I have lots of different reading habits. Some of them are important to me. Some of them are silly. And a few of them are just weird. I like to hear about other peoples reading quirks, so I'm going to share mine with you dear reader. And if you would like, you can share yours with me.
One of my main reading habits is that I re-read. I never viewed this as particularly odd--my dad read every night before bed, and he re-read habitually. But as I've gotten older, I've realized that most a lot of people do not re-read. They read something, enjoy it or not, and move on. This makes sense: there are so many great things to read. We will never make it all the way through our reading lists, so why go back when you can go on? Other people have a handful or two of books they re-read. But I re-read almost compulsively.
I have read the Harry Potter series through completely probably 10 or 11 times. I have read the Anne of Green Gables series probably five times. The Emily of New Moon series two or three. Cannery Row alone I have read six or seven times. Don't get me started on Hemingway's novels. When I'm having a hard time, I will return to a novel or story I have loved. It's like a heating pad for cramps: soothing. I read Pablo Neruda's Odes like I take ibuprofen, which is regularly. I'm not sure what it is about a re-read, but I crave them.
Right now, I'm re-reading The Night Circus. Erin Morgenstern marries my love of reading with my love of the visual arts through her descriptions in a way I didn't know was possible. It's my first re-read of this story, and I can already tell it won't be my last. Sinking back into this story feels right. Do you re-read things? If so, what makes your list?
Cannery Row is a favorite re-read for me. I used to read To Kill a Mockingbird every summer. Certain books, I feel like I have to check in with the characters every now and then to see if they've changed while I've been changing. In that vein, I feel a re-read of The Sandman coming on.
ReplyDeleteA funny re-reading thing is reading something you love to your kid. Some books are so different when I read them out loud to her after many years away from them. I was surprised to find Anne of Green Gables a little boring, for example, and The Hobbit is twice as charming as I remember it. Speaking of reading with the kid, I read The Graveyard Book to myself. At about the same time, I read it out loud to Alice. Then Alex got the audiobook, and I listened to Neil read it to me. Those three reading experiences happened in pretty rapid succession; in other words, I was the same person when I read that book all three ways. Even so, the experience was different each time, except that I bawled my head off every time.