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For me, rereading just feels like missing out on the excitement of finding something new. A fresh story, a different perspective, an author I haven’t met yet. So I usually skip rereads and pick up something new instead.

Re-reading a book is a lot like re-watching a film for me, I don't want to do it immediately, but there is value in doing it some years later where the details become less certain. I'm actively aware that even during tasks such as talking, my brain condenses and throws away most information. The import thing really is to develop and capture the right abstractions.

There are a few books I have gone back and read simply for enjoyment, for example Hitch Hiker's Guide to the galaxy was a pleasure to read. Some more dense materials that I know I will gain a lot from, I find it difficult to muster the motivation to re-read.

“Rereading, an operation contrary to the commercial and ideological habits of our society, which would have us ‘throw away’ the story once it has been consumed (‘devoured’), so that we can then move on to another story, buy another book, and which is tolerated only in certain marginal categories of readers (children, old people, and professors), rereading is here suggested at the outset, for it alone saves the text from repetition (those who fail to reread are obliged to read the same story everywhere)..." - Balzac

  "All that can be done is for each of us to invent our own ideal library of our classics; and I would say that one half of it would consist of books we have read and that have meant something for us and the other half of books which we intend to read and which we suppose might mean something to us. We should also leave a section of empty spaces for surprises and chance discoveries."

  - Italo Calvino

I read a lot of non-fiction, and while I'm definitely guilty (and proud of it!) of sentimentally holding onto old books, I think the value of having a personal library isn't to show off what you've read (an added bonus), but to be able to go back and reference books / passages when inspiration strikes or you realize your memory's gotten a bit fuzzy on a topic. Re-reading a book in its entirety is great. But sometimes just pulling back up a specific passage or chapter is all you need.

Even "simple" books can be surprising. On my first reading of Jurassic Park I had no idea that it was about startup culture - no really! It's not even from the Sci-Fi section of the bookstore!

I’m not sure when it started but I seem to read Pratchett’s Night Watch at least once a year on average for the last decade.

Don’t think i’ll stop anytime soon. :)

When reading a work of fiction for the first time, I'll usually DNF it if I get halfway through and haven't yet reached a point where I realize, while reading quickly, that I'll want to re-read it slowly. Lots of crud out there, especially in "genre" fiction, and life is too short to read crud when the world is full of more good stuff than a person can ever get to.

Always appreciated Taleb's quote on this:

> A good book gets better at the second reading. A great book at the third. Any book not worth rereading isn't worth reading

I try to re-read The Lord of the Rings every year around Bilbo's birthday (Sept 22nd) some years I do not complete it, others I do. But it feels nice to go back to some old 'friends' and familiar places from time to time...

I like how this advocates the opposite stance of a post from a day or two ago that argued for letting yourself "forget" books and reading widely.

I think they can both be correct, and at the end of the day we shouldn't worry too much about being optimal. Leave some books quickly, keep others that feel deep enough to return to. Read for both learning and for pure entertainment. Read books that you already know you'll like, but leave room for some that could surprise you.

I reread and thoroughly enjoy "main sequence" John Irving novels every few years (at least Garp, Owen Meany and the criminally underrated Son of the Circus). I cannot recommend them enough.

For me, the most important statement is:

>Rereading a book can give you an insight into how you’ve changed since you last read it.

Said in a different way, I noticed I understand from a different perspective some of the books I re-read.