Monday, January 14

Rereading Books

This week’s topic is about books, which is great, because I’m writing this in the wee hours of the morning and books are one subject I can write about in my sleep. Honestly, I even dream about books—my own and other people’s.

When I was thinking about what to write, I wondered if I should write about how books have impacted my life. For instance, my thoughts on education and child-rearing were formed by the Louisa May Alcott book, The Eight Cousins, much to my children’s delight and my husband’s consternation.




In it, the heroine Rose is too delicate (a word used in that era for physically weak,) to attend school. She was recently orphaned and her kindly, seafaring uncle comes home to care for her. He has all sorts of ideas on how to raise children and since he hasn’t ever had any, he’s free to give reign to his unorthodox philosophies. These included a dream bedroom filled with treasures from all over the world, oatmeal every morning, cold baths and homeschooling, using lots of fun and exciting activities to teach her school lessons. I think the book was my first introduction to unit studies, which I used extensively in my own homeschooling, some fifteen years after I first read the book. Now that’s impact! Of course, I must have read the book a dozen times, until it became a part of who I am.

Which brings me to rereading books. I love rereading books. It’s kind of like visiting old friends. There is something so comfortable in curling up with a book that you have already read and loved. You know exactly what kind of experience you are going to get, though I get something new every time. One of the cool things about homeschooling my kids was the ability to assign them books I had already read and loved as a child and seeing their reaction. Some of my favorite rereads are The Outsiders, To Kill a Mocking Bird and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. When I read that book to my young children, I realized just how adult it actually was!

Then I started wondering which new books I’ve read recently will become favorite rereaders and I came across several, Jennifer Bradbury’s, Shift, ( I was lucky enough to get my hands on an arc. It’s available in May)



Wendy Toliver’s The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren,




Lisa Schroeder’s, I Heart You, You Haunt Me




and Alyson Noel’s, Saving Zoe.




Do you reread books? Why or why not?

13 comments:

Chelsea said...

I try not to reread too many books, because my To-Be-Read list is HUGE. But I do reread my favorites like To Kill a Mockingbird, the Twilight series, and HP.

Wendy Toliver said...

I like to reread books too, but only after it's sat on my shelf of honor for a spell. That way, my mind is fresh and ready to be reunited with "old friends" as you mentioned.

I'm like that with movies, too. A movie I recently watched and immediately knew required a re-see is "Juno." It had so many funny bits that I'm sure I missed on the first run.

I'm tickled you want to reread The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren! :)

Alyson Noel said...

Back in the day, I used to reread books all the time! BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S, FRANNY AND ZOOEY, CATCHER IN THE RYE, SCRUPLES, DEENIE, the list goes on. . .

But sadly, now that my TBR stacks are growing by the week (seriously- I buy books like some people buy shoes!)-- I just don't have the time anymore.

Though I plan to revisit the rereading habit when I enter my twilight years!

Thanks so much for listing SAVING ZOE! You made my day!

Erica Orloff said...

I re-read books all the time. Jane Eyre, Little Women . . . some of my science texts because I forget some of the physics theory in them. My philosophy texts because I always discover something new in them.

E

The Class of 2k8 said...

I don't very often, only because I always have a pile of books stacking up that have to be returned to the library of books I haven't read yet.

Thanks for mentioning my book. :)

The Class of 2k8 said...

Ooops, that was me - Lisa - I'm still signed in as the class. :)

Gerb said...

I've reread a lot of books, but like so many of you, I have such a huge TBR pile that it's difficult to find the time to get to them all, let alone pick up an old favorite again... but I have a VERY difficult time letting go of books once I've read them. It's just too hard. Especially now that I have so many friends who are authors and I have signed copies sitting on my shelves! No way am I parting with them! I'll just have to build more bookshelves...

Amanda Ashby said...

I re-read my Georgette Heyer books every few years. They're like a comfort blanket for me!!!

Little Willow said...

My favorite re-reads:
The Great Gatsby
The Phantom Tollbooth
The Westing Game
The NeverEnding Story

Sara Hantz said...

I'm not a rereader. I think the only books I've read more than once are Pride and Prejudice, To Serve Them All My Days, and Rebecca!

DeenaML said...

Like many others here, no time to re-read! I used to re-read books when I was a kid, and some of those classics I re-read when I got older, but now I plow through as many new titles as I can bc there are so many new goodies I want to make sure I get to!

Melissa Walker said...

I once read Franny and Zooey three times in ONE DAY, because I just didn't want to leave their world.

Now, though, I'm less of a re-reader because I want to soak in as many titles as possible!

That said, rereading is a lovely pleasure that I'm sure I'll return to someday.

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