The Sword and Laser discussion

If I like a book then more likly will I read it again. I have friends who the thought of rereading a book gives them the shivers... While I have other friends who only reread a few of thier favorite books.

So, do any of y'all reread books?

Absolutely, if the chance comes up. Every time I've done it I have enjoyed the book more than the first time through. I don't do it often enough, though, as I have an unhealthy compulsion to get new books under my belt.

Not really. There are too many new books out there for me to reread things!

I can't re-read, either. Oddly, there are a handful of books I can *listen* to multiple times, and I am not sure why. P.G. Wodehouse is one, the Sherlock Holmes stories are another.

There are a few books I have that are worth re-reading, mostly for nostalgic, guilty pleasure reasons.

First is the main series in the Dragonlance and Dark Sun (TSR/D&D) worlds and the first three Timothy Zahn Star Wars novels - excellent books that take me back to the early 90's. The David Eddings 'Belgariad' books also fall in this category.

Second is Neuromancer, mainly because it's so convoluted that every time I read it there's something new to it.

And third and most importantly, I'm due to re-read "Zen and the Art of the Motorcycle Maintenance" this summer, mostly to compare it to my experience when reading it 6 years ago, before embarking in my own intellectual/spiritual journey (a.k.a. Ph.D.)

Oh, I just saw someone talk about audiobooks - The Moon is a Harsh Mistrees (by Robert Heinlein from audible) was absolutely worth a second listen.

I do have to say, these are the books that I've re-read because I've wanted to and purely for fun. Working with Literature and Education, there's a whole mess of books that are excellent, but that I've re-read mostly for academic reasons, despite there being great pleasure in doing so.

There are a few books I've read multiple times, though by and large, it's not the norm for me. Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, H2G2, some of the A Song of Ice and Fire books, and some of the Harry Potter books stay on my iPod and I listen to them, especially if I need to calm down/relax/distract myself (like when going in for surgery).

I've also re-read the A Song of Ice and Fire books (George R. R. Martin) and the Wheel of Time books (Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson) and other books that in series, when new entries into the series comes out.

I don't mind "rereading" books when its in audio format. It's harder for me to do in print.

I re-read only a few. I read the Hobbit/LOTR every 5 years or so, and have read Tess of the D'urbervilles three or four times.

I usually reread most things I own every four or five years. I find it is a good way to appreciate a book more as I am usually just trying to get the plot line in my head the first read through, then I find the characters more interesting the second time and so on. It also keeps me from buying books constantly as I read very quickly.

I have yet to re-read a book, but if I were to I would choose some of the classics I enjoyed such as...

The Great Gatsby
1984
Brave New World

Its nice to be able to pull a good quote out of your ass every now and then from a book everyone has at least heard of.

I used to re-read some of my favorite books more often just because I'll remember how awesome they were the first time and I want to experience that again. Typically however, it's just not the same going through it a second time. Now I'll generally just look up a summary online to remember all the best parts.

Thanks to the Sword and Laser I've re-read a couple of books, but it's not something I generally do either (I have about 80 books currently on my kindle, and about 200 in my kindle wishlist on Amazon - too much new stuff to read!)

if I dont reread a book it is because I didn't enjoy it first time around - so I would say from my 200+ collection I have read about 200 of them at least twice, about 50 of them 3 or 4 times and about a dozen 5+. Some like lord of the rings or hitch-hikers I have lost count of the number of times.

How else can you quote whole passages from your favourite books and impress people.

By impress - I mean bore endlessly :)

How

A professor of mine suggested we say, when asked if we had ever read a book, "I haven't re-read it recently."

I love to re-read books. Especially the "sword" type. For me most fantasy stories go so far in depth and the worlds are so new that I find I have to. I will pick up new things the 2nd and 3rd time around. Things that I should have picked up the 1st time but did not because I was concentrating so much on all the new aspects of the authors world.

I don't reread many books, (since I don't read much anyway, :/ but one book I've read a couple times is The Phantom Tollbooth. BEST BOOK ever written! I still can't get over the guy's creativity.

I reread series when a new volume comes out and I need to refresh my memory about what's going on. The downside is I end up reading the first book more than any of the others. You don't even want to know how many times I read The Eye of the World before giving up on Jordan.

