Rereading

I do not like rereading books I have already read. On the one hand, the books are really good or the movie has come out so I want to refresh myself on the story. However, I expect a book to be just as good a second time and it usually is not. All the surprise of what is about to happen is taken away. The feeling of getting to know each character and watch as they build up their complexity throughout a novel is gone. I still like the book when I reread it, but I think the most important part of reading is learning something new, making discoveries and solving problems. However, when you reread you know how the problem was solved, you know the story line. I ma discover a few new details that I may have missed before or just forgotten, but I never seem to get the same joy out of the book as I did the first time. I wish I liked rereading. I want to get the same reaction I had before, but it is impossible to have the exact same reactions when you already know what happens. Someday I hope to find a book that I can reread over and over again, but I am not sure if I am that sort of reader. I do not read because the book is the best piece of literature. I like to marvel at how each writer writes and some are clearly better than others, but I do not read it again because it was good writing. It is the story that sticks in my head and characters that I remember. Knowing the quality of each writer only helps me to see if I want to read more books by them or move on to someone with a completely different style.