Re-Reading Your Books

Re-reading your books is a bit of a controversial topic within the bookish community. However, that's not what this post will focus on. (I do plan to have a Controversial Bookish Topic post on re-reading in the upcoming months, so stay tuned.)

I was thinking of adding "A Good or Bad Thing" to the title of this post, but then I thought twice about it. "Good" and "bad" are highly subjective. In my opinion, they are up therein the Top 10, if not the Top 5, most subjective words. ("Most" is also subjective, but that's not the point.) Good or bad for me is not what good or bad looks like for you. It also changes depending on the situation you're talking about. So I rest my case: highly subjective words. Which is why I shortened the title of this post to just "Re-Reading Your Books."

Is re-reading your books a "bad" thing? Not really, no. So why do people get a lot of grief for re-reading their books? (Or even thinking about re-reading?)

I think it's because many people think that once you've read a book, then you're over and done with it. This thought process isn't a bad way to go about reading books. If you don't re-read, then you have more opportunity and time to read new books.

Here's my take on the situation. Re-reading books can actually be pretty fun. And here are a few reasons why:

1. If you're re-reading a favorite, then you can revisit your favorite characters, places, etc. Re-reading allows you to enter a story as many times as you want.
2. The actor Christopher Lee read The Lord of the Rings trilogy once a year.
3. If you weren't sure about your feelings on a particular book, re-reading it gives you a chance to work out what you liked, didn't like, etc.
4. If a new book is being added to a series, then re-reading the first book(s) can refresh your memory on what happened.
5. Re-reading can be used to add to your yearly reading challenge, like the one on Goodreads.

One thing you should avoid doing is telling another reader that they should or shouldn't re-read. Re-reading isn't for everyone. That's perfectly okay.