Re-reading ????

[RandomMan]

Whats your opinion and have you done it???? I have never re-read a book. There have been times that I have put a book down for a while and had to go back several pages to pick it back up. I want to re-read Hearts as soon as I get done with DT VII but am afraid I will get bored as I begin remembering it. What is your experience???? