Why do people want to read faster? Not least because life is short: “So many books, so little time,” as the saying goes. We don’t want to miss something special, especially if we miss it because we simply run out of years. This is understandable, and when such thoughts pass through my mind I can feel a brief rush of panic. But … it’s rather odd that I tend not to feel that same panic at the the thought of not having time to reread books I already love, even though I know that such rereading will surely be pleasurable. The possible pleasure of an unread book weighs more heavily on me than the sure pleasure of one I already know.
That’s Alan Jacobs in The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction. This passage has been rattling around in my brain off and on for a week or so now for a couple of reasons.
It’s the dilemma, isn’t it, of there being so many good books to read that I want to read faster so I can read as many of them as I can because my lifetime in limited. I know that sense of panic Jacobs mentions and you probably do too. We wish for more time from Santa in our Christmas stockings or Hermione’s time turner in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Or we wish we didn’t have to sleep or that we could read in our sleep with the book under the pillow, quietly absorbing the words (what dreams those would be!). Sometimes I’ve found myself wishing for two heads like Zaphod Bebblebrox in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, or barring the nuisance of two heads, that at least I could hold a book in each hand and have one eye read one book and the other eye the second book.
Do people who don’t read wish for silly things like this? Like, do golfers dream of 24/7/365 golf courses? Or do philatelists worry about not collecting all the stamps they want? I definitely don’t feel as though my life will somehow be incomplete if I miss reading a good book. So what does it matter if I don’t read everything? Because I am not going to read everything.
While wishing I could read more and faster occupies my thoughts now and then, what really made me pause in Jacobs’ passage is the bit about not worrying whether there would be a chance to reread a favorite book. Do you worry about this? I don’t.
Jacobs makes an interesting observation that the possibility of pleasure from an unread book is more desirable than the known quantity, the guaranteed pleasure of a book I have already read and loved. Why is that? In part at least, it is due to the human brain and its desire for novelty. It’s why we like shiny gadgets and social networking websites, and piling up new book purchases. Our brains get excited by new things, the unknown, the unexplored, so it is no wonder from that perspective why rereading is often not such a high priority.
Sure, we know that good books are different every time we read them; we will discover something new we had not noticed before. But when my brain is trying to choose between 300 pages of completely new book or 300 pages in which I might find one or two new things, gimme the completely new! I want the buzz please.
I still feel like I should reread more books though. I try to reread a couple books every year and I am always glad that I do. However, the books I plan to reread are never the books I reach for first when I am ready to start a book. I feel resigned, almost morose and Eeyore-ish, “well I guess I’ll reread Mrs. Dalloway.” As if rereading one of my favorite books is like taking medicine. It never is and I always enjoy myself and end up liking the book more than I did the last time I read it. But there is still always the initial reluctance.
So thinking about rereading, on a whim I requested On Rereading by Patricia Meyer Spacks from the library today. It is about her year-long project of rereading. There are no holds on it so I should have it in a few days. I know some of you have read it already. And while I’ve not seen any I-loved-this-book-so-much-you-really-need-to-read-it reviews, they’ve still been pretty positive. In contemplating rereading, the irony of reading a new book on the topic tickles my funny bone. Shouldn’t I reread one? Or maybe I will have to reread Spacks’ book after I have read it once? Nah, too many other new books to read.
I’ve been thinking a lot about rereading lately. I used to reread as much as I read new-to-me books, and I always found it rewarding, but I just don’t make time for it much anymore–I’m too eager to try the next new-to-me book. I did have some success last year with keeping a book I was rereading at the office and reading it at lunch, but I’m using that time for short stories and essays now. I have a mental list of books I want to reread–I may just have to make a plan for them.
I’ve never been much of a rereader though when I was a kid I was more likely to reread a book than I am now though I am always thinking how nice it would be to readread certain books. I have a mental list too! That was a good idea having a book to reread at the office. But reading essays and short stories at lunch also makes a very nice fit too. Such a dilemma!
What an interesting dicussion. I, perhaps strangely, am that person who worries more about not getting to reread a book than about missing out on unread ones. I have always been a rereader, especially when I was younger. I couldn’t understand people who claimed that they loved a book so much that they must have read it three or four times – that was the number of times in one year that I would reread each of my favourites (unsurprisingly, that is also how I wore out cheap paperbacks after only a couple of years). I now generally reread favourites only once or twice a year or maybe even just every other year, accounting for about a quarter of my total reading. I love the excitement of new book but I always seem to enjoy myself more when I am rereading, loving the familiarity of a favourite story. I always change and grow during the time in between readings so it is never exactly the same experience, which is really what makes it fun.
