Blogger Bites: When Is It Okay To Reread?

Here’s a modest divergence: I’ve never been the type to reread books.

Well at least, not until I realized that it wasn’t much of a profuse act, after all. I used to think that I’d have to go cavalier before I could welcome the practice, and I thought that because I had already previously acquired the general thought on the sequence of events, it would render reliving it (at least within the confines of my vivid imagination) a colossal misuse of my time. What was the point of reading towards a predictable conclusion, when I could be investing the same amount of time on reading something new and cutting-edge?

I know of a lot of bloggers doubtful of the benefits of rereading for much the same reasons. But of course, there are some things in life that overstep boundaries, which means that though there seems to be too inconsequential a point to rereading for one to invest in it, there also are certain reasons why in some cases, it helps.

Reread the book if it’s that good. There’s nothing wrong with indulging in something you’re into! If you think that a particular title deserves a reread, then don’t hold against yourself the opportunity to do so. In much the same way that some people have watched Titanic or Fight Club at least twenty times over the course of their lives, it’s alright to reread your favorite volume of Harry Potter or Percy Jackson if it genuinely interests you, and if such interest doesn’t decrease exponentially after each successive run through. You can watch it a hundred times over, in immediate succession, and you still adore it as much as you did the first time, so it’s still nothing to feel guilty about.

Otherwise, you’ve got a problem.

Reread the book if you want to give it a second chance. Maybe you just couldn’t appreciate it the first time around because you had such a hard time understanding the context, but now that you’re older, wiser, more mature, and under any other circumstance that involves change, maybe you’ll get it, and consequently, take a little more delight in it. Or maybe you couldn’t get into it the first time because you weren’t open to the genre and it was out of your comfort zone, but if you’ve embraced the genre and opened yourself up to new things, your opinion of the title might just be contradistinctive to the original assessment (not to mention better, if things are looking up for you).

Reread the book if you want to remember how it went. This is extremely beneficial in the case of books in series, because if you’re anything like me, then more often than not, you’re likely to forget the details from the antecedents. Likely, it will make you feel a just little more than

once you get to the books next in line, and rereading the previous titles will serve as an effective refresher course if it’s just in time for the release of the sequel. There’s nothing worse than coming into a book you’ve long since waited for all perplexed and out of your element, after all (well I can think of a few worse things, but you get the picture).

As for me, the one title I’m most likely to reread is Shatter Me, the first in the series with the same name, which is also half an excuse to read the sequel, Unravel Me, which of course, I’m looking forward to rereading due to the fact that it was an amazeballs read, but mostly because

Duh.

 

But of course, there are also times during which a reread is not recommended, especially if you could be doing something more productive, or something less against your will.

Don’t reread a book you don’t want to, in the hopes that by some force of nature, you’ll like it better. Because nine times out of ten, you don’t, and once you realize that you’ve wasted time and effort on something you can never come to love, it’s obviously too late.

I tried to tell you, friend.

Reread only the titles that you want to, whether or not you liked them the first time. There’s no 100% guarantee to liking it, and not just in terms of books, but at least it’s something you’re amenable to. Read something you think you’ll love, and unless you’re adventurous in the way that compels you to put up with a series or a book you’ve never had the taste for, try to focus on the books that won’t potentially disappoint you.

Don’t reread a book immediately before you see its movie. Because otherwise, you’re likely to be hyperaware of all the little details, and will come to notice most of the things the movie changed about the book, which to a reader can get offensive, and make you feel just like,

Oh no you didn’t.

 Try to watch a movie without a refresher, because then you’ll be able to see the bigger picture, instead of become unnecessarily critical of the anomalies and idiosyncrasies (because face it, we’re control freaks in that way. Remember the Percy Jackson movies? Yeah, I don’t want to either). I watched Catching Fire a few weeks prior at a block-screening-slash-charity-event hosted by my school. The movie did switch a lot of things up, and partly because I didn’t reread the book, I thought Sam Claflin the movie was smashing.

Don’t reread a book if you see a trend, and it involves a decrease in overall appreciation. This happens sometimes—you read a book for the first time, and think that you can’t live life to the fullest if you don’t read it more than once. And then you do a second time, and you start noticing all the loopholes, and the shortcomings, and the protagonist gets annoying, and suddenly, it’s not as good anymore. If this happens with every reread, don’t provoke yourself and do it again. Cut the book some slack, and unless by divine intervention, or some other form of instinct you think you’re doing the right thing by not giving it a break, I highly encourage you to do so.

And that’s it! Of course, different people will have different opinions on when to reread, and when not to, so it’s your turn: Do you think that rereading is a good thing? When is it a good thing, and when isn’t it? Disclose your thoughts and opinions in the comments below and let me know what you think! I’ll see you next time 🙂