Before the rise of the Internet, and specifically Amazon, I was a huge re-reader. There were two main reasons for this.
First was the budget. I could only purchase so many books, even at used bookstores. The second was a lack of information about new releases. I didn’t know about books until they hit the bookstore shelves. And since I wasn’t at the bookstore every week (see first reason!), so many new releases weren’t on my radar, and I had to find them much later. Plus, even if I’d known they were coming, there was still reason number one why I might not buy them.
Those two things combined meant that a voracious reader like me often had to re-read because those were the books available to me unless I loaded up my kids and took them to the library, which I didn’t frequently do because it was hard to browse for my books with three little kids clamoring about me.
Enter the internet. Suddenly, I could browse from home for information about books coming from my favorite authors. About this same time, I started attending writers conferences and meeting more authors, so my list of books I wanted to read rose considerably. And as the years passed, my book budget grew as well.
Then ebooks arrived. Now I could throw caution to the wind with cheap or free books and always have something new at my fingertips. And we became empty-nesters, increasing our book budget again. All of which now means I own way more new books than I can read at the moment. Which has cut my re-reading to almost nothing.
But lately I’ve had the chance to re-read two books. And now I remember why I used to enjoy re-visiting stories. In fact, it’s been such a joy that my goal for the rest of the year is to re-read at least one book a month because there are so many on my shelves I want to experience again. And given that I generally read 9-10 books a month, it won’t take that much time away from getting to books I haven’t yet read!
The truth is that while I want to race through every new-to-me story, there is benefit in re-reading. Here are my thoughts:
- Re-reading at a different life stage yields a different perspective on the story. I’ve found this true in children’s literature (i.e., instead of identifying with Jo March, I now identify with Marmee), in classic literature, in genre fiction, and in non-fiction. The longer we live and the more we experience life, our perspective on these stories changes. Sometimes the book doesn’t hit us as powerfully as it did on our first read in a different stage of life. Sometimes the story becomes more beloved as our perspective grows. But no matter what, we are different each time we read a book, which means the book is different as well.
- Re-reading helps weed out my collection. I only keep books I have read and loved so much. But there are some that, after a re-reading in a different time of life, I can let go. This is important when you have full bookshelves! Although, to be fair, if I can still remember that initial read and it was an important part of my story as a person, I will still keep it, even if it no longer resonates after a re-read.
- Re-reading reminds you of the things you’ve forgotten to remember. For several years, I took notes on each sermon at church. The problem is, I never looked back at them, so I remembered very few things I wrote down to remember. Books are like that, too. So many times I tell myself I will never forget this truth or that illustration or this turn of phrase. But I do—until I re-read. Of course, now I can use technology to take note of what I want to remember and actually find that information again! Or at least note that it’s a book I want to re-read again at some future date.
Those are my thoughts on re-reading. What are yours? Are you a re-reader? How often do you re-read? Can you think of other benefits to re-reading books? What book have you read the most in your life? (I’ll answer that last question in the comments, but I can’t wait to see your answers!)