Revisiting a topic - Rereading and why I do it...

I wrote a post about rereading in January of 2010.  I always seem to be pondering this topic around holiday times, probably because I do tend to pick up well loved books during stressful times (i.e. holidays).  I began with a quote that I'll repeat here:

"Tell me what you read and I'll tell you who you are" is true enough, but I'd know you better if you told me what you reread.

~François Mauriac~

Let me add another quote or two about rereading:

  

“There's nothing wrong with reading a book you love over and over. When you do, the words get inside you, become a part of you, in a way that words in a book you've read only once can't.”
~Gail Carson Levine~

  

“No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.”
~C. S. Lewis~

"How I do love books! Not merely to read once but over and over again. I enjoy the tenth reading of a book as much as the first. Books are a delightful world in themselves. Their characters seem as real to me as my friends of actual life."

~L. M. Montgomery~

And especially this one:

"When you reread a classic, you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than there was before."

~Clifton Fadiman~

Well, may I be so bold as to paraphrase the last quote by taking out the word "classic" and replacing it with "book that is dear to your heart"?  In the last couple of weeks, I've read many thoughts of other bloggers about slowing down their busy, hurried pace of reading.  I've read of bloggers wanting to get back to reading the way it used to be for them, usually before blogging.  Cath of read_warbler wrote that she read more books in 2011 than she ever had but wasn't completely satisfied.  She wants to slow down and stop rushing from one book to the next without pondering what she's just learned or experienced.  I love that and it one reason why I like to reread.

For me, rereading is such a wonderful experience.  I know that there are "so many books" and "too little time" and I also know I'll never get to read everything my acquisitive little brain would like to.  But, rereading is immersing oneself in a story that has spoken to you once before.  It's like the fairytales and family stories that a lot of us were told as children.  Did you ever really get tired of those?  It's like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket and settling in for a comforting hug.  The story itself doesn't have to be soothing or happy or romantic.  It can be a favored ghost story or crime novel or whatever floats your boat.  I think it has to be a story though and you have to be carried away.

Stories...they are why I read.  I love stories and tales of magic and romance and justice and honor and families and friends and scary situations and tragic ones and endings that make you sigh and hug the book (or Kindle) to your chest.  

My daughter and I recently went to a stage production of Beauty and the Beast.  It caused me to remember why I always liked Belle so much.  She's a rereader!  I'll leave you with a bit of the lyrics to the opening number.  Belle is visiting the local bookshop and asking whether the proprietor has any new books:

[Belle:] Good Morning. I've come to return the book I borrowed.
[Bookseller:] Finished already?
[Belle:] Oh, I couldn't put it down. Have you got anything new?
[Bookseller:] Ha Ha! Not since yesterday.
[Belle:] That's all right. I'll borrow . . . . . this one!
[Bookseller:] That one? But you've read it twice!
[Belle:] Well, it's my favorite! Far off places, daring swordfights, magic spells, a prince in disguise -

[Townsfolk:] Look there she goes that girl is so peculiar
I wonder if she's feeling well
With a dreamy far-off look
And her nose stuck in a book
What a puzzle to the rest of us is Belle

[Belle:] Oh, isn't this amazing?
It's my fav'rite part because you'll see
Here's where she meets Prince Charming
But she won't discover that it's him 'til chapter three

Well, you've read long enough.  Thanks for listening and I encourage you to try a little rereading.  You might like it!