Revisiting & Revitalizing Old Favourites

Joining LT to track my reading about a decade ago, and comparing myself to others, I discovered I'm a slow reader who has read surprisingly few books in my lifetime. That kind of shocked me, I've never been without a book since I started reading and I read far more often than anybody else in my family, among my friends, etc.

Anyway, it got me super serious about buckling down and setting goals. My reading selection whimsy went out the door and it's all about the researching to build reading lists now. It also put a complete stop to any notion of reading the same book twice - no time for that!

But since then, I've built a gradual notion of books I ought to revisit. Mostly books I read too soon and no longer trust my impression of, or old favourites I'm curious about how well they'd hold up now; or after reading discussion about a book I once read and realizing, I remember absolutely nothing about it beyond a vague impression.

I'm also intrigued by the idea of 'getting something new from a book every time you read it'. I've played with the idea of picking one book and purposely revisiting every five or ten years, to see what happens. Can't decide which book warrants that, though; odds are it would be something like Middlemarch or another classic.

I have a grace, in the sense that I prefer to follow the list from 501 Must-Read Books that's only half as many. 150 down, so far. And I've written off about 100 as books that don't interest me enough to make me read them, list or no list.

I've re-read books in the past, usually because I like then but have forgotten most of what was inside. However, my reading speed was super fast prior to university, which slowed me down a lot, I assume from making mental notes and critiquing as I go. My reading speed hasn't changed much unless I put effort into turning off "college brain." Since then I've re-read much less, but I have referenced books a lot more, going back to read passages that I recall or just liked. I discuss books a fair bit with my friend and sometimes it's just easier to still have the book around then to try and find the right portion online.

I pretty much read exclusively horse books, then exclusively fantasy, plus whatever school made me read, and it wasn't until I started going to university that I realized what a poorly read person I was. I could beat out the average person in books read, but not the average English major. When I found my first reading challenge (which was from 2016 and I'm still working on it) was when I decided to diversify. I started taking recommendations from other people, and now my book stack has gotten a little out of control.

I think my record is 3 times for e-reading a book, Evermeet, Island of Elves tied with I, Strahd, but only because I can't remember how many times I read Fantastic Mr. Fox back in elementary school.

I'm also looking at the lists now, but I've decided to focus my efforts on the "Canada Reads" nominees list. I think only three of the books on it are ones I've read.

I often re-read books because a book cub selects something I read a while ago. When I was a teenager, I read dozens of classics. When I turned 30, I spent about 3 years re-reading them.....they were totally different books to me then as I had matured.

I have certain favourites that I've read multiple times: Not Wanted on the Voyage by Timothy Findlay and The God of Small Things by Arundathi Roy for example.

Sometime a TV show or movie inspires me to revisit a book (even though I don't want the shows). This year, I re-read Alias Grace for example.

>6 frahealee:, I still have a "Reader's Choice Top 100" pamphlet I picked up in a Chapters store, with no date printed on it. The Da Vinci Code is ranked #1, and only the first five Harry Potters are in it, so I figure it's probably circa 2003.

>10 frahealee:, same here, not a list I'd strongly abide by. The ones that were "of their time" jump out. But I've read 65, and I see 8 more I'll read eventually.

I've read 69 of them. Will never read them all as some (like Harry Potter) don't appeal to me.

My list is a pittance! But 17, and take off Harry Potter and it's 13. Subtract Tolkien and it's 9. Ouch.

A few books on there I've never even heard of, and some I sort of looked at or just never finished. Those were often for school, like Brave New World or The Outsiders. I got a little ways into The Secret Garden when I was in elementary school (still own the same copy), and about halfway into Watership done but that was a bit of a slog.

The Secret Garden, Dune, and The Stone Diaries are all in my tbr list for next year (which I've wrapped individually so it's somewhat random what I get to). They're all books I've had around for a decade or more with the intention of reading, but have yet to get there.

Hmmm... I've read 86. I guess I read popular literature?