Friday Poll: Reread

[trinityvixen]

I keep leaving behind books that I'm really keen on. Weekend before last, I left my biography of The Beatles at a friend's place. This week, I've gone and left The Stand at another friend's apartment.

Pity, that, as The Stand is my inspiration for this first Friday Poll in forever! I got a copy from my brother for Christmas (so thanks arcfox7!), but I had been studiously avoiding it for any number of reasons. Chief among these reasons, however, is the fact that, once I picked it up, I would be hard-pressed to put it down. But then I left the book I was reading behind and there wasn't enough depth to the comics I had out from the library, nor video games enough to distract me. I picked it up and started to read and promptly lost as much sleep to it as I had to Mass Effect 2. (Okay, maybe not quite that much, but a lot.)

I have read The Stand three times before. I love it, unabashedly, to pieces. The mini-series made of it is one of my favorites of all time, and probably the best Stephen King-to-film transition ever. I love it. I haven't had my own copy in ages, so I haven't reread it as often as, say, Pride and Prejudice, but I would have had I had a copy.

I mentioned this to my former roommate (ironically, it was at her home that I forgot The Stand), and she seemed doubtful when I assured her that, yes, just about every year I reread Pride and Prejudice. Last year, I cheated, reading only Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but I did watch the BBC miniseries (best novel-to-film transition, for any work, any author, any medium, EVER). I suppose that I am a terrible reader, and that you will judge me as such when I confess that I'd rather reread something I love than try something new.

I'm curious, though, if any of you have similar reading habits. Hence the poll.
[Poll #1524813]

Comments

[equustel.livejournal.com]

Oh Lord, I often berate myself for being so attracted to old favorites sitting on my shelf when I have a to-read list that's an eternity long.

Off the top of my head, books I read AT LEAST once a year are:

The Iron Ring by Lloyd Alexander (SO UNDERAPPRECIATED)
The Black Stallion by Walter Farley
Birth of the Firebringer by Meredith Ann Pierce
Till We Have Faces by CS Lewis
A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle

...I have never read The Stand, but once I finish King's Dark Tower series I plan to do so. I've only ever heard awesome things about it.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I finished the first Dark Tower book last year. I couldn't get into it. Which is odd because I read a short story in one of his collections that was set in that world that I really liked. I'm going to try and give it another go, read at least one more book. I'm told it picks up after the first two, but I still think that that is an awfully long way to take a reader with little to no pay-off. Or, at least it's a long way for me.

I look forward to hearing what you think of The Stand. I think it was in On Writing that Stephen King talks about how people generally fall into two camps--the usual, love it/hate it division. It was one of the first truly door-stop length books he wrote, and it is one of his favorites, one he considers his master work. These things can create all sorts of blowback by fans, especially those who preferred other novels. I'm in the "Love it!" camp. Granted, it was the first post-apocalyptic novel I ever read, and it has the weight of favoritism for me, too, at this point. It'd be nice to hear from someone coming to it with fresh eyes.

[equustel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm still not in love with the Dark Tower series, TBH. On the third book right now and while it's involving and certainly impressive, I don't think I'm in a hurry to finish the rest - I plan to do a lot of other reading in-between volumes.

What's interesting about it, though, is how King's writing changes with each book - he wrote them over the space of 2+ decades, after all. You can really see how he develops as a writer, and how his interests change. Each book has been wildly different in style and content than the last.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I look forward to that, then. His writing has changed over time, sometimes for the better, sometimes not. What I'd really love is for him to go back to writing short stories. I think that's his best work, really, even though I like The Stand most.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

The Iron Ring? Really? I was kind of meh about that one, and I'm a Lloyd Alexander fan. (I once wrote to him and he wrote me back, even.)

[equustel.livejournal.com]

Yes, really! It's my favorite of his books - very formative in my youth. My best friend and I were in love with it at age thirteen, so you can call some of it childhood attachment, I guess - but every time I've returned to it as an adult I haven't liked it any less.

Offhandedly, the paperback they have in print of it right now is rather fugly; it always makes me sad to see on the shelves at bookstores. I own the hardcover which is much lovelier - I wish they'd use this cover for all editions.

[viridian.livejournal.com]

There weren't really answers that applied perfectly, but mostly I reread if:

A. it's a childhood favorite -- I used to reread books ALL THE TIME before I had the internet, so those have a nostalgia factor.

B. it's part of a series and I've forgotten what happened between books -- if I ever try to get any further in Wheel of Time or The Song of Ice and Fire, I'm going to have to do this, because I have no idea who half the characters are by now, or what happened in the previous books, and catching up via wikipedia or whatever doesn't really work when it comes to regaining my interest in the story.

C. They're stupidly fluffy and I'm on vacation or sick or just not in the mood for something new or complex. I've re-read the whole Anita Blake series this way.

Occasionally I'll reread the odd book that doesn't fit into any of these categories, and my reasoning for that is pretty much "I wanted to."

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Strangely, I don't have many I consider "childhood" favorites that I revist often. Once, twice a decade, I might go back to them. But the few that I revisited most often are those I read in high school. Maybe that counts as childhood? (I certainly feel an inclination to call those as are in that age of life "youngin's" so maybe?)

I rarely have to reread series. I'll just plunge on ahead. Not always the best idea, of course. I'm frequently confused.

Fluff is fun, but the less weighty things often don't tempt me to reread them, you know? Like, I read it, it was adequately entertaining, but now I'm done. I'll read a whole series of books in that vein (like the Mr. and Mrs. Darcy mysteries, though those are really the fault of liking Pride and Prejudice more than is healthy in the first place), but not the same book over.

[oblvndrgn.livejournal.com]

Pretty much this. If it's a book I enjoy for the book itself (read: the writing and pacing, not just the story) then I can enjoy it again even knowing the ending, I'll read it more than once. And I've done B a lot, especially with R R Martin. The jerk.

C I've done with Discworld primarily, I just need something to read and I don't want to research a book and go to Borders, I'll just go through a bunch of books I've read before. I think I might be more likely to reread fluff books like that or Dresden files than something heavy. (PS: Jim Butcher was inspired by the first couple Blake except writes books without awkward orgies. Try it!)

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Pratchett got too heavy for me to pick up as fluff any more.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

I very, very rarely reread books. In middle school, I reread almost all the books my parents had read to me. And I've reread Phantom Tollbooth seven times. But there are so many books that I want to read, and so few that I get to, that I just can't understand spending the time on a book I've already read.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

See, I feel guilty for rereading when my backlog is so long, but I still would rather reread a lot of the time. Especially when the stuff at the top of the log is less interesting to me.

[oblvndrgn.livejournal.com]

Thought: Is this related to movie watching habits for most people? I rewatch movies about as often as I reread books, which is to say, not very often and only for favorites (and then like three times, tops). Some people reread a book every year and have watched a movie 10 times. Are these the same people or is that not consistent?

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I don't know. Generally, I would think not. I rewatch movies loads, not nearly with the same specificity as I revisit books. For one thing, the time commitment with a book is usually greater. But it's a fair question. Do people in general prefer new things to old and does that trend continue throughout their entertainment options?

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

I've got a mix - some are the actually quality books (like Pride and Prejudice) and some are the mental equivalent of eating brownies when you're upset - they're comfort food. I figured out a long time ago that watching Mercedes Lackey torture her characters stopped me from torturing myself.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Generally speaking, I save the tortured soooouls rereading for fanfic, but the idea is basically the same. When I need a good emo fit, it's always available :)

[lithoglyphic.livejournal.com]

When I was a kid I reread things all the time. Since growing up, I almost never do. I suppose it's because I have a near-endless supply of things I'd like to read now and haven't gotten around to.

Things I probably reread at one point or another: Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

I do compulsively *keep* books, but more as reference (should I become suddenly curious about some quote I half-remember) or for lending.