To wonder why you'd read or watch anything more than once?

[ArriettyMatilda]

I only ever watch films or read books once. When you know how the story will end I can't see the point in reading or watching again. If a tv programme comes on that I've seen before then I'd rather turn the TV off than watch it again. What is the point in watching twice? I feel like I'd be wasting time because I could be watching something new. I won't even have time in my life to read all the books I'd like to so why would I spend time rereading something that I would know how it ends. I use the library a lot so at least it doesn't cost anything for me to read new books!

I love rereading some books - I'm fond of books with unreliable narrators and you sometimes have to go back to see how you have been duped once the whole picture has unfolded.

YABU

DH Lawrence considered there to be more value in reading the same book ten times than reading ten different books and never feeling the need to pick them up again. Something to do with the shallow accumulation of worthless experience, if I remember.

Obviously it would depend what you're reading ten times!

Polly I can so see that I expressed myself wrong! I can't sit and watch something that I've seen before I get fidgetty and faff. My best friend loves reruns but when I'm there we find something I haven't seen.

I crave new input - hence reading crap on mn. My brain doesn't sit still. I actually wish it did as ironically I'd be more productive. So thirst for new experiences as show I phrased it but I see it sounded more want than I meant!

I miss studying - that scratches an itch. But I don't rewatch anything, I don't watch much in general as I can't go at my pace and I read avidly but won't reread. I spend far too long online reading rubbish to scratch the itch. I'm not at all saying this is good!!!

wanky not want. my phone doesn't recognise wanky!!

All the Harry Potter books, when a new one came out, I would re-read the previous ones.

Film- The Rocky Horror Picture Show, because it is fab and I love it. Other films due to nostalgia, sharing with my DC and sometimes because it is the best thing I can find to watch.

Other books, well, no I do no re-read other books.

Because some writers are just so bloody good that their output can be consumed over and over and over again and still amaze/surprise/entertain their audience.

I have books I re-read because the plot, the writing and the phraseology is so prefect, and on reading them I have the pleasure of savouring every single word and basking in their perfection.

There are TV shows I re-watch over and over because they have fabulous, well-written characters and I enjoy their company.

Whenever I consider lending or recommending a book/DVD to anyone I revisit it and try to approach it through their eyes, or view it from the perspective of someone with a particular viewpoint and see how it might affect them. I never fail to find something different and new in the text/dialogue.

And, as others have said, there's the comfort of the familiar.

Good writing will always bear revisiting - nothing beats a good tale well told.

It depends on the person I think.
Dd1 would agree with you. She typically reads a book once, goes onto another in the same series/by the same author and doesn't go back.
At one point the only book she'd reread was Watership Down, however she decided after her GCSEs that she'd reread the Cherub series, which she first read when she was 10/11yo.

Dd2 is the other way. If she has a good book then she may well finish the last page and immediately turn back to the beginning to reread. I've known her read something three times in succession.

I'm closer to dd2 in my reading habits. I'll typically read a book once, but then I'll dip in and out of, reading my favourite bits and bits I want to go over. I'll then reread it again later, often many times. Even if I know a book really well, then even up to many times later you can find new bits to interest you, or new understandings of parts. If there are other books in the series you may think "oh, that's how that bit fits in" or "that bit overshadowed the part in book 3 about her" etc.

A book is a bit like a room. You go in once and you can see the basic furniture. If you stay longer you may notice the pictures on the walls and the dust on the skirting boards. And then as you continue looking you find the sock under the sofa, and the packet of pens in the drawer, and the titles of the books on the bookshelf. The longer you spend looking the more detail you will find in the room.

I studied literature and found that I had to speed read a lot of books to get through the course. I'm enjoying now, many years later, rereading a lot of them at my own pace. I agree that perspectives change while reading - depending on age, relationships, or just how I feel on the day - which can change the whole book. I can generally tell how I feel about a book when I pass it on to be read by someone else, and every now and again ask for it back when they've finished.

And like a pp, I can read Margaret Atwood again and again.

My DS (age 4) is already showing signs of being like me. We've just finished the Faraway Tree series and we've had to go back to the first and start again. He now asks questions about what's happening based on what he knows is coming.

I have several films that I have watched dozens of times.
OP not sure why you even started this thread- how does that impact you?

