As most of you probably know, I am NOT a re-reader. I just can’t bring myself to reread a book – even a fantastic book – when I know that there are so many books out there that I still haven’t read. That I desperately want to read!! The only time I ever reread books is when I am reading an old favorite along with my kids (and even those are few and far between).
Which is why it baffles me that they LOVE to reread books. ALL. THE. TIME. This past week we celebrated my daughter’s birthday, and the only thing that she really wanted was more of the Warriors books by Erin Hunter. There are like 30 books in this series and she’s read all of them multiple times (some of them, I think she’s read like four times). But she loves these books, and getting them from the library over and over again is just not sufficient. She owns a couple of the series already, but she wants to own them all so that she can read them again and again … and again …
I literally, at one point, had to force her to read something else in between – just to make me feel better, really. Luckily, she has been reading some other things lately, but the Warriors series was still the first thing she asked for when her birthday came around!
My son isn’t quite as bad, but he often rereads as well – and he doesn’t even always reread the books in a series in order! This manages to activate another serious issue that I have – I CANNOT read books out of order! But, if he finds a book laying around that piques his interest, he’ll read it – even if it’s book #3 in a series. Then, he might go back and reread books one and two, if he feels like it. Seriously, it makes me want to hyper-ventilate just thinking about it!
Recently, my son and I had a conversation that went basically like this …
J: Mom, I really want to reread the MILA 2.0 series again. Is the third book out yet? Can you please get the first book from the library?
(At this point, I’m just thrilled that he wants to read them in order! I originally had the first book as an e-book for review, but I deleted it after I was done with it because … well … I was done with it. Then I got a hardcover of the second book for review and my son was super interested in that cover – I finally got him the first book from the library so that he could read them both.)
ME:(Checks Goodreads) Oh, wow! The third book isn’t even coming out until February of 2016. Do you still want to reread the first two right now?
J: Darn! Yeah, I definitely still want to reread them.
ME:(After checking the library status) Sorry, buddy, the first book is checked out right now. I can put it on hold if you want me to.
J: Aw, man. Okay, put it on hold.
Me:(Thinking in my head, “How many times is he going to reread these books before 2016? Oh no! The book isn’t available at the library, and he’s going to just read the books out of order – it’s going to drive me crazy! Hurry, distract him!!”) You know, you should really read the Unwind series by Neal Shusterman. I think you’re old enough now, and it’s one of my favorite series of all time. It’s all about how people will accept crazy things if they’re considered “normal” for society. People decide that it’s okay to basically chop their teenagers up and donate all their parts if they’re bad enough kids. (I know, I’m horrible for describing the book this way, but I know how to get my son’s attention.)
J:(Eyebrows raise in confusion and slight revulsion mixed with a distinct look of “Hey, that’s cool!”)
ME – (“Yes, I have him!! Crisis averted!”)
J: Awesome! Where’s the first book?
(I tell him where to find the books and we have long, meaningful discussions about all sorts of things like the value of life, what makes a person a person, whether or not I’d unwind him – he’s kidding with this question – I think – etc. As soon as he leaves the room, I head to Amazon to buy MILA 2.0 – it NEEDS to be here before he’s done with the Unwind series so he doesn’t resort to reading the books out of order!)
Anyway, I’m pretty sure that you can see who the neurotic one in the family is – and it’s not either of my kids. Really, though, now that you’ve gotten to know me a little, are you at all surprised?
Oh, and I told my son that I’m going to reread the Unwind series with him, so I guess I will be doing some rereading soon, after all.
How about you? Do your kids (or siblings … or parents … boyfriend … whoever) have different reading habits than you that drive you crazy? How do you cope?
I feel so much like you. VERY rarely I want to read a book again, and usually it’s because I read it a long time ago. But it seems to be a kid thing — this rereading. It doesn’t bother me. I’m glad they like to do it. But I don’t understand it when there’s SO MANY book I want to read that I haven’t got to yet!
I think you’re right that it’s a kid thing – I’ve apparently just forgotten my youth! 🙂
I used to reread books constantly when I was a kid. I had about 10 favorites that I read over and over for years. I rarely wanted new books because I was perfectly happy with the old ones. It was the same with TV shows. I had no problem watching the same rerun a hundred times.
Maybe the fanatical rereading has to do with child psychology and the way kids’ brains develop? It would be interesting to find out.
Oooh – that’s an interesting theory! Now I’m curious.
