One of the questions that most baffles and annoys me (after "Have you read all those books?") is "Why do you bother reading a book more than once?"
Because, of course, no one ever listens to a piece of music more than once, or watches a movie more than once, or an episode of a television show.
So, three reasons for rereading a book.
First: comfort
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Or, because the last time I reread this series was when The Hallowed Hunt came out, so I haven't actually ever reread it ... and also, at the time, I think I was in that horrible period where I was waking up at 5 AM to go to that awful transcription job, and reading it on the bus, so I remember NONE OF IT.
I'll have to rectify that.
(Where are the two more Chalion books I was expecting, Ms. Bujold?!)
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But, ahem. I sat down and reread all three Chalion books just recently, so I am, of course, hurt and alarmed at the lack of love for The Hallowed Hunt. HURT AND ALARMED.
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While you're busy being hurt and alarmed, I'm sitting here going AND THIS IS WHY MOO IS MY FRIEND. And because she is my friend, I will toss The Hallowed Hunt into my bag to read when I finish Paladin of Souls. For you, I delay my rereading of Going Postal by /days/.
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I begin to suspect that even among people who don't mind reading, my life is strangely devoid of people who derive proper joy from the activity. Sigh.
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Your third reason is actually the reason I reread all my most favorite books. It's the ones where I've read them so many times I've lost count, and I know what's going to happen, and yet I still cry at the pivotal moments.
People have tried to tell me that rereading books is a waste of time. Since these same people rewatch movies and tv shows, I call bullshit.
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Bujold is actually one of the authors I -don't- reread much, because her books are so good that I'm afraid I'm going to be sucked into rereading the entire series. The exception is Borders of Infinity, which works for me because it's more of a short story collection.
I dip into short story collections when I want to read something new, but I don't have the time to commit to a novel.
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I do find that if I'm rereading because I don't want to start something new, I'm probably going to be rereading a comfort book anyway. It takes an incredibly long time for the details of a book to really fade, for some reason. If I sat down and really thought on it, I could probably piece together a decent impression of books I read in junior high.
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I know some people who teach writing are big on the reread a book to study it and break it down so you can see how a narrative structure /works/, but I'd argue that if you'd rereading something for that purpose, it's kind of in a different category than just rereading. Then you're working and I don't think you read in the same way you do when you're reading for pleasure. Possibly more akin to the way I reread in university when I was writing a paper on something, where you aren't so much getting something new from the narrative itself, but going over the text with some particular goal in mind.
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