I read lots and I read fast so rereading can be a catch up when a new book in a series comes out. It can be revisiting old friends or for a new perspective. With the Harry Potters, first read is from Harry's point of view my second was Ron and when we found out about Snape I read the lot again. I've read them (and several other stories) in order and in reverse order. I've read every Agatha Christie/Jane Austen/Barchester Chronicles over and over and it's the same desire to immerse myself in another world. I have no understanding of why people go on holiday but I assume it's the same desire. I love being at home, city breaks are ok but I can't think of anything worse than hours of travel, hotel room/apartments and not having my home/animals/family. Different strokes ain't it.

mygorgeousmilo that's a good point, they are childhood favourites and I reread a lot as a child, mostly Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl and the Harry Potter series. I don't know why though, perhaps it was through lack of choice and not getting to the library often enough. Now I work in a library so I essentially have access to an infinite number of undiscovered books.

Cailleach666 I guess I started this thread to try to figure out my own relationship with the desire for reading and watching new things.

Of course it doesn't make a difference to me what others do, I didn't mean to sound like I was judging anyone for doing so, I just personally feel like I'd be wasting my time but I can now understand some of the reasons for doing so. I'm not sure that it will change my habits. I read a lot of chick lit and sob stories in my late teens, so perhaps I've not actually read anything worth rereading. I'm late twenties now so perhaps when I'm forty I'll be rereading the some of the books I've read more recently if I can remember them

Wow, you sound like you would be a hoot at parties...

Of course it's completely normal to watch a film/read a book/watch a TV more than once!

Doesn't everyone have a favourite film they have watched a thousand times because it's so great?

And I could watch Friends re-runs all day

Lighten up OP!

“For the truly brilliant books that I've thoroughly enjoyed, the plot is ingrained forever from the first read.”

I don’t have the memory of an elephant I’m afraid FlandersRocks. No matter how moved I am by a book I never remember all the tiniest details of a book. I think to remember everything so well is exceptional rather than the rule.

The room analogy is a good one Witchend

DD has watched Harry Potter films several times, and is planning a Harry Potter day with some friends during the holidays.

Re-reading books I know and love is like visiting with old friends.

You can't conceivably pick up every nuance from any reasonably meaty book, film etc first time round, nor can you conceivably remember everything about every book forever.

After reading your OP, I wanted to say how weird it must be to never listen to any song more than once, or try any food more than once, but I see it's just books and films you have this issue with

Sometimes, it's OK to do things just for the sheer pleasure of it. When I go to the National Gallery, I go to visit my favourite paintings each time - but I'm sure you'd think that's a waste of time because I already know what they look like!

But can co.pletely accept my thirst for new knowledge and experiences isn't usual!

I've read 287 books so far this year. 43 re-reads and 244 new novels so I think I am good with new experiences

I love re-reading old favourites. I am yet to be disappointed by doing so, and I always find something new. I've been reading WH since I was 9. I pretty much have a relationship with it.

Have you ever watched Frasier?

I can't see how you cannot watch that more than once. :-D

I must have seen them all at least 15 times and love it each time

I am loving the old Frasier repeats. The humour doesn't seem to date.

my MIL is the same - will only watch films once - it is bloomin irritating trying to work out what to watch together over Christmas - "Oh, I've seen that", "we watched that last year"

Well tough, we will be watching it again as it is our tradition... so she gets up and starts faffing about when it is on because she has "seen it before".

There is also the fact that you look at things through different eyes as you age.

Farenheit 451 - challenging political views when young, really good for getting you thinking about the norm and existing in a world where you feel different.

when older, rereading it was a disappointment, a load of cliched metaphors strung together into a book.

Things should be revisited, see if the sands of time have changed your opinion. A thirst for new knowledge is great, but so is a thirst for SELF awareness.

"What is the point in watching twice? I feel like I'd be wasting time because I could be watching something new."

What's the point of seeing a place twice? What's the point of meeting with a friend twice? The analogue would be to feel that you'd be wasting time if you ever met up with someone twice as you could just as well meet up with someone new, a stranger, to discover their view instead.

3 year old me used to watch Watership Down every single day.

I've probably just outed myself to my childminder if she's on here as I can't imagine WD was de rigueur viewing for the average toddler. **

BeyondThePage if it was a disappointment wouldn't the memory of it being good have been better?

VisitorFromAlphaStation actually I'd much rather see an old friend than speak to a stranger. I'm honestly not sure why I feel like this, and it seems I'm unusual in my perception. I guess there are just so many books and films that I am yet to discover that I feel like I am wasting time to watch or read again as I can't possibly watch or read everything in my lifetime.