Friday 21 March 2014

Re-reading books

This week's Booking Through Thursday is:

I’ve asked before if you re-read your books (feel free to recap), but right now I want to know if that habit has changed? Did you, for example, reread more as a child and your access to new books was limited by how often you could convince your mother to take you to the library? Has the economy affected your access so that you’re forced to reread more often now? Have you grown to look at old books as old friends so that you’re happy to spend time with them rather than rushing the next new thing?

I suppose I now reread books less often than when I was a child, because I do have a lot more new books to read. I still have old favourites I like to return to occasionally (mainly Jane Austen, Terry Pratchett and Helen Fielding), but for me the magic of reading mostly lies in exploring new worlds. I enjoy returning to Austen and Fielding because of the comfort the stories bring, but with Terry Pratchett's best work (in my opinion, the middle range of his novels, rather than the earliest or latest) you notice new jokes and amusing turns of phrase each time you read them, the same way a beloved comedy series gives you something new to laugh at every time you rewatch an episode.

How about you? Do any of you like to reread books, and if so which ones?

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