Sean wrote: "You don't even want to know how many times I read The Eye of the World before giving up on Jordan.

HAHAH. I re-read the entire series last year in the lead-up to the release of The Gathering Storm. This year, when the next tome comes out, I'm going to use http://www.encyclopaedia-wot.org/ to recap everything before reading.

Sean wrote: "You don't even want to know how many times I read The Eye of the World before giving up on Jordan."

I haven't given up on Jordan (re-reading the books now actually...on book 5) but this copies what happened when I tried to start reading it. I tried like 6-7 times to get past the first couple chapters but I kept getting pulled away by other stuff. Eventually I got to it.

HAHAH. I re-read the entire series last year in the lead-up to the release of The Gathering Storm. This year, when the next tome comes out, I'm going to use http://www.encyclopaedia-wot.org/ to recap everything before reading.

I've reread the whole Wheel of Time series several times and listened to it twice. I tend to do a lot of rereads. That is a good resource for when you have a question about something in the series. I've reread all of Patricia Briggs books too.

terpkristin wrote: "I've also re-read the A Song of Ice and Fire books (George R. R. Martin) and the Wheel of Time books (Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson) and other books that in series, when new entries into the series comes out."

Oh man... the thought of RE-READING Wheel of Time is insane to me! I'm not calling you insane. I can't even get through the 4th book, so re-reading the entire series would be like climbing Mt. Everest to me.

Veronica wrote: "Oh man... the thought of RE-READING Wheel of Time is insane to me! I'm not calling you insane. I can't even get through the 4th book, so re-reading the entire series would be like climbing Mt. Everest to me. "

The early books have enough hidden Indians that rereads are worthwhile just to realize that that farmhand who showed up for two pages in the first book tried to kill a main character five books major.

At least, it was worth rereading when that didn't require six months dedicated to the task.

Oh man... the thought of RE-READING Wheel of Time is insane to me!

My thoughts exactly. I've spent the greater part of my adult life on this series; running through it again seems crazier than hell. To me.

Yikes, I am with the "can't imagine re-reading Jordan" group! The idea of DOUBLING the number of times I have to read about a gal pulling on her braid is enough to pull my own hair out!

The only books I have re-read are books the I read in school and then read again as an adult. Narnia and Lord Of the Rings

While I do reread books that are great (most fantasy books fall in this category) and books prior to a new book that's about to be released in a series, I reread books that I'm not sure about, that is, I don't know how I feel about it. After rereading it, I can decide on what I feel about it, and subsequently, whether I would recommend a book or not.

Except for The Lord of the Rings, which I find myself rereading every three or four years, and Princess of Wands which -- well, just because -- I tend not to reread. I mean, I always have the feeling I'm running out of time and I'll miss out on a really good new book. Heck, I'll stop reading a book after a few chapters if I don't like it and try a different one. But for everyone who isn't rereading, why do we have larger and larger book collections? Perhaps we are to become private lending libraries? I wish I knew...

I love to re-read a good book, typically enjoying it more the 2nd or 3rd time. If you haven't re-read a book before I suggest you pick one of your favorites(preferably a shorter one) and give it a try. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Unless you have a photographic memory, you aren't retaining 100% of the book anyway. The more you read it, the more you will pick up and retain. This thread has given me an idea for my next bookshelf: re-read!

I love to re-read some books 2, 3, 4 or more times. I love to go back to some series and books every few years. I do have to say thought that for every book that I re-read there must be ten or twenty that get immediately donated to my local library or deleted off the Kindle. It does help/hurt that a large part of my job requires I read an almost unhealthy amount of books each week.

Yes, I also have to agree that even though I love to re-read books the thought of reading the entire Wheel series gives me the shakes.

I'm not huge on re-reading, but there are a few series that I enjoyed so much that I did it anyways: Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy. I've also been contemplating a re-read of the Hitchhiker's series...or at least the first one.

Veronica wrote: the thought of RE-READING Wheel of Time is insane to me!

I managed a full Wheel of Time reread in less than two months last year to get myself excited for the Gathering Storm release. I will happily admit that this was a completely insane thing to do, but amazingly rewarding. Still, I doubt that I'll do it again for Towers to Midnight.