It seems you are a rare bird Claire! Instead of being drawn to the new, I must work on cultivting your attitude toward rereading in myself because you are right, rereading is never exactly the same experience.
I can understand the feeling of wanting more time to read all the books I want to read. However I have also found that if I am hurrying a book because I want to get on to the next, this may actually mean that I should just drop the current book.
Completely agree Ed. If I catch myself trying to hurry a book it is usually because I am not enjoying it. However, becasue the list of books I want to read it so long, I sometimes catch myself wishing I could read faster and enjoy the book. In which case I then try to read shorter books for awhile that make me feel like I am reading fast, or choose a couple pages turners with lots of plot that ask to be read fast. It’s all about playing tricks on myself sometimes!
This also has been a debate for me. Read new or reread. I usually go for new & don’t worry about the rereading. I loved this post Stefanie. Looking forward to your review on On Rereading.
Thanks Helen! I find I tend to only reread if I plan on rereading. Like this year I am planning on rereading Persuasion by Jane Austen. If I didn’t consciously tell myself that I am going to do this, I rarely would! Like you, I usually go for the new
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I think a lot about rereading–as a matter of fact so often when I finish something I know that I’ve not read it in the careful way I should have and really need to reread it, but then I don’t reread as often as I like. I get very excited about the new and unknown and the thought of some wonderful story that I get to explore. But there are a number of favorite comfort reads that I return to again and again–often rereading them almost every year or so. I usually only have a few rereads every year–certainly something to think about. I’m looking forward to hearing more about the Spacks book.
I finding myself thinking about rereading after I finish a book sometimes too. Like Ulysses, all while I was reading it I thought, this is a good book, I will have to reread it sometime to catch all that I know I am missing the first time through. But now when I think about rereading it I reach for something else. Maybe in a few years. The only books it seems I regularly rereading is Jane Austen and a couple of Woolf books even though there are many other books I’d like to reread there are so many more unread books I want to read instead!
I hadn’t heard of that book… I’ll be interested to know what you think of it. I love re-reading — I have some old favorites that I bring out every 3-4 years. I like to forget certain parts enough that it’s a pleasurable re-discovery. I have found that blogging about books has made me hesitant to re-read, because does it “count” then? This is silly, I know. So I’m trying to re-read as I feel like it (see: the entire Harry Potter series). I love to read and I love to read quickly, although I do enjoy it when a book is challenging enough that I have to read slowly to absorb it. I am reading The Marriage Plot, which is probably my first grownup book (as in, actually takes a few brain cells) since the breakup — I’m enjoying it a lot. It’s not exactly challenging but it does have some nice language here and there. I’m trying to read it quickly however because I have two other books that I really want to read and they are all from the library!!
Interesting that blogging has made you less likely to reread. I think rereading “counts” as much as reading a book for the first time. Maybe rereading is something that needs to be cultivated? I’ve heard good things about The Marriage Plot, not a perfect book but an enjoyable one. I know the demands of library book deadlines well!
There is something very very comforting about re-reads, especially of favorite books. I have not taken the pleasure in a long time, of re-reading a book. There are so many new ones I want to try. I keep telling myself it’s time to revisit some old friends in the pages, that’s why I collect them on my shelves after all, but somehow I keep reaching for the new books instead.
There is something comforting in rereading, isn’t there? Even if it is a difficult book and I’ve forgotten most of it, there is still something familiar about it. But in spite of that, I, like you, keep reaching for the new books.
I’m catching up on weeks of posts, so I commented on your earlier post about Jacobs’ book without realizing that you had another here which does touch on the re-reading thing. And…now I want to re-read Hitchhikers!
Wendy Lesser’s book on re-reading is also interesting (I enjoyed i more when I re-read it, ironically), and I did enjoy Spacks’ book, too. (I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I’d read along with all of the more detailed studies she does of the individual books that she re-reads for this project, whereas I only read those sections when I wasn’t worried about spoilers therein.)
Oh yes, I want to reread Hitchhiker’s too! I’ve been thinking about doing it for some time now. Would make for some great summer reading so maybe I’ll drag those old paperbacks off the shelf and sit in the garden and read them. Lesser’s book pops up on my radar now and then but I’ve not gotten around to reading it. Maybe after Spacks I’ll find a copy of Lesser’s book.
DH Lawrence somewhere says that it is better to read one book six or seven times than read six or seven different books but i guess for most readers that is not very realistic, I think that for most of us there is also a feeling that there is something in what he says.
There is a good case for saying that for most novels that we respond to its the second reading that gives the most pleasure; you are not just gasping for the story.
