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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To re-read books?

147 replies

Clary · 01/11/2009 21:48

Not a terrifically serious AIBU but still...

Just from a throwaway comment on another thread, do other peopel re-read books or not then?

I mentioned sthg about it at my book group and was met with horror at the idea.

I could give you a list of at least 30 books I have read many times (Austen, Sayers, Fitzgerald, Mrs Miniver), and others I have casually re-read. Eg I read Time Traveller's Wife 3 times (2nd time for book club; third time before I saw film); or Agatha Christies; or Anne Tyler books etc etc.

Not sure why I do it - is it a comfort thing maybe?

Am I a bit weird?

OP posts:
Singed · 01/11/2009 21:50

Gosh no I love to re-read books written by my favourite authors.

Our groaning bookshelves are a testament to this!

LetThereBeRock · 01/11/2009 21:51

I re-read some reguarly. I don't think of it as being an odd thing to do.

Some books are just too good to part with.

MavisEnderby · 01/11/2009 21:52

Yanbu.I often go back to books I haven't read for years and find something new every time.

Am currently steeling self to start re-reading Dickens as got nothing from him as a teen when doing enforced reading of books for examsbut feel I need to revisit now am of more mature years to see if I can see what the fuss is about!

Original poster
Clary · 01/11/2009 21:53

This is it you see.

If you are not going to re-read it (and don't think it is worth saving for the DC to read) then why keep it?

If that is the case then I charity shop it.

OP posts:
forkhandles · 01/11/2009 21:53

not at all weird, I re-read books but only certain favourite ones. Usually after I finished a really good book and don't feel like starting another one but still want to read something.

TeamEdward · 01/11/2009 21:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Clary · 01/11/2009 21:54

My dad btw always said there was a limited number of books he would read in his life so why re-read any?

hmmmm but if the re-read is better than the new book would be (tho how can you know!)

OP posts:
Original poster
Clary · 01/11/2009 21:54

Oh team edward I have just charity shopped (well actually scout-faired) The Host - I read it for work but really hated it! Sorry.

OP posts:
TheFallenMadonna · 01/11/2009 21:55

I definitely re-read for comfort. But also for enjoyment of the work itself. You don't just listen to a piece of music once do you? It doesn't matter that you know 'how it goes'.

TigerBitesAgain · 01/11/2009 21:55

I do re-read, but very very few. And all the rest are ruthlessly dispatched to charity shops. There are so many amazing and interesting books out there. Re-reading is good, and sometimes brilliant, but it is a luxury. IMO.

FaintlyMacabre · 01/11/2009 21:57

I can't imagine not re-reading. If I have really enjoyed something then I want to read it again and again. It's often a comfort thing for me as well- Austen and Sayers are the ones I turn to as well. (Also Marian Keyes, Laura Ingalls Wilder, LM Montgomery and Noel Streatfield, but we'll gloss over those ones ).

Original poster
Clary · 01/11/2009 21:57

See tiger, some people have said oh yes they have re-read a handful of books.

But I have a really really long list. I know Jane Austen and DL Sayers LPW books by heart; it's never a good sign if I am reading them.

But if like forkhandles I have finished the book I am on with, I will scout out something I liked to read again and it might just be some old Alison Lurie movel or such.

OP posts:
TheFallenMadonna · 01/11/2009 21:58

God, what's the matter with a bit of luxury when it comes to reading?

Original poster
Clary · 01/11/2009 21:59

oooooh Anne of Green Gables...

I re-read What Katy Did the other day having found it at a fair and bought for DD

OP posts:
TheFallenMadonna · 01/11/2009 21:59

Tigerbites - are you as ruthless in your experience of music? There's a lot of that out there too...

LetThereBeRock · 01/11/2009 22:05

Why is it a luxury?

FaintlyMacabre · 01/11/2009 22:05

Actually, for me at the moment, reading a new book would be a bit of a luxury. I can buy from Amazon, which is money I can't really justify spending on a book I don't even know I'll like, or I can go to the library. Currently, the only time I get to the library I am accompanied by a 2 year old who has no interest in leisurely browsing the adult section. So I am re-reading everything in the house for the nth time.
True luxury would be going by myself to the library with time to look for exactly what I want.

TigerBitesAgain · 01/11/2009 22:09

well I guess what the book is and what the music is. Different things, to me at least: books, a new experience, a new world, a new puzzle (yes, quite a few I read are whodunnits, so once you know whodunnit, the mystery has gone..). Music - ok, I am not anywhere as ruthless but I like to hear new stuff all the time. Different art forms, different rules.
Sounds like a touchy subject though. I thought everyone recycled their paperbacks.

theyoungvisiter · 01/11/2009 22:09

I re-read some books and not others. Like you I have some I've read 30+ times. Sometimes I'll read a book and love it so much that I'll start all over again at the beginning.

Definitely a comfort thing in some cases, other cases it's a sense of having read the book before I was ready for it, and wanting to appreciate it again.

LetThereBeRock · 01/11/2009 22:12

Every 3 months or so I will send some books to the charity shop but I retain the majority of them.

IMHO the acquisition of new books, something that involves time and money, would be a greater luxury than reading a novel for a second or third time.

Original poster
Clary · 01/11/2009 22:14

actually tyv not sure there are many I have read 30 times! I said I could list 30 I had read many times

Tho Great Gatbsy now, must have read that at least 20 times...

DD is a re-reader btw which is interesting. She is a devourer of books but read the Enchanted Forest again and again. I think she just wanted more of it but there are only 3 books, sadly....

OP posts:
ObsidianBlackbirdMcNight · 01/11/2009 22:17

Always. I very rarely get rid of a book because you never know - only if I really wasn't impressed.

weblette · 01/11/2009 22:19

YANBU I love re-reading.

Our house is full of books.

The thought that I can pick up and enjoy an old friend or rediscover something I read ages ago with a new perspective - it's what books are about to me.

UniS · 01/11/2009 22:20

YANBU

Re-reading a book is like listening to a CD again, ie- NORMAL.

theyoungvisiter · 01/11/2009 22:24

oh sorry! Mis-reading.

There are a few I have read 30+ times (including, probably, some DL Sayers like you!)

But yes, lots more in the 5-10 category.

My re-read list would include... Cold Comfort Farm. Anne of Green Gables. Dune. Wizard of Earthsea. Pride and Prejudice. Master and Commander (or in fact any Patrick O'Brian). Busman's Honeymoon (or any DL Sayers). Hons and Rebels. The Masqueraders (plus quite a lot of other Georgette Heyers). Lord of the Rings. Wuthering Heights. North and South. Lots of Diana Wynne Jones. Murder on the Orient Express (and lots of other Christies). Love in a Cold Climate (and other Nancy Mitfords)... I could go on but I won't. As you can see my taste is quite catholic

Lots are books that I first read in adolescence and have become part of my life.