Are You a Re-Reader?
Some books demand a rereading. What books have you met that you need to see again? What book is so dear to you that it would never wind up at your garage sale?
Author and columnist Stephen Marche hits the nail on the head when he says that "You can be acquaintances with many books, and friends with a few, but family with only one or two." He coined the clever term centireading: reading a book ONE HUNDRED times! Marche literally read William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" 100 times for his dissertation at the University of Toronto and P.G. Wodehouse's "The Inimitable Jeeves" 100 times, purely for comfort. A special thing happens when you come to know a book so intimately that the clichés sound natural.
There are passages that will always resonate with you, which might explain why re-readers tend to keep books near, like good friends. Perhaps they even dog-ear their treasures as a sign of love and to keep words readily available, rather than an act of book abuse.
I have met many patrons who returned to the library after a long hiatus, simply to find a book they remember fondly from the past.
Maybe the act of rereading germinates in youth. It's not uncommon for little ones to request the same bedtime story over and over and over again. Why do we stop? Join the ranks of adults who share the wonderful lessons they learn from rereading books from childhood. Just as many quality re-readables are from high school.
I'm not going to provide a quiz on how you rate as a re-reader, but if this topic interests you, take a look at:
1. The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma / 2. Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books You Haven't Touched Since High School by Kevin Smokler / 3. The Child That Books Built by Francis Spufford / 4. Everything I Need to Know I Learned From a Little Golden Book by Diane Muldrow / 5. On Rereading by Patricia Ann Meyer Spacks
A teeny tiny snapshot of commonly reread books, which is very tricky to narrow down:
The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
1984 by George Orwell
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne
The Little Prince by Antoine de-Saint Exupéry
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
What books would you add to the list above? I knew that I could only scratch the surface.
10 thoughts on “Are You a Re-Reader?”
A friend of mine actually attempts a full series reread of Harry Potter twice a year – once in July (Harry’s birthday) and once again around Christmas. She rarely makes it through the whole seven books haha.
Re-reading makes me think of my poor mother. She read Lord of the Rings aloud to us, cover to cover, at least 3 times (as each kid reached the right age for it). Thank you Mom! One book I finished, and immediately flipped over and started again, was The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
As a little girl I read Heidi numerous times- it was my favourite!
I’m currently re-reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Middlemarch. The most rewarding re-read to my mind is The Great Gatsby. It’s just so so beautifully written.
That is hilarious and very admirable. I may just stick to drinking a butter beer for Harry’s birthday though, haha.
That is fantastic, Donnie. Kudos. I love Gatsby and haven’t ever forgotten the last line: “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
I must admit that I haven’t read it, Sue, but now I want to! I just checked Goodreads and many reviewers say it was a childhood favourite.
Your mom sounds like a gem, Sarah. I will often reread passages of a book that I just finished, but never the entire thing right after. I long to meet such a book. Impressive!
The book I’ve re-read the most is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy! I also periodically re-read Self by Yann Martel because it makes me cry. My next choice to re-read is Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke – I’m watching the miniseries right now which is AMAZING, and it’s making me want to dive back into that dense world.
Hitchhiker’s Guide was on plenty of the rereading lists I saw, Kate. Might give that miniseries a go. The first book that ever made me cry was “The Pigman” by Paul Zindel. I’d like to reread it now, once I finish Gail Carson Levine’s “Ella Enchanted.”