The Pleasures of Rereading

Anne Bishop has a new Black Jewels book coming out next week, so I just spent the last two days skim-rereading the first trilogy to get myself up to speed on who all the characters are and how the magic works. (So psyched!)

Many people, like my sister, are baffled by this behaviour. Why reread an old book when there are so many new wonderful books and their time to read is limited? So I asked myself, why do I reread usually at least one book a month?

Sometimes, as mentioned, I reread to get up to speed on a series so that I will enjoy the newest release more without having to wrack my brain over who is this minor character and what happened in the last book anyway?

Sometimes I reread because something triggered a vivid memory of an awesome scene. I try to limit myself to just reread that scene but often end up rereading the entire book.

Sometimes, as a writer, I want to study a particular writing technique and may pull out a book where I know the author did it well.

Sometimes I reread in order to share a book I loved with someone else—books I read aloud to my children often fall under this category.

Sometimes I reread an old book out of frustration because my nothing in my current To Be Read pile is grabbing me. Or, more painfully, if I’m not enjoying a book by an author that I usually love, I might then reread one of theirs that I did enjoy just so I can get that promised hit.

The biggest reason I reread is for comfort, because I’ve had a long day and I want a guaranteed reward instead of the uncertainty of trying a new book which I may or may not like.

What are your reasons for rereading (or not rereading)?