Read Your Favorite Book Again

by Randy Murray on August 8, 2013

There are so many, many books to read. I have a lifetime of reading ahead of me, and that only includes books already written and published.

So why would I read a book that I’ve already read?

There are many reasons to re-read books. Some books are like old friends. They are comforting to read and spend time with once again. There are other books that I find that I did not read well enough the first time, or enough time has passed that I do not remember the details.

Some books provide me, a writer, with keys to the art form. I read to see how another writer shaped my experience, used language, and, sometimes, where they failed.

And most frequently I re-read books because I have changed, the context of my life has changed, and I need to know if these books can still speak to me and offer me insights into myself and my situation. They often do.

And perhaps most frequently, I re-read some books because they are great fun.

Scholars talk about deep reading. It’s a slow process. It requires several readings of the material. It also requires the reader to slow down and think about the subject. It requires time and concentration. But it’s a valuable tool to discover meaning and relevant information.

If you found a book to be really useful, interesting, or satisfying and entertaining, it might be worth re-reading it, or even deep reading it to get more out of it. And if you find yourself saying, “I have too many new things to read to stop and read something again,” it may be that you aren’t getting what you need out of the books that you have already read.

Slow down. Look back at the books you’ve read. There may be more value in them than in the books you haven’t yet read.

The Read Your Favorite Book Again by Randy Murray, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

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