My daughter has a series she has re-read quite a few times and I always ask her when I see her reading it, don’t you want to read something new? LOL! I think it is great though that she loves it so much she doesn’t want to leave the characters and world yet. 😉
At least I got my daughter to read the other Erin Hunter series now, so she’s not JUST reading the cat books! And I am grateful that she loves to read – no matter what it is!
I LOVED rereading as a kid! Nowadays I still love a good reread. It’s harder to incorporate them in because I feel like there is so much else I should read, but I try to reread a couple series and a few favorites every year. For kids, I feel like rereading is probably a little better than rewatching their favorite movies (because then you don’t have to actually hear them all the time).
You’re right that I’d rather have them reread than watching a movie over and over again!!
I think it’s a kid thing!:) Because I myself love rereading-and I guess your kids are roughly as the same age as me- so I can relate to their love to reread!I just never get tired of reading about my favourite characters. Sometimes I reread books and scenes too many times to the point where I’ve actually memorized quite a lot of lines from them:)
Thanks for the “kid” perspective, Mishma!
I rarely want to reread a book, I rather know what’s happening now or next. My son who will soon be 6 loves to reread his favorite books, or rather Mommy reread them…but he will try to read them on his own. I love that HE loves to continually get lost in a book!
Yes, at six this seems totally normal – guess I thought my kids would have grown out of this by the time they graduated to 300+ page books, but that’s not the case!
Ok well, before blogging, I used to be a HUGE rereader. I just find I have less time to indulge now but I LOVE rereading. It’s a way of catching aspects or plot points you might have missed the first time around and I feel like I understand and appreciate everything much more during a reread. Probably because I’m not as compulsively turning pages like a mad woman. haha! Oh and I read the Warriors books as an adult and enjoyed them a LOT. I can see rereading those because there are so.DAMN.many books and so MUCH stuff goes on in just ONE of them XD As for reading out of order? I could NEVER. My OCD tendencies would never, ever let me do that LOL!
Lol. Great post. I cannot read books out of order either!! ARGH! No way. But I do re-read books. Not as often as I used to when I had A LOT more time to read, but I do. I usually pick up a book to re-read when I’m frustrated with a series of bad books. At that point, I just want to read something I KNOW will be good and won’t waste my time. Sigh. This is why I could never be a reviewer 🙂
I sometimes think that I’d love to reread, but I really just DON’T have time. I would never get all the books read that I’m supposed to be reviewing if I took the time to reread!
I was like your kids — I used to go through my whole bookshelf (all the Oz books, all the Narnia books, all the Maida books, etc.) once a year at least. But I still managed to fit in tons of new books. I still like rereading but I don’t have time to read all my favorites again every year!
I reread A LOT when I was a kid. I don’t know if it was because I didn’t get new books all the time, and didn’t have my own money to binge-buy like I do now (yay for ONE perk of being an “adult”!), or if it was because there was something comforting about rereading a book as a kid, about staying with those characters a little longer, knowing the story inside out and coming back to it again and again. There are some books I had to have reread like ten times easily. I was probably a rereader up until my late teens. University took over then and I barely read for entertainment at all. When I came back to reading, I fell into blogging and now I hardly ever reread, even though my inner rereader really wants to! (Try saying that after a few wines!). Also, I don’t think I ever read a series out of order… at least not the first read of it. I may have done this a little with series when I was younger, reading the whole series from start to finish and then just rereading my favourite… I can’t really imagine doing that now though… R x
Yeah, I think you’re right that this is a kid thing. Maybe even reading out of order – I just need to get over it! 🙂
I honestly haven’t paid attention to my Dad’s reading habits. So I don’t know if he has any that would bug me? *laughs*
I used to re-read a lot more before I started blogging. Now it always feels like I don’t have Time to re-read, there’s so many books I haven’t read yet and need or want to review! I do still occasionally pick up old favorites and read them in between other books. And if it’s a series I’ve read before, I have no problem grabbing a random book from that series and reading it again. Usually because I want to read about how a character was introduced, or something specifically that happened in that book.
But for new books? I have to read them in order. Unless I happen to end up with like, book 2 as a review book. And it seems obvious by the synopsis that I don’t have to have read book 1 to understand book 2. But I still prefer to read book 1 first.
I just can’t read books out of order – it makes me crazy!!