Kate wrote: "I managed a full Wheel of Time reread in less than two months last year to get myself excited for the Gathering Storm release. I will happily admit that this was a completely insane thing to do, but amazingly rewarding. Still, I doubt that I'll do it again for Towers to Midnight."

Mega props for doing it in 2 months! I did the re-read over audio (which means that I was MOSTLY "reading" while at the gym and on long car trips--my commute is less than 10 minutes, so I never get to "read" while commuting), and it took me about 7 months. It may have gone a little faster if I'd actually been reading the books in print, but I had a hectic year last year that was better for listening to books. That all said, I actually enjoyed re-reading the series, there are a lot of seeds that get planted early that you may not notice unless you re-read them all at once, and I definitely picked up on them this time around.

This year, when the next tome comes out (Towers to Midnight?), I'm going to use the WoT Encyclopaedia that I mentioned in my previous thread.

LOL I thought I was the only person crazy enough to re-read The Wheel of Time!! I have been reading these books since I was in 7th grade, I'm now 27 :o). So a refresher was defiantly needed before the book came out last year.

Just glad to see that I'm not the only "crazy" out here among us....

There are only a few books and series that I reread.

The Darkness That Comes Before and the rest of the trilogy.

The Blade Itself and the rest of the series.

The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again.

The Lord of the Rings.

And The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

I have been considering rereading the Wheel of Time, but I just cannot bring myself to do it.

Well I am glad I am not the only nut crazy enough to re-read The Wheel of Time books. I have re-read the entire series (except the most recent book) several times now. The most recent time through was in audiobook format while working nights. It really helped to pass the time. :)

I re-read A Christmas Carol every year in December. It's short enough to knock out quickly and always makes me feel good about the season.

I don't know about books, but I like rewatching Out of Sight.

I love re-reading Butcher's early Dresden series and Stirling's Dies the Fire.

John wrote: "The Phantom Tollbooth...was the book that made me fall in love with books. I still have it."

Must agree with both John and Joshua. I still have my ratty old copy of this and find myself drawn to it every few years.

I re-read occasionally - used to do it more when I was younger (when I had time). H2TG is one that's always a good reread and the original Dragonlance saga. My wife always is picking up a book she's read before, opens it up randomly and starts reading til she's ready to move on to a different task.
I recently went back after more than a decade and reread the Asimov Robot novels. That was blast. I tried to get through the Foundation trilogy yet again, and still couldn't manage. Reread Foundation's Edge, still a good one. And I'll be rereading Foundation and Earth as soon as my TBR pile clears up.

Tom wrote: "I re-read A Christmas Carol every year in December. It's short enough to knock out quickly and always makes me feel good about the season."

Did you download Audible's free version(for members) by Tim Curry last year? He's an excellent narrator, it was a very nice listen.

Tom wrote: "I re-read A Christmas Carol every year in December. It's short enough to knock out quickly and always makes me feel good about the season."

I liked Tim Curry's reading last year for a change, but Audible also has Patrick Stewart's reading of this book. He did a whole tour of stage readings beforehand, I believe, so by the time he recorded it, he had it down perfect!

I do like to re-read sometimes. I return to The 13 Clocks by James Thurber on a semi-regular basis because it's such a pitch-perfect, delightful fairly tale. Some books I've re-read because I had placed them in a 'best books of all time' category at an earlier part of my life, and wanted to see if they still had the same impact on me (usually not - Love in the Time of Cholera is an example that fell from 'one of the best ever' to 'good' upon the re-read).

Some I've re-read because they were rich enough to get different things out of them a 2nd (or 3rd) time -- the first three Dune books and Watchmen are examples of that. I'm excited to re-read Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun series because I know there's a lot I missed the first time.

My ever growing to-read list does make it hard for re-reads, though!

I'm not much of a re-reader myself. I have too many things I feel like I need to read before I die. However, I have read Dune and The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy multiple times.

I always try to begin a new series only after the complete series is finished. I had to re-read The Diamond Throne when the second book came out to refresh myself, and I know I'll have to re-read the last fire & ice book when he writes the next one.