I recently re-read Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go and certainly got more from that moving novel the second time around.
Most readers probably have other forms of literature that they return to:poems, essays,short stories. Don’t know how many times I have read many of Orwell’s essays or Chekhov’s Ward Number 6.
Oh I’ve heard that quote before! Didn’t know it was Lawrence though. I think you are right about there being a good case that the second reading of a novel is often more pleasurable. It is easier to relax into the the story since we don’t have to be on the alert for every detail. There are poems I return to quite often. I find it easier to reread poems because they are short and I don’t have to read an entire book but can choose just a few. Maybe it’s that pesky time is limited thing that throws it all off for me.
I hardly ever reread now that I’m not teaching books (it’s probably in reaction to that!), and I do try to read faster to get through all those lovely unread books I own. But I would really like to reread more, as I enjoy so many wonderful passages in books and wish I could savour them again or maybe even commit some to memory. Will I do this in the near future? Ummm, probably not……
I think about how cool it would be to commit certain poems and passages to memory too but never put the effort into doing so. It takes so much time, time I could be reading! Ugh. I wonder if we had 1,000 year life spans if we would feel so pressed for time?
I’ve been struggling a lot lately with my to-read pile. I love buying books and knowing they will be there to read but it has begun weighing on me. I want MORE time to read all these amazing stories and meet these wonderful characters. Sigh. I’m trying to work on looking at it more positive but it’s a day-by-day battle.
That battle arrives on my doorstep sometimes too! I figure I’m allowed to have as many books as I want as long as they don’t put me into debt or interfere with daily living. And if I never read some of them, well, it has to be ok.
What an interesting discussion, Stefanie. I often battle with the do I keep it after I read it, will I ever read this again? dilemma. Never mind the reading a new book vs one I’ve already read- there are only a few that make it onto that list to begin with. So why do I keep so many? I’m not sure. I always think that one day I might have to refer to it. Study days die hard!
like you I love new shiny books, all that unexplored possibility. Yet, when I reach for my favourites to reread, it’s just as fun and comfortable and delightful, in a different way – I know these characters, I know how the story unfolds, yet the dialogue and pacing and writing are so good that I can reread to my heart’s content, not finding the flaws that mean I can’t reread it again. It might be I am really picky in my reading, but for me, to reread a book, I have to love it. and they are my comfort as well, there are several that go with me if I move, that I can’t bear to part with. I wonder what Jacobs would make of that? I have his book and have just begun to read it.
Susan, I don’t worry about whether to keep a book until my shelves become so full it is clear they must be weeded. Then it gets kind of easy to choose which books stay and which go. Sometimes after I read a book though I know it is one I would not want to keep so it goes into the books to sell/donate pile right away. I have to really love a book to reread it too, sometimes. Sometimes I reread books that I liked a lot but knew as I was reading them that there was so much in the book I missed so eventually I’ll reread it in order to get a fuller picture of the story. The result is that I usually like more than the first time and then find myself looking forward to perhaps reading it again in the future.
I think everyone had books they can’t bear to part with, even Jacobs would agree to that. I hope you enjoy his book!
I’m probably not old enough yet to have reached a place where I worry I won’t have a chance to re-read a favourite, but talk to me in 30 years and we’ll see how that’s going ;D I do worry about not being able to read ALL the books, even though I know it’s reidiculous and impossible, but perhaps this is just the book lover’s version of wishing for the human wish for immortality (with good health and mobility if you’re listening wish gifting sprites, otherwise I don’t want it!)?
I think you are right about the book lover’s version of wishing for immortality. And I loved your qualification! Must being very careful how you word your wishes because we readers have read plenty of warning stories about that!
Hi Stephanie,
I never re-read books, in fact, as soon as I am finished with a book, I pass it on to other family members or friends.
My TBR mountain is already something of a volcano just waiting to erupt. Me replacing books that I have taken, when I have already filled the space with a new tome, is tantamount to disaster.
I have been sorely tempted by the thought of re-reads, since beginning to blog, where others discuss long forgotten treasures i have enjoyed …. but I need to be strong.
I do not like to rush reading a book though, as I will read every single word, on every single page. I am always amazed by the rate at which some bloggers have the ability to turn out reviews, which can often lead me to having a complex that perhaps I am not normal and my blog isn’t replete with sufficient content.
I also abhor books that are full of spelling and grammatical errors, which problem only seems to have become exaggerated with the onset of self-publishing. Even more worrying are the authors which assure me that their manuscripts have been professionally edited and proof-read, yet are still full of errors.
Great discussion and comments.
Yvonne.