Most of the people in my family don’t read much, and the ones that do don’t read the same genres as me, so there’s not much book conversation. I never re-read and have to do a series in order, unless I accidentally got one in the middle, not realizing it was a series, but as a kid I re-read everything. Maybe not so close together as your kids, but I must have read Little Women at least 10 times, and her others at least 5. I plowed through Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden in order and then re-read them. I think it’s a characteristic of childhood, hanging on to something that you really like. Think about the way they watch the same DVDs over and over.
You’re right about the DVD thing – that’s a good comparison. Hadn’t really thought of that.
I LOVE this! Your son sounds amazing, especially since he is reading Unwind 😉 My daughter rereads until the book falls apart, for real. I mean, she’s 3, and it’s ME doing the reading while she “reads” but still, you get my drift. I DID used to reread all the Babysitters Club books, indeed often out of order, when I was younger. Maybe it’s a kid thing. I HAVE been tempted to reread out of order as an adult but I make sure I stop myself 😉
I do think it must be a kid thing. I DO know that the kids re-read constantly when they were really little, but I’d think by the time they got to 300+ page books they’d be less apt to do it – apparently, I’m wrong. 🙂
I understand your pain. I do re-read, but typically they are all stand-alones. The only two – no, three – that are part of a series I will re-read are Outlander, Bloody Jack and Harry Potter (which I NEED to buy). I’ve re-read Outlander several times, but never any of the rest in the series. I’m only in book 5, but I feel like I want to start all over again because it’s been years since I stopped reading. (I also feel like skipping book 5 entirely because that’s how out of sorts I am with it, but I know I can’t.) I’ve read books in the Bloody Jack series out of order, but only because I know the plot so well in each book and maybe I want to read about when she’s in England, or Boston, or Jamaica, or France.
I do have the issue of kids re-reading the same books over and over again in my students, especially when it doesn’t help them get their AR grade because they spend the six weeks reading books they’ve read and tested on before.
So you have good reasons for not wanting the kids in your class to re-read!
Yes, the boys (ALL OF THEM) re-read all the time!! It drives me up the wall. Especially with the oldest kiddo, because he is intelligent and it bothers me he constantly reads Goosebumps and these darn sonic graphic novels!
Husband is listening to GOT after reading the book. Twice. I DON”T GET IT
Ha! Well, my husband doesn’t read at all, so I guess I would prefer that! 🙂
I do agree with you. I very rarely reread books. There are many that I would love to read again, but there are SO MANY books on my TBR!! I just have no time for it.
Exactly – I can’t re-read when I know there are SO many books I still want to read for the first time!
I’m completely with you on this. I haven’t reread in yrs and I never read them out of order. But I think everyone is right about it being a kid thing. I can remember books I reread so many times when I was younger. When I was in jr high I checked The Outsiders out of the school library so many times that the librarian gave it to me when I was moving up to high school.
That was so sweet of your librarian! I don’t really remember re-reading that much when I was a kid – but maybe I’m just forgetting!
My sister sent me a picture one day of her 18-month-old son. She caught him in his room, sitting on the floor surrounded by all the books on his bookshelf. He had pulled them off and was reading them ALL one by one.
Terri M., the Director
Second Run Reviews
So sweet!! I love it that my kids read!
This is interesting. I am not much of a re-reader either, yet my kids were when they were little. Not so much now, although they all still love to read. I re-read books all the time with my kids. It was an entirely different experience when sharing it with someone for the first time. I read the entire Little House series three times, once with each kid.
Yes, this is pretty much the only way that I re-read too. I enjoy reading a book again when I’m reading it along with my kids, though!
[…] Nicole says her kids love to reread. […]
One of my very good friends has re-read Harry Potter and The Hunger Games COUNTLESS times and I’m like, “how?!” there are so many other books to read! And she’ll do it way in advance of the movies coming out, too, and I know she’ll just re-read them again before those.
I’m not a big re-reader at all – I call myself a re-skimmer haha. I like to revisit my favorite parts of my favorite books, esp when I’m in a slump.
Maybe that’s what I should do – re-skim. That’s a great way to get the feelings back from a beloved book without having to spend the time to re-read! 🙂
[…] Let’s Discuss – My kids LOVE to reread! […]
I have never been one of rereading – not because I don’t like the idea of it, but as you said, so many good new books out there! However, I am now buying books that I have read on my e-reader and loved, so I want a print copy. Those ones I do intend to (or intend to try to) reread before I put them on my shelf. Let’s see if I am a true rereader or not!
Good luck with your rereading!