Video games have replayability. Movies and television have rewatchability. These are very common, but what about rereadability? That book that you always come back to when you feel like reading something. You know the one. The book you have practically memorized and you still try to read it every once and a while because something about it just brings you back.
For me this is Ender’s Game even though I haven’t memorized it. Something about the characters and atmosphere of the world grips me every time. Ender Wiggin is an interesting character and his siblings share his level of depth. There is a fascinating history woven into the book, which explains the mentality of the adults. Overall, I think it’s a full-package of greatness and I can’t put my finger on the exact reason. That might be why I keep coming back. To catch that elusive key to rereadability and understand why Ender’s Game grips me.
So, what book have you read multiple times and will probably read again? Have you figured out why you keep reading it?
Legends of Windemere 
Ah! I have some books I ever return back to. A Week in Winter by Marcia Willett is one of them. This book encompasses the complexity of emotions and relationships; something which I find intriguing. Set majorly in the English countryside, this book is the one I’d want to read sitting by a fireside with a mug of hot chocolate in front of me. There are other such books, can I mention them? Well, it is better if I do not do so… otherwise, this comment will equalize your post in its length.
I guess, we return back to these books because we have left a part of ourselves in them when we read them for the first time. Or may be it is so that we have come to admire the characters and the story so much that it beckons us to visit those pages again.
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Good point. I could have added a bunch of books too. You’re right that a part of ourselves is left with the books we return to. Almost like a spiritual bonding, so you can never fully separate from it.
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I really enjoy of the Harry Potter books and have read them all several times.
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I hate to admit that I’ve only read the first. A few obsessed friends would read the books immediately and tell me everything. Stole the magic.
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I have a long list of books I reread almost every year. Ender’s Game is at the top of the list, along with Citizen of the Galaxy. They are like good friends I can always turn to when I need a brief escape from life. They just make me happy, even just thinking about reading them makes me happy. Now, if I could only figure out what makes me want to reread them, so I can add that element to my writing.
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I’m in the same boat. No idea what it is, but I really want to bottle their secret of rereadability.
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I have re-read some classic popular fiction novels from the view of critic and writer and I must say some don’t hold up and others really do. Mailer’s first book Naked and the Dead was really disappointing. War and Peace held up.
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I’ve never tried reading War and Peace. Not much of a heavy drama reader and people tell me it’s a rough read. Interesting how some books don’t hold up against criticism, but they’re great reads for fun.
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Reblogged this on Juliana Writes and commented:
I have a long list of books I reread almost every year. Ender’s Game is on the top of that list, along with Citizen of the Galaxy, Little Women, The Dragon Keeper Chronicles and The Sword of Shannara. Such wonderful friends and companions through my whole life. Now, if I could only capture that elusive rereadability element for my own writing.
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books I keep rereading include Tolkien’s LOTR trilogy, Herbert’s Dune and these I re read because of the complexity of the worlds they invented as well as great characters. Along the lines of literature books that keep calling me to re read them Cervantes’ Don Quixote Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons, Dostoyevsky Notes from the Underground and Kerouac’s On The Road. I just think these are extremely well written books… there are others too
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I don’t go back to LOTR nearly as much as people think, but I do go back to The Hobbit. On The Road seems to be very popular. I heard it’s a love it or hate it book.
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Ender’s Game is incredible. I also like the two novels with the same storyline from the perspectives of other characters. I tried Card’s other books hoping for another Ender’s Game, but alas, the warning in the introduction had been correct. 🙂
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I liked Speaker for the Dead, but I don’t read that as often as Ender’s Game. Xenocide was iffy because I felt it was all over the place at times. I’ve tried Card’s other series too and it didn’t have the same impact.
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I have to agree with Rosie Amber – I’ve lost count how many times I’ve reread the Harry Potter books and I’m sure I’ll come back to them again before too long.
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Do you see something new every time you read them?
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I have a couple of novels that I have read and reread many times, the first is “The Red Badge of Courage” by Stephen Crane and the other is “The Historian” by Elizabeth Kostova. I just love these two books and have both of them in paperback and hardcover. To me the stories are fascinating because of their historical settings, being a lover of history, and the characters are so very well done. Its very likely that they will be read again in the future since I never get tired of them.
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That’s very cool. Nice to have those books that keep bringing you back.
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I have yet to find a ‘serious’ book that I re-read but I do have certain books that I will read again if I need to really escape from it all for a while. Mostly romances so not on a par with your other commenters lists! 🙂
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Those count. I used to read ‘The 2,000-Year-Old Man in the Year 2,000’ a lot, but I lost the book.
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Mine is Fours Crossing by Nancy Garden. It’s a YA however i love it so much and even though I’ve read it so many times and know exactly what’s going to happen, i just love rereading it.
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I read a lot of YA, so nothing wrong with that. 😉
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I have to say the Harry Potter books. I read them, then read them with my son, and am now reading them with my daughter. We read a chapter every school night. I can’t think of any other books that I’ve reread in their entirety. So many books to read, so little time!
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I so have to read more than the first book. Before I get pounced on, I’m a slow reader because I check back for foreshadowing or facts. My friends who were really into the series left me in the dust. One of them would send me spoilers or tell me because she thought I would appreciate it. Memories are starting to fade, so after editing and everything, I might give it another go.
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You should. They are great books. I’ve found that the more I learn about the craft of writing, the slower I read. I could blaze through a book when I was reading it for pure enjoyment, but now I have that inner critic nagging me. I find myself, stopping and thinking, “Oh, well they broke THAT rule. Hmph. Let me read it again. Well, it works.” And I’ve noticed things with Rowling’s book I hadn’t noticed before. There are certain books I read to study the craft (like many on the Modern Library top 100 list). I want that inner critic analyzing every word in those cases, but I want to be able to turn it off and just read at other times and it’s not always easy to do now.
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I’ve just been waiting for the spoilers to fade from my mind, which doesn’t happen because I keep watching the movies.
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Well, the books are always better than the movie.
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