Re-reading a book is a lot like re-watching a film for me, I don't want to do it immediately, but there is value in doing it some years later where the details become less certain. I'm actively aware that even during tasks such as talking, my brain condenses and throws away most information. The import thing really is to develop and capture the right abstractions.
There are a few books I have gone back and read simply for enjoyment, for example Hitch Hiker's Guide to the galaxy was a pleasure to read. Some more dense materials that I know I will gain a lot from, I find it difficult to muster the motivation to re-read.
I read a lot of non-fiction, and while I'm definitely guilty (and proud of it!) of sentimentally holding onto old books, I think the value of having a personal library isn't to show off what you've read (an added bonus), but to be able to go back and reference books / passages when inspiration strikes or you realize your memory's gotten a bit fuzzy on a topic. Re-reading a book in its entirety is great. But sometimes just pulling back up a specific passage or chapter is all you need.
I reread and thoroughly enjoy "main sequence" John Irving novels every few years (at least Garp, Owen Meany and the criminally underrated Son of the Circus). I cannot recommend them enough.
When reading a work of fiction for the first time, I'll usually DNF it if I get halfway through and haven't yet reached a point where I realize, while reading quickly, that I'll want to re-read it slowly. Lots of crud out there, especially in "genre" fiction, and life is too short to read crud when the world is full of more good stuff than a person can ever get to.
I try to re-read The Lord of the Rings every year around Bilbo's birthday (Sept 22nd) some years I do not complete it, others I do. But it feels nice to go back to some old 'friends' and familiar places from time to time...
"All that can be done is for each of us to invent our own ideal library of our classics; and I would say that one half of it would consist of books we have read and that have meant something for us and the other half of books which we intend to read and which we suppose might mean something to us. We should also leave a section of empty spaces for surprises and chance discoveries."
- Italo Calvino
I like how this advocates the opposite stance of a post from a day or two ago that argued for letting yourself "forget" books and reading widely.
I think they can both be correct, and at the end of the day we shouldn't worry too much about being optimal. Leave some books quickly, keep others that feel deep enough to return to. Read for both learning and for pure entertainment. Read books that you already know you'll like, but leave room for some that could surprise you.
Even "simple" books can be surprising. On my first reading of Jurassic Park I had no idea that it was about startup culture - no really! It's not even from the Sci-Fi section of the bookstore!
“Rereading, an operation contrary to the commercial and ideological habits of our society, which would have us ‘throw away’ the story once it has been consumed (‘devoured’), so that we can then move on to another story, buy another book, and which is tolerated only in certain marginal categories of readers (children, old people, and professors), rereading is here suggested at the outset, for it alone saves the text from repetition (those who fail to reread are obliged to read the same story everywhere)..." - Balzac
For me, rereading just feels like missing out on the excitement of finding something new. A fresh story, a different perspective, an author I haven’t met yet. So I usually skip rereads and pick up something new instead.
With some authors, like Gene Wolfe, rereading is not optional. I really like the books designed to be reread, each time you read them you discover something new.
I'm a big advocate of rereading, or revisiting any form of media that resonates. I will turn a good piece of literature or art over again and again until I know it intimately and have it in my blood. Then I can walk away from it.
As others have said, some of the best works will provide new insights as you age and gain perspective. Some will reveal remarkable foreshadowing and narrative lines that run quietly through the background of the work.
And, of course, repetition reinforces and consolidates your memory and understanding. A lot of books are not retained well by me the first time. The revisit consolidates the work in my mind, and eventually I can recall it from memory. Perhaps not verbatim, but beat by beat and detail by detail.
A revisit always allows me to savor and appreciate the finer points of the artist's craft. The small choices that are attuned to the larger purpose in the book. The inflections that support the themes and reinforce the sensations that are being evoked.
The best work can be turned over again and again with little loss in pleasure. More often than not satisfaction and admiration appreciate with each visit.
One of my favourite things a book (or video games, paintings - every single type of art) can do is: On first read - hint that there are stories hidden under the surface, available only to those who have already experienced the art's end point.
I think this is an act of a generosity. It shows that an artist is not only competent enough to execute something that complex, but also thinking deeply of their audience's time and money. It's hospitable: One of more virtuous virtues, IMO.
The best art should reveal itself to you over years, as you change as a human, and your sense of yourself - and the world you live in - changes. I think that should always be the aim of the artist.
You can't swim the same river twice; the same river can't be swum twice by the same person. Some rivers are much better for swimming :-)
Lately, I've been listening to audiobooks of books I've read in the past, some of them several times.
I've found it to be a great pastime and a useful exercise: the content is experienced differently; some parts have a different effect when read than when listened to.
I also noticed that, after listening to an audiobook, I pick up certain expressions that I then, without thinking about it, use in conversation, something that I did not notice doing when reading the book.
There is something that Ugo Pirro, the famous Italian screenwriter, wrote in his book "How to write a movie", about the re-, which can also apply to re-reading books:
"The memories of each of us, after all, are transformed, fade and shatter, are redrawn and combined when they collide with the immediate experience according to the philosophies that are embraced, the experiences and emotions that have carved their own interpretative model of existence. So what strikes us today, tomorrow may hide, perhaps overwhelmed by other data recorded by the imagination, and then reappear unexpectedly in a day, a month, a year. The time of imagination, in short, is always another, it eludes chronologies, it relies on disorder"
I don't re-read that much "fun" material. But I totally get it, some stuff is so good it will seem like a better option to re-read it compared to trying something new. That is an elite level of book though.
I just started re-reading LOTR for maybe the 4th time in 30 years and probably first time in 10 years. Probably more for the 2nd two reasons in this authors list.
