, and there are books that I have been re-reading since then.

And this is without even mentioning poetry which, in my experience, expects to be read multiple times (in no small part due to the same processes by which we enjoy music - based on repetition and familiarity).

Very often, honestly. I'll sometimes just remember scenes from a book I really liked and go back and read the surrounding text... too often that turns into a full reread.

I'm a serial monogamist with novels. Three, four, five reads, and then I'll move on to the next one once someone "borrows" it.

No, I can't remember ever doing that (outside study purposes). For me the joy is thinking about what could happen and see if the story unfolds that way and being able to get surprised when there's a plottwist.
But maybe I should try it once just to see if I missed some references or ques

I never seem to finish if I try to reread something.

I almost never re-read books. I suppose if it has been a really long time - like 15 or 20 yrs - and I loved the book, then I'm not against the idea.

This is probably because one of the things I love about reading most is not knowing where things are going to go. Hence why I like a lot of suspense/thriller type stories.

In general I don’t reread books. However, there have been a couple of exceptions. The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe is one I find myself returning to every few years. It’s just a marvelous work.

Sometimes. I occasionally reread books I loved when I was younger. Mixed results though....

Like Robin Hobb and the Assassin's series? I appreciate it much more as an adult.

But then I reread some Xanth... Ya that should have stayed in memory lane.

generally: no, unless they have something worth repeatedly highlighting or internalizing. i think this is mostly a function of being a non-fiction reader, though, where re-reading wouldn't typically be a thing you do for pleasure so much as retaining the information at all and synthesizing it with other stuff.

@TimTheEnchanter the only book(s) I re-read is The Lord of the Rings.

Sometimes. I reread a few books from my childhood because I wanted to reframe them

I reread a few because I forgot I read them (Michael crichtons pirate latitudes and John irvings a widow for one year are two that I've completely forgotten)

I reread Ulysses 3 more times and I still don't get it. I just don't think I know enough about Europe and catholicism to really get the jokes. I took a class In college on the illiad and the odyssey and it was not enough to understand.

I know they're not the only ones, but the only books I recall reading more than once are Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth and it's first sequel World Without End. I haven't read the second sequel or the prequel yet, though.

Yes, with a 10 year gap. There are too many good books to read to reread the ones I liked on the first read. Always reread the classics first.

Yes, but rarely enough that the instances stand out in my mind. I've read LOTR a couple of times, The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Martian by Andy Weir, a textbook called Art and Visual Perception because I am a fucking nerd. It's very likely that I'll read Midnight in Chernobyl again, Spillover by David Quammen (predicted the Covid pandemic 10 years early!), and anything by Erik Larson or James Gleick. Those books are great.

But LOTR is the only fiction I've ever read more than once

I do, usually because I'm at a point where I just want to read something but don't have a new book in mind.

Some books are better than others for this though - for example I found Gardens of the Moon rewarded a re read a while after finishing the Malazan series because I actually understood a lot more of what was going on.

I have done before, but not often. I’ll reread something if I can remember enjoying it but can’t remember why

Yes.

Sometimes it's because I'm sure there are depths and nuances that I missed before, so I want to go through it again to pick up additional things. And there have even been times that I've done that immediately - gone straight from the end back to the beginning.

Sometimes it's because I remember enjoying a book but I don't remember much of the details, so I get the urge to reread it to enjoy it again and refresh myself on the details.

And sometimes it's just a world or characters that I love, so it's like taking a vacation to visit old friends.

I reread great books frequently, good books occasionally, and mediocre to poor books not at all. But I'm lucky: although I have a great memory, I can reread a book and get as much enjoyment or more from it as the first time.

I never understood rereading books. There is so much content in the world, so many books, and reading is time consuming; why reread when you can read something new? I don't get much from rereading because I already have most of the plotpoints at the tip of my tongue so nothing really wows me anymore about, as much as I wish I could relive my first time with them.

There are some books I read every five years or so. Every new read resonates differently and kind of helps me figure out where I'm at now. I just feel them so much. They're:

• Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino
• Soul Mountain - Gao Xingjian
• The Abyss - Marguerite Yourcenar
• Fictions - Jorge Luis Borges

I only reread books I really love like ASOIAF, Stormlight, and Malazan.

I reread if I really liked something and once such a long time has passed that I forgot 90% of it. My memory isn‘t great, so I think at least 7 years maybe is when that happens.