Rereading Books

When I was young, I owned a limited amount of books. I would reread the ones I had numerous times, some of them becoming quite battered in the process. Even library visits usually ended with bringing books I had read before home so I could read them again. I can’t quite recall how many times I’ve read the Griezelbus series by Paul van Loon, Het Wolfsvel by Ton van Reen, or Ronia the Robber’s Daughter by Astrid Lindgren.

As I grew older, however, things changed. I got an income, so I could buy more books. Eventually, this turned into a problem I’m sure most of us are familiar with: an endless TBR pile. Things grew worse when I discovered GoodReads and its annual reading challenges. As an English major, I had to read a ton of books for university as well. In general, life got busier and busier. I began to grow less inclined to pick up a book I had already read. Sure, I meant to reread all of the Harry Potter books or the entire Temeraire series, but somehow I rarely get around to revisiting my favourite novels.

There are, of course, exceptions. Last year, I ended up rereading The Hunger Games trilogy for an essay, and I discovered that I liked the series much more on my second reading. I wrote my master thesis about Le Morte D’Arthur and The Warlord Chronicles, both of which required me to reread them. I loved to do so! Rereading Malory’s medieval text was so much more rewarding now that I’m more familiar with Arthurian fiction. The Warlord Chronicles is my favourite book series, and it was awesome to revisit it, to see details and foreshadowing I had initially missed on my first read.

These exceptions drive home the reason of why it’s so nice to reread a book. You pick up details you might have missed, sometimes certain (life) experiences make a revisit more rewarding, and sometimes you appreciate a book better on your second reading. When a sequel comes out, it’s also nice to refresh your memory. With that in mind, it’s a shame that I don’t dedicate as much time to rereading books.

GoodReads has finally added a reread function, however, so at least that’s no longer an excuse. Rereads even count for my reading challenge, so hopefully I’ll revisit my favourite novels soon! Now it’s just the daunting TBR pile that’s in the way…

So, what about you? Do you reread books? How often? Your experiences? Feel free to share in the comments!

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