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A place for the educated exchange of information about books, reading, writing, and more. Format: title "Title of book" by Author. The post is the synopsis from the back of the book. Your comments are your feelings on the book, author, writing style, etc. Your comments are where you make your connections to the book and talk about what the book means to you and WHY!
I think they should, I have read books, then re-read them, and found things I didn't notice the first time. Also when I re-read books I read in the past, I understand many more things than I did back the first time.
ReplyDeleteI also re-read books frequently. Some books I read again just because I have no other books, some books I re-read because they are that good. And like Hunter said, you tend to understand more when you go back to a book. However, if you understood the whole book the first time, the books you are reading are too easy.
ReplyDeleteI find many books I enjoyed the first time don't hold up to re-reading. I think that's because what interested me in the first place was the unfolding of the story. Once I know what's going to happen, there isn't the same excitement. However, this works the other way. Sometimes I like reading a book, knowing who the bad guy will turn out to be, and then see if I can detect anything earlier (especially with, for example, the Harry Potter books).
ReplyDeleteI agree that sometimes I understand a book more when I'm older. I find this a lot with books I was assigned in high school. See, when I went to school, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, we didn't get to choose what we read. We were given books that were good for us, even if they were a little beyond our level. After college, I'll re-read some of these books and enjoy them a lot more. Ernest Hemingway's _Garden of Eden_, for example.
I also like to re-read parts. I have favorite sections of _Wind in the Willows_ or _The Little Prince_.
My parents can watch TV show reruns all the time because they've forgotten how it ends. I believe the same is true of books for them. They'll pick up a really exciting book and realize 50 pages in that they've read it already. They have a suspicion that the butler did it, but they finish the book anyhow, because they're not really sure.
And for another amusing take on re-reading, check out this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5DVQ0BYLDE