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Rereading books

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Re: Rereading books

#21

Post by Slow_Hand »

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.

Re: Rereading books

#22

Post by gabriel666smith »

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 :-)

Re: Rereading books

#23

Post by borroka »

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"

Re: Rereading books

#24

Post by ben7799 »

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.

Re: Rereading books

#25

Post by dzonga »

same as great tv-shows. you notice a lot of things in "The Wire" on your second or third or 5th watch. that you wouldn't notice on the first.

Re: Rereading books

#26

Post by sidrag22 »

bodantogat wrote: post #19

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.

do you get sad or somewhat similar feelings when you finish a book or series or whatever? i sometimes get those feelings badly, and im a big fan of rereading/rewatching or whatever.

ive also found that ill sometimes sorta really neglect reading the final portions of a book or stop close to the end of a TV series, not because of disinterest, but because i do not want it to actually end.

im pretty much just wondering if these feelings don't hit you quite as strong and you are more excited by new stories, than you are sad about ending the current story.

of course this is more aimed at fiction or just stories in general rather than something like a self help book or whatever, for those those same types of feelings don't apply at all.

Re: Rereading books

#27

Post by loughnane »

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.

Re: Rereading books

#28

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

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.

It's just not the same.

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