C.S. Lewis wrote that there are some books that we read breathlessly the first time, because the story is so compelling that we need to know what happened. Once you know what happened, you can read the book again to appreciate the writing and the characters. A great book can be read many times and each time the reader will get something new from it.
I tend to reread when I'm under stress, but I also frequently reread a whole series when a new book comes out. (I'm currently contemplating a Miles reread before the new Bujold.)
I've probably read Little Women, Eight Cousins and An Old-Fashioned Girl 20 times.
Some books I'll try to reread because I didn't care for them the first time, but I heard good things about them from people whose taste I respect. F. Scott Fitzgerald was an author whose books worked for me much better the second time around. Maybe the same will happen with Moby Dick.
If I want to re-read something, my brain will generally not latch on to something new. I can't work up any interest in something new that I previously really wanted to read, *if* I'm currently wanting to re-read something. I can't explain it. My brain wants what it wants.
Good lord, Teppy and I really are sisters or something. I have a stack of new books to read right now. Am I reading any of them? No. I am re-reading
The Vampire Lestat
and
Queen of the Damned,
because my brain wants florid, overwrought vampire comfort food.
Calli, if my copy of Moby Dick hadn't had all those notes and explanations in the back... I probably would have made it through but I wouldn't have enjoyed it half as much so I highly recommend finding a copy with lots of notes. I had two bookmarks going most of the time, one was where I was at in the text and the next was the page that had the next notation.
No. I am re-reading The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned, because my brain wants florid, overwrought vampire comfort food.
Ahahahahaha!!! I rejected Queen of the Damned last night in favor of...
The Witching Hour. Trufax.
Oh god, I love
The Witching Hour.
It's my favorite Anne Rice. And it's been packed in a box in the garage for five years now. I almost broke and picked up a used copy two different times.
I nearly grabbed
The Witching Hour
for bathttime last night.
FEAR THE TEPPY-JILLI MIND MELD. FEAR US.
dcp, my childhood involved my dad reading the Hobbit through the whole LotR trilogy to me over breakfast starting in kinder. I've never touched the books since, but I LOVED it. I've only seen the first movie, because while it got some things right, I didn't want it to displace any of my memories/mental visuals of what my dad's voice reading it created. Gollum wasn't quite right, and I still resent that.
eta: My mom would read me Laura Ingalls Wilder to me at night during the same period. I never watched the show. Seems to be a pattern.
No idea my first book, nor when I started reading, will have to ask my mom. We had/have tons of books. I only found out recently my mother HATED Dr. Seuss and suffered mightily through our love of them, but sees his value. They just make her a little bored out of her gourd.
I had this Howdy Doody book that I was obsessed with, and my mother hated. I can only remember as far back as being able to read it myself, but I'm sure I made her read it to me. It was hilarious! They made a big Howdy Doody out of food! Hilarious when you're 4, anyway...