Short stories, though, don't follow my re-read habits, and I'll re-read Jorge Luis Borges or Ray Bradbury stories multiple times. Bradbury's novels are even small enough for me to classify as short stories. I've read Something Wicked This Way Comes quite a few times.

I reread quite a bit. So far this year, 18 rereads out of 51 books. What's that, about 40%?

I would love to have the time to reread more than I do. I have whole favourite series that I'd like to find the time to reread.

I don't really like to reread books. Once I have read it, I know what's going to happen, so it is not all that fun for me the second time around. (This is the same reason I rarely watch movies more than once.)

One example is the Harper Hall Trilogy from the Pern series. I have read it several times, and loved it each time.

I will reread almost every book I like. I read for a living, so I go through things very quickly. I have done several WoT rereads, and I am so glad they are all out or coming out as e-books.

I highly recommend Leigh Butler’s reread over at Tor for anyone considering doing a reread. Don’t use it for your first time through as it is full of spoilers.

I will also reread only parts of a book. “The Scouring of the Shire” is a great short story when I need a Tolkien fix.

I reread The Lord of the Rings almost yearly and The Dark Is Rising every year for my birthday. Rereading is a great way to feel the comfort of great stories and of reminding yourself of the reasons you loved the books in the first place. I have even reread a few for Sword and Laser and have been quite happy to do so (except for the case of The Mists of Avalon blech)

The Dark Is Rising is a great novel, the rest of the series is a bit more hit or miss, IMO. That novel scared me enough as a kid that I put it down for a year or two.

I'm kind of doing a re-read of the Harry Potter series. I say kind of, because I am reading parts of it to my oldest at night. He can read it himself, but he likes to ask questions the whole time I read. Like me he doesn't mind spoilers, but I try to save at least some mystery to the story for him.

The Leaky Cauldron did (and still does I believe) rereads of the series and organizes sub-groups to discuss the selected chapters each week. It is great if you are a big fan, but it can reach a level of deconstruction akin to the Star Wars or Star Trek fandom.

It's not quite the level of the old Usenet Robert Jordan group, but part of that is due to the difference between the etiquette of the early internet versus modern web etiquette. I still shiver when I see top posting.

I find that some books are so rich and complex that they really stand up well to being reread. Some short stories too, leave one with a real sense of attachment and fondness for them. In my case, the Patrick O'Brian (Aubrey/Maturin) series is so epic that it could be read many times without staleness. The short story that I could read a thousand times is Asimov's ' Monster ' or as it's sometimes called ' Resurrection '.

I used to re-read the TWoT every time a new book came out. I stopped doing that, IIRC at book 9. Now that I've got The Gathering Storm - I've been slowly getting up the gumption to do a marathon re-read. But I think I'm gonna wait till all the e-book editions are released up to Book 12.

Other books I've read multiple times (and WILL re-read again...)

Tolkien (yep - I've read the Silmarillion at least 10 times).

Dresden Files (it's now one of my re-reads every time a new one comes out)

Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel * books (although I need to read the new series yet)

David Weber - I can re-read Honor Harrington anytime.

J.K. Rowling - I've re-read Harry Potter every time a new book came out. I even read the Deathly Hallows twice in one weeked (okay - I was unemployed at the time...and bored).

Timothy Zahn's Star Wars books

S.M. Stirling - His Nantucket books are awesome - not to mention the two follow on series set in the Emberverse - re-read each one multiple times.

Scalzi - I mean how can you not re-read Old Man's War?!?!?!?!

Eddings - Belgariad and Mallorean have been read at least 5 or 6 times if not more.

Should I go on?

I love re-reading books. My most re-read series is David Eddings' Mallorean. Even though as an adult I find his books formulaic, I still LOVE the characters. I really think characters are what bring me back to books. My second most re-read series is Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga - specifically A Civil Campaign. That book and Timothy Zahn's The Icarus Hunt are two books that I go back to for something comfortable to curl up with for an afternoon. They're totally like comfort food in book form for me.

I re-read HP every time a book came out, but haven't wanted to re-read them since the last one. Other character-driven books I really like are the Mag force books by Don Perrin and Margaret Weis, and the Space Cops series by Diane Duane and Peter Morwood.