As an avid reader, I shuffle from book to book and genre to genre; I love reading a variety of things and am constantly switching from genres. I’m always curious about new fiction books and making lists of which classics I should read next. Even so, another favorite option when selecting a book is rediscovering a book I have already read; some may doubt it, but I truly enjoy re-reading a book I’ve already experienced. People constantly question me why I would spend time re-reading books when there’s an entire world out there overflowing with books. I, however, see value in rediscovering novels and stories I have already read.
Rediscovering an Old Friend
By re-reading a book or series, your can relive adventures and the daily life of your favorite characters or a beloved place. It allows you to reminisce with them and fall back in love with those characters or places. I subscribe to this thinking with quite a few books, but I especially do so with Harry Potter; once every year or two I rediscover my love for the Potter series. I typically revisit Potter every summer and the books provide a trip down memory lane of Harry’s life as well as mine.
Picking Up on Clues
Upon a second (or seventh) reading, the audience can pick up and notice clues the author laid out that they may have missed while reading the story originally. Due to knowing the story better, the reader can focus on the smaller details they may have overlooked the first time. Each time you read a book, you’ll pick up on more and more things (especially in classics and mysteries).
The Book May Be the Same, But You Aren’t
From year to year, month to month, and even day to day, we are all slightly different people. We have learned, experienced, and observed different things than we did in the past. We have different understandings than we did previously. This also plays into our understandings of books; if you read a book at 15-years-old, you will likely find a completely different message in the book as a 22-year-old or even as a 17-year-old. Each time you read a book, it will leave you with a different feeling and understanding than it did the first time. As an eighth grader, I read Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and at that time I mostly read it to complete it. I missed many subplots and jokes contained within the overall story. Each time I return to Austen’s well-know book, I understand better; I always close the book with a different message than the previous time.
Pure Enjoyment
Okay, so some books are just super amazing and require a second, third, or fourth reading. Sometimes it’s just fun and enjoyable to re-read a book that we loved as a child, adolescent, or a book we stumbled upon and fell in love with recently. Either way, if it’s a personal favorite why not re-read it and re-enjoy the plot, jokes, and characters?
While some doubt the enjoyment and usefulness of rediscovering a book, I believe there is value in re-reading a book. It allows you to re-visit and rediscover beloved characters you’ve missed, allows you to pick up the clues and subplots you may have overlooked originally, the book’s message changes as you change, and it’s also just fun to re-read books you’ve loved. So grab a book you love and try re-reading it, a second time with the story might be more fun than you think.
