Why I re-read novels and recommend it!
Books don’t change, but our perspective does
“Besides, rereading, not reading, is what counts.” Jorge Luis Borges.
People are always surprised when I tell them I reread books. My TBR pile is infinite, or at least it feels that way. So why? Why do I spend my limited reading capacity on books I have already read?
The truth is I’ve been rereading favorites since I can remember. It’s always felt natural. If I try to analyze it, I think I did it in part to fall back into the stories I loved, to reencounter the characters I cared for. I guess there was also a nerdier side to it, I loved the way the author had constructed that world, guided the stories, and crafted those sentences, and in rereading I could see the details more clearly and maybe hoped seeing it would help me emulate it in my own stories. Since those first rereadings I’ve gotten other things from rereading books: it can bring comfort, it can be a necessary refresher before the next book in the series comes out, it can be an opportunity to find something different.
“When people reread books, it seems to be often for one of these reasons: comfort (the familiarity of a book well-loved), intellectual pursuit (…), or a singular unexplainable love (one reader wrote about Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke: “if we’re going to get technical I’ve never stopped reading JS&MN, I just start at the beginning again when I finish it.”)[1]
Comfort, intellectual pursuit, singular unexplainable love, and maybe self-reflection too. There is familiarity in re-reading a well-loved book, but there’s also something else. Books are different every time we read them because we are different every time we read them.
Books don’t change, but our perspective does
‘I’m serious!’ I say, throwing a cushion at him. ‘Tom is so blinded by who he wants Summer to be that he can’t see who she really is. Watch it again in a few years and I guarantee your perspective will change.’
‘But the story won’t change.’
‘It doesn’t have to,’ I say, ‘because you will.’
This is a snippet of dialogue from Out of Love by Hazel Hayes, where the characters are discussing 500 days of Summer. Movies, books… stories, they are not finite units. We understand stories in relation to our own experiences and questions.
“A book is more than a verbal structure or series of verbal structures; it is the dialogue it establishes with its reader and the intonation it imposes upon his voice and the changing and durable images it leaves in his memory. A book is not an isolated being: it is a relationship, an axis of innumerable relationships.” Jorge Luis Borges.
Sometimes I’ll dive into a favorite book and remember what music I was listening to, what season it was, where I was, and what I was worried about the last time I read it.
Sometimes I’ll pick up a book I’ve read before and discover a new line, or perspective, something that was there before but hadn’t resonated.
Sometimes I’ll reread a book and pause at the exact same place that got me the first time. Other times, I’ll reread a book and empathize with an entirely different character than the one I related to on my first read.
I love falling in love with a new story. I’ll never stop poring over book recommendations, browsing bookstores, and building my already-too-long TBR pile. But, my TBR pile always has room for old faves.
Books are infinite because we are.
As a reader, I reread for comfort, singular unexplainable love, and self-reflection.
As a writer, I reread to immerse myself in the words that I love, to hopefully get closer to the style and skill that created a story that resonated.
Some books I’ve reread over the years
- Inkheart by Cornelia Funke — a childhood favorite. I dove into that universe multiple times. I loved that books and words were literally magic.
- The Great Gatsby by Scott F Fitgerald — I read it for leisure, and then for school, and then a couple of times after that. I’m a sucker for the underdogs and outsiders looking in, but there’s also something about the scenes and images in that novel that I can’t get enough of.
- Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris — I love the nostalgic brush Harris has in this one. To be honest, I don’t know why I started rereading it, but I’ve found something different each time, and now reread it every couple of summers.
- Siddhartha by Herman Hesse — Each time I reread it, I “get stuck” at different points in the journey.
Some books I want to reread (and why)
- The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue by V.E. Schwab — This is one of my favorite books from this year. Each sentence was a joy to read, I would reread it to enjoy the style alone. On top of that, I fell in love with the story and characters.
- Free Food For Millionaires by Min Jin Lee — This is one of my favorite books from last year. I hated parting ways with the characters and look forward to rereading it.
- Normal People by Sally Rooney — Rooney has a pretty unique voice, and I’ve yet to encounter another author who so accurately captures the miscommunications in conversations. The nerdy writer in me hopes a second look will help me write better conversations too.
- Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling — If you loved these books and read them as they were coming out, you’ve probably entertained the notion of rereading them at some point, right? Back then I was reading to find out what happened next, I feel like I’ll discover lots more details when rereading.
- Northern Lights by Philip Pullman — I feel like it’s one of those books that has multiple reading levels. As a kid, it’s a crazy fantasy, but it also poses some philosophical questions. Curious to see what I make of it now.
- The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss — mostly because by the time the final one comes out I won’t remember anything
- Solitaire by Jostein Gaarder — I read this when I was younger, and I remember it blew my mind at the time. Curious to see what I make of it now.
Are there any books you’ve reread? Let me know! Always looking for new book recs ;)
References
More articles on the joys of rereading…
- 📄 “On the particular pleasures of re-reading” (2021, July 16) Penguin Random House. https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2021/07/re-reading-books-again-returning-literacy
- 📄 “Johanna Golden: 15 Authors Tell Us Which Book They’d Choose to Read for the Rest of Their Lives.” (2021, May 25) https://www.bookbub.com/blog/books-recommended-by-bestselling-authors?position=0&source=multicontent&target=title
- “Roy Peter Clark: Rereading The Great Gatsby Will Turn You Into a Superfan” (2016, August 29) https://medium.com/@penguinrandomus/rereading-the-great-gatsby-will-turn-you-into-a-superfan-7189374a72e0
- 📄 If you are a rereader you might enjoy: “K.W. Colyard: The 11 Stages Of Rereading Your Favorite Book.” (2015, July 7) https://www.bustle.com/articles/95459-the-11-stages-of-rereading-your-favorite-book-because-sometimes-you-just-need-to-go-there