Part of my motivation was I was looking at books in the same genre I had not read and have become mostly tired of it and just kind of thought that I know LOTR is still better than 99% of them, might as well read it again. I am pleasantly surprised by how many small things I had forgotten. It also helps to wash the movies out of my brain and restore the memory of the real story.
Someone mentioned Hitch Hiker's guide to the Galaxy. I just bought a copy of that for my son, it has probably been close to 30 years since I read that, I will be tempted to re-read it again when he is finished.
Most books have little to say and you can, in fact, get most of what it has to offer in one reading. It’s worth your while to find the books that reveal more to you on each reread, especially rereads at different points in your life. The books that do this for a lot of people over a few generations are, to a first approximation, what we call “classics”
Of course there’s still the challenge of identifying which books are classics. And of course there’s value in reading non-classics——whether you’re reading for entertainment or for wisdom.
Still, we’ve got limited time and I’ll more often gamble my reading hour on a classic than something new.
There's certain books that I've been rereading for decades.
Right now, I'm getting to the end of Glen Cook's The Black Company series (11 books). I've read it many times, but I keep on enjoying it, each time, as if it's the first time.
I do not get the same from movies or shows. I have a few favorites that I watch over, but not usually more than once.
Whenever I have time, I could always re-read a favorite book.
Who doesn't love re-reading Snow Crash
Will you ever forget the way you felt the first time you read this?
"As part of Mr. Lee's good neighbor policy, all Rat Things are programmed never to break the sound barrier in a populated area. But Fido's in too much of a hurry to worry about the good neighbor policy.
27 comments
[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 37.9 ms ] threadThere are a few books I have gone back and read simply for enjoyment, for example Hitch Hiker's Guide to the galaxy was a pleasure to read. Some more dense materials that I know I will gain a lot from, I find it difficult to muster the motivation to re-read.
>Rereading a book can give you an insight into how you’ve changed since you last read it.
Said in a different way, I noticed I understand from a different perspective some of the books I re-read.
> A good book gets better at the second reading. A great book at the third. Any book not worth rereading isn't worth reading
Don’t think i’ll stop anytime soon. :)
I think they can both be correct, and at the end of the day we shouldn't worry too much about being optimal. Leave some books quickly, keep others that feel deep enough to return to. Read for both learning and for pure entertainment. Read books that you already know you'll like, but leave room for some that could surprise you.
As others have said, some of the best works will provide new insights as you age and gain perspective. Some will reveal remarkable foreshadowing and narrative lines that run quietly through the background of the work.
And, of course, repetition reinforces and consolidates your memory and understanding. A lot of books are not retained well by me the first time. The revisit consolidates the work in my mind, and eventually I can recall it from memory. Perhaps not verbatim, but beat by beat and detail by detail.
A revisit always allows me to savor and appreciate the finer points of the artist's craft. The small choices that are attuned to the larger purpose in the book. The inflections that support the themes and reinforce the sensations that are being evoked.
The best work can be turned over again and again with little loss in pleasure. More often than not satisfaction and admiration appreciate with each visit.
I think this is an act of a generosity. It shows that an artist is not only competent enough to execute something that complex, but also thinking deeply of their audience's time and money. It's hospitable: One of more virtuous virtues, IMO.
The best art should reveal itself to you over years, as you change as a human, and your sense of yourself - and the world you live in - changes. I think that should always be the aim of the artist.
You can't swim the same river twice; the same river can't be swum twice by the same person. Some rivers are much better for swimming :-)
I also noticed that, after listening to an audiobook, I pick up certain expressions that I then, without thinking about it, use in conversation, something that I did not notice doing when reading the book.
There is something that Ugo Pirro, the famous Italian screenwriter, wrote in his book "How to write a movie", about the re-, which can also apply to re-reading books:
"The memories of each of us, after all, are transformed, fade and shatter, are redrawn and combined when they collide with the immediate experience according to the philosophies that are embraced, the experiences and emotions that have carved their own interpretative model of existence. So what strikes us today, tomorrow may hide, perhaps overwhelmed by other data recorded by the imagination, and then reappear unexpectedly in a day, a month, a year. The time of imagination, in short, is always another, it eludes chronologies, it relies on disorder"
I just started re-reading LOTR for maybe the 4th time in 30 years and probably first time in 10 years. Probably more for the 2nd two reasons in this authors list.
Part of my motivation was I was looking at books in the same genre I had not read and have become mostly tired of it and just kind of thought that I know LOTR is still better than 99% of them, might as well read it again. I am pleasantly surprised by how many small things I had forgotten. It also helps to wash the movies out of my brain and restore the memory of the real story.
Someone mentioned Hitch Hiker's guide to the Galaxy. I just bought a copy of that for my son, it has probably been close to 30 years since I read that, I will be tempted to re-read it again when he is finished.
Of course there’s still the challenge of identifying which books are classics. And of course there’s value in reading non-classics——whether you’re reading for entertainment or for wisdom. Still, we’ve got limited time and I’ll more often gamble my reading hour on a classic than something new.
Right now, I'm getting to the end of Glen Cook's The Black Company series (11 books). I've read it many times, but I keep on enjoying it, each time, as if it's the first time.
I do not get the same from movies or shows. I have a few favorites that I watch over, but not usually more than once.
It's just not the same.
Who doesn't love re-reading Snow Crash
Will you ever forget the way you felt the first time you read this?
"As part of Mr. Lee's good neighbor policy, all Rat Things are programmed never to break the sound barrier in a populated area. But Fido's in too much of a hurry to worry about the good neighbor policy.
Jack the sound barrier.
Bring the noise."