2017: Year of the ReRead?
Posted on: February 1, 2017
Seems like every time I sit down and chat with my book buddies, the following phrase comes up over and over again:
“That was such a good book. I should really reread that sometime”
As a book blogger, once I’ve read something and posted a review, what’s the point of reading it again? I’ve already reviewed it,right? Shouldn’t I move on to bigger, better, and brand newer things? Netgalley is all about reading the newest stuff, we all brag about ARCs we’ve received, and all that jazz. Isn’t that what being a book blogger is all about?
there is a huge chunk of my brain that is saying “screw that” right now.
I *want* to reread stuff I enjoyed last year, or two years or five years or ten years ago. I want to see if it’s still as good if it still gives me chills if it still scares me shitless if i still have an emotional reaction to it if it still blows my mind and shows me that words are magic. All these books that I keep telling people how good they are, I want to experience again how good they are, damnit!
Books I’d like to reread this year and experience again include:
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Grass/Raising the Stones/Sideshow by Sheri S Tepper
Jeff Vandermeer’s Ambergris books
The Scar/Iron Council by China Mieville
Scale-bright by Benjanun Sriduangkaew
Just about anything by Iain. M. Banks
Defenders by Will McIntosh – will it scare me as much the 2nd time around? I want to know!
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell – I’ve read this I don’t know, five times? Even though I know what’s going to happen the book is a shot to the heart every single time
Faith by John Love
Habitation of the Blessed / The Folded World by Catherynne Valente
I’m sure there are more, but these were at the top of my mind as books that made me fall in love with reading, and made me want to share that love with everyone I meet. I’d like to experience them again. And this isn’t to say I won’t be reading new and new-to-me books in 2017. In January alone I bought 5 books that are new-to-me, and some of them are brand spanking new.
So who knows? Maybe 2017 will be the year of the reread. It’s certainly going to be the year of not feeling guilty about not reading new stuff all the time.
what books would you like to reread, if you had time?
13 Responses to "2017: Year of the ReRead?"
February 1, 2017 at 8:09 am
I’d love to reread Dune and LoTR, but now that I’ve plunged into the world of classic/pulp SFF, I don’t know when I’ll have the time…! So far as problems go, I suppose not so dire, though. =)
February 1, 2017 at 8:25 am
I reread all the time. Obviously I don’t review stuff I reread but that is a different story. My next reread of something I have read recently (i.e. since blogging) is going to be Rachael Bach’s series starting with Fortune’s Pawn.
Nice thing about rereads is I tend to read the book twice as fast as a new book takes me so it doesn’t even cut into review plans by much.
LikeLike
February 1, 2017 at 8:58 am
I vow to reread one book this year (hey, that’s a big deal, I haven’t reread anything since I started blogging!) I want to reread The Secret History by Donna Tartt, you heard it here first:-)
LikeLike
February 1, 2017 at 9:28 am
I’ve only reread, like, 5 books in my lifetime. Cryptonomicon has been the biggest revisit, with 4 rereads (each time finding a new way to relate or enjoy). Dean Koontz’s Lightning holds a certain sentimental value as it’s the book that convinced me that reading was fun and not just a school activity (I was in 8th grade when I read it, and it blew me away), so I reread that on occasion. I reread Old Man’s War once, and some of Asimov’s robot and Foundation series as well.
I wouldn’t mid reading them all again, but if we’re looking at a new reread, I’d definitely need to go with Lois McMaster Bujold. Probably Memory, but anything from around that era in the Vorkosigan series is worth a revisit. I wouldn’t mind tackling the Baroque cycle again as well, though that’s obviously a more ambitious read…
LikeLike
February 1, 2017 at 11:45 am
I used to do a ton of re-reading. Reviewing has really driven me away from it. I do want to re-read Dune, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings this year.
LikeLike
February 1, 2017 at 1:28 pm
Re-reading? I don’t do a lot of it, there are so many new-to-me things I want to read that “going back” just doesn’t happen much. Plus, I’m reading all short stories this month, and from previously unread by me books.
BUT, if I was going to re-read something…let’s see…some early Larry Niven short stories, or The Legacy of Heorot (Niven with Steven Barnes and Jerry Pournelle), or the Fahard & Grey Mouser stories by Frita Lieber (absolutely wonderful), or The Belgariad by David Eddings, which I meant to get to for vintage SF month but didn’t.
Something newer? Perhaps the first Expanse novel, Leviation Wakes, since I got bogged down in the second and have lost track of who’s who and what’s where. Or Coyote by Allen Steele.
LikeLike
February 1, 2017 at 5:36 pm
Last year I did a re-reads challenge, which was fun. I still have a pile of books I want to re-read. I’m also participating in a LOTR readalong this year, plus I’m forever re-reading DWJ and other very favorites. 🙂
LikeLike
February 1, 2017 at 7:20 pm
Over the years I’ve actually reread quite a few books – some more than 2 or 3 times! At the moment, what I’d really like to focus on are all those book of my own, that I rushed out to buy and yet still haven’t read! Then I can find out if I love them and maybe reread them in the future! Time eh! That all being said a reread of Mr Rothfuss couldn’t hurt – or the Bastards for that matter! Jean Tannen *le sigh*
LikeLike
February 1, 2017 at 7:55 pm
I second your desire to re-read The Sparrow. It’s one of the few books I’ve read more than once and it totally holds up to multiple reads. I also want to re-read The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. I guess I’m just in the mood to have my heart broken a time or two.
LikeLike
February 3, 2017 at 8:52 am
I love this! I am a big rereader and always love to see others doing the same. There are a few books rattling around in my head wanting to be reread soon, The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison is at the top of the list currently for me. My problem is that I lend books out and then when I want to reread them I can’t find them…. 😦
LikeLike
February 6, 2017 at 9:28 pm
With so many new books, I find it hard to reread an older favorite book. But sometimes I can trick myself into rereading. Penguin Books is reprinting the Maigret series of mysteries with new translations. So, I’m buying the new versions and reading them (although I’ve read the old translations years ago).
LikeLike
February 6, 2017 at 9:30 pm
What a good list you’ve got going there. I’ve thought about rereading some of my favorties, but there’s just so many new books that I want to get through that I don’t know when I’ll get around to rereading them.
LikeLike
the Little Red Reviewer 
February 1, 2017 at 7:22 am
At least half, if not more, of my projected tbr for ’17 is rereads. I dipped my toes into consciously re-reading last year with some cherry picked favorites, but this year I added 10 series/authors that I wanted to experience again.
I am starting out with Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson and I have to say, it gets better with each read. This is my 3rd read of it and it hasn’t lost one thing but only gained.
So more power to you! Hope you can re-experience some of those…
LikeLiked by 3 people