Hi Pammy! I just found the thread we started a few months back. Check it out and see if it works for you. Lots of good posts there (and welcome btw!)

I like to reread books quite a lot! Sometimes It's an author I really love like Lawrence Block's Burglar series. If I can't find anything else to read I'll go back and reread some of them. They are just so funny!!! I also have reread all of Georgette Heyer's Regency Romances. My fav is "A Civil Contract" and I have reread it so many times I can't keep track! Heyer is sort of like Comfort Food to me and I read it when I need an emotional break!!!

I also reread non-fiction like "Guns Germs and Steel". I like certain chapters in that book so I don't necessarily reread the whole thing. That's why I keep certain books in my home library so they are available to reread!

ghoghunter says it well; it's about returning to favorite passages that elicit an emotional response. I rarely reread something from the start to finish although I listen to the same fav. recorded books over and over.
I reread passages countless times.
I don't care about reading more-I want entertainment and escapism and I can easily find that on my shelves.
Sometimes I cull a reading list here and return from the library with stacks -and end up hating all of them. Then I give up ever finding a great book again and return to my friends.
I find books that I truly love only ever so occasionally.

Mostly I reread books because I have a poor memory. This is both a blessing and a curse -- it's great because I'll never be without reading material, but it's a problem when I want to discuss books that I read longer ago than about a month. I may remember a broad outline, but the details flit away.

Some books I want to reread because I really want to inhabit them, maybe because I like the characters, setting, or story so much. I agree with ghoghunter and bumblebeez about the emotional element: sometimes an old friend is needed and only an old friend will do. First-time readings -- of novels especially, for me -- are too fraught and require too much patience. Once I get through the book once, I can then relax and enjoy it more.

Generally, if I like the book after the first run-through, I'll reread it at least once. Sometimes if I don't particularly like it, I'll reread it anyway, maybe after a gap of a few weeks or months -- or years, in some cases. Often I'm surprised at how different my first and second reactions are. Some books I start out hating and wind up loving; some I love initially and subsequently find blah. But I'd never know that if I didn't reread!

I reread Heyer, too. The Grand Sophy is my favorite. it is a visit with old friends. You know what they are going to say, but you like spending an hour in their company. Sharyn McCrumb, while I've read everything (except her latest and there I'm not eager to revisit the NASCAR world, not adverse, just not eager) the only one I reread is She Walks These Hills. In fact, I picked it for my reading group and am a tremble to see how well it is received. I reread less as I age.

I re-read constantly, mainly the old favorites on my shelves which are like old friends. Sometimes I let a couple of years elapse until I can almost hear the book "calling to me." At other times, I have promptly re-read a book having just finished it the first time. Such a one was Undset's "Kristin Lavransdatter", no easy task, as it was a long trilogy. I fell in love with the complex and interesting characters and the vision of Medieval Norway and could not bear to leave that world.

As a child and teenager, I often re-read books. Some I read over and over and never got sick of them. As an adult, I almost never re-read books--until recently. I find myself going back to favorites from 25 or 30 years ago. In some ways they are like new books; in other ways they are like old friends. I certainly see things I didn't the first time, as my life has evolved. But there are very few books in the "worth re-reading" stack.

Chris INV, please do read Sharyn McCrumb's St. Dale. It's hysterically funny, and I'm not a race car fan either.

My favorite of hers is If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O.

Carolyn, I enjoyed St. Dale. She has a new one Once Around the Track that sounds like it could be one of her comic novels. A Group of women have invested in a car, their product is a viagra for women, the crew is all women, and the driver a pretty boy. Came out June 1. I love, love, love the ending to If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O

Oh yes, I love reading favourite passages or chapters from well written books many times over. I quote someone who said "Do you only listen to a piece of music once?"
If I didn't have so many books put aside for dipping into again, I would not need bookshelves! My TBRs are piled next to my bed but are now in several small stacks after a top-heavy lot fell over one night and I woke up panicking that there was someone breaking into my home!
I agree that Heyer is an excellent author to read again and I have done that for the last sixty years. Whichever book of hers that I am reading is her 'best book'! I almost know them by heart. I can even read mysteries time and time again though I know who-done-it. After all, a history book can be enjoyable even though one knows how the event panned out!

Well, doggone it, Chris, how come I didn't know McCrumb had a new book out? Thanks for telling me. Our wonderful independent bookstore sold out to Borders a few years ago, and things have gone down hill ever since.

Chris -in -the Valley..I LOVE The Grand Sophy too!!! I also love Sharon McCrumb and I will have to try these new ones everyone is talking about.

Friedag..I like the "inhabit" thought. Yes some books are like that!! I keep reading the new ones hoping that I will find another one to add to my favorite reread category.

Ugh! It looks like I am going to have to buy a book; my library does not carry The Grand Sophy and I would really like to read it. Paperback swap is coming up blank too.
My general rule is to only buy books that I have read and will want to reread for the rest of my life. So, I'm going out on a limb and hope I like it.

Thank you, CindyDavid!
Isn't that just freaky/crazy that the thread mentions "Charing Cross Road"!!

It's a good thing to get rec's on books that deserve more than one reading, too!

Bumblebeez, Let us know what you think. Have you read any other Heyer?

I usually do not re-read books. There are exceptions, of course. I re-read George Gissing. I have a rather good memory and quickly get bored with most books a second time around. The world has so many books I've never read to re-read too many. A small example would be the stack of 49 TBR's next to the computer. Since I do not usually re-read, the real mystery is why I've got so darned many books. As my husband says, it must be a comfort thing for me.

PAM

I'll let you know Chris. I have read some Heyer but it was a long time ago and I don't remember it one way or the other.
I want to read the piece de resistance.

I love Georgette Heyer. The Grand Sophy is very entertaining, but I also love These Old Shades and Venetia too. One that I have read again and enjoyed more the second and third time around better than the first is The Talisman Ring. At first I liked the story of Eugenie and Ludovic best, but then I realized I really liked Tristram and Sarah's story better. And I laugh over and over again as I read it.

If I enjoy a book, I generally re-read it. Many of my books I have read four, five, six times, and true favorites a dozen or more. You can see why good quality bindings and paper are important to me. I want my books to endure.

Most book I don't think I'll ever re-read I give away, often to the Friends of the Library used book sale, but sometimes to a friend I think will enjoy it better than I did.

Rosefolly