#Microblog Monday 251: How Do You Decide What to Reread?
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I am aware that there are many people who do not reread books or rewatch television shows or movies. I am not one of those people. I love rereading books, and research backs up my assertion that rereading (or rewatching) is just as enjoyable as the first time. So there.
The question, of course, is how do you decide? There are some books that I know as I’m reading it (or shows that I know as I’m watching them) that I’m going to want to read again and again, even before I know the ending. And others that I enjoy so much the first time around, but I also know that I probably won’t seek them out a second time.
I think it comes down to characters I want to spend time with. As in, if they were real people, I would want to hang out with them.
What about you?
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11 comments
I do the same, I know when I start reading a book or watching something that I will most def rewatch or reread and vice versa. for me, it completely depends on characters.
I do the same thing! I typically pretty early whether i will reread or rewatch something and for me, it almost always has to do with the characters.
I definitely reread books. I have a favorite Chinese author and reread 90% of her novels. As for English, I reread books that are emotionally gripping. The stories stay with me for a long time and I am drawn to them when I look on my bookshelves.
For me it’s both characters and plot because while my husband always says “a well written story is a well written story” (meaning if he likes the characters he’ll enjoy any setting, which isn’t quite true, but ok) there are genres I’ll never enjoy, and thus might suffer through once but definitely won’t revisit. But, characters I love in a setting I enjoy? I’ll definitely re-read or re-watch, it’s like catching up with an old friend.
I definitely re-read books and re-watch shows I’ve enjoyed! For me to re-read a book, I have to enjoy the characters obviously. It also has to be an “easy read” meaning readable style and something I can put down and pick up again without a lot of mental ramp-up.
I definitely reread books, and I’ll rewatch a series if it was really good (I rewatched season 1 of The Good Place before watching Season 2 with Bryce, and I want to rewatch The Haunting of Hill House, because I know things now!). Some books I reread on a rotation, like The Handmaid’s Tale, Lady Oracle, and Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood. Those are rereaders for sure. I reread books that are made into movies so I can be righteously infuriated when they screw it up (I reread The Hunger Games trilogy each time a new movie came out). I reread Harry Potter, and am now rereading it aloud with Bryce as he never read them himself. It has to be special for me to reread it, or it has to be something that I think I’ll get more out of on a second run (like reading The Great Gatsby again as a 40-year old versus when I was 16 in high school…TOTALLY DIFFERENT book). I definitely think you can get more out of a book by rereading it. So glad the research agrees!
I sometimes re-read books (used to a long time ago when I actually had the time), and I love doing it!
I don’t re-read books as often as I did when I was younger… too many books I haven’t read yet that i want to tackle! But I still do, now & then. Usually they are old favourites, like L.M. Montgomery, or Elizabeth Peters, that I haven’t read in a while. Or something comes up in the news that reminds me of a book I read, and I want to refresh my memory.
I rarely reread and almost never rewatch. It gets so boring to me! Every once in a while I will reread a book years later and take it in differently. Occasionally I rewatch things because I have a kid and there are kid a movies I’ve seen before. I just watched Toy Story with him and it was fun to notice things that I hadn’t before, like who the voice of Rex is and that Andy’s birthday decorations are all pink and purple and his shirt wad purple in that scene too. It can be fun to notice new things, especially jokes in kid movies.
I used to think my friend was crazy for re-reading Agatha Christie books especially after we also had seen them on PBS a million times. After not loving a bunch of other murder mystery writers, I started re-reading Agatha Christie and I still find a lot of surprises. (Sometimes I don’t remember the endings anyway.) The one thing I won’t re-read is a long, sad story (especially if it’s a true story.) I feel like I just can’t live through it all over again.
I was back in Dublin recently and I have shelves full of old books at my Dad’s place. He said I had to decide which ones I want to keep and bring to Germany and which could be given away. I’ve already read them all so I decided based on which ones I remember really enjoying that I would want to read again.