Thursday, September 19, 2013

Thoughts on Rereading


I found this picture HERE
Up until a few months ago I didn’t quite get the point of rereading books. Near the beginning of the year I saw rereading books as an activity that seemed to waste time, that might be used doing other things, reading other books. Until recently I had only ever reread one book, and that was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, right before the final movies came out. It wasn’t until recently that I discovered some of the positive things that rereading books can do to readers, and I have found that rereading old favorites can be quite addicting.

More recently I have found an interest in rereading books more and more often; I think one of my first pushes to accepting that rereading can be a good thing was when I tried to pick up A Want So Wicked by Suzanne Young. It was a very difficult book to understand in the first place, and when I didn’t remember the few key clues to what was going on in the story, I realized I had no choice but to reread the first book. This is one of the more obvious reasons why rereading might be helpful, when continuing a series after a year or two of waiting. I don’t exactly like this reason behind rereading a book, especially if I wouldn’t have reread the book for any other reason, but it can be beneficial regardless. 

My most recent reread was of Divergent by Veronica Roth. I so glad that I reread this book, because I now remember why I loved it so much the first time I read it. I have a plan to read one of the Divergent books per month until the release date. I read Divergent in August, and I plan to read Insurgent this month before the release of Allegiant coming up. I didn’t realize it until recently, but learning to love an old favorite again can be one of the more fun experiences in reading. I loved being able to use my past knowledge and find famous quotes from the book in context, and relive famous scenes just because I want to. It’s such a refreshing experience. I can’t wait until I reread Insurgent later on- to have a chance to rediscover a treasure. 

Since discovering my love of reading old favorites, I have even started making a shelf on goodreads of all of the books I want to reread some day. It's very hard to stay away from them sometimes! I would love to hear of books you might be planning on rereading coming up, and if you have any thoughts on the matter.

2 comments:

  1. Re-reading is the only reason my husband doesn't have a fit whenever I bring another book home. I still re-read books from 30 years ago. Sometimes I'll read one of a series and it will bring back the whole series for me.

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  2. That's a great idea to make a shelf on goodreads! Even though it's hard to find time to reread my favorites when I have books I have to read for review I love it every time I do make time. I just reread Divergent and Insurgent and not only was it nice to have a refreasher before the next books come out but like you it reminded me how much I love them. Not to mention little things I didn't notice the first time around that are clues to later reveals in the book. Great post! I'm actually working on one dealing with this topic as well. :)

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