Reading books is definitely one of the best habits one can inculcate. But then what about re-reading? I’ve seen and heard many of my fellow reader friends not giving much importance to re-reading their favourite books. They feel it to be a waste of time. But on the other hand, I have always loved re-reading my old favourite books as much as I like reading new books. Every year I make sure to re-read at least one of my favourite books.
The famous British author of The Chronicles of Narnia series, C.S. Lewis once said,
“To me, re-reading my favourite books is like spending time with my best friends.
I’d never be satisfied to limit myself to just one experience each with my favourite people.”
Isn’t that true? How can anyone read their favourite book and not revisit it? How will anyone truly understand their favourite character if they don’t re-read about them again? Is one encounter enough to know who they really are and what did you like about them? Surely, not. Some questions had bothered me before I started re-reading books years ago. So I’ve listed them out below. Hope it helps.
Should I re-read a book even though I keep adding books to-be-read pile?
Well, of course. As a reader, one has a never-ending pile of ’To-be-read’ books which keeps increasing every year, but that shouldn’t be an excuse to not re-read your favourite books. It’s just like watching your favourite shows, movies, listening to your favourite old music, or eating your favourite dish. Just that reading a book will take a bit more time than any of the above-mentioned activities.
Why do I re-read my favourite books?
I’ll talk about my personal experience. Many years ago I read my first ever book ‘Black Beauty’ which was one of my favourites. Though I remembered the gist of the story, I still wanted to know why I liked that book so much. So, recently I re-read the book. Believe it or not, it gave me goosebumps. I could understand the story from a wider spectrum. I was shocked to know how relevant that book is to this world even today. How a children’s book is not just for children but for adults too. Imagine if a children’s book could give so many insights, then what about books you liked reading as adults.
How should I choose what to re-read?
There is no correct answer for this. As a reader, we always grow. We start our reading journey from classics thanks to our school curriculum end up hating them because we find it dry, and then finally end up liking classics eventually. Well, that’s what happened in my case. In between, we tend to choose various other genres like romance, suspense, thriller. As a reader, when you look back at your reading journey you feel you are a different person than you were before. And this maturity only comes if you re-read your favourite books. Some you might not end up liking, but if we question ourselves that’s when we know how far we have come in our reading journey.
I hope that sums up why revisiting and re-reading old books is as important as reading new ones. Re-reading not just helps a reader grow, but it also helps them make better choices in the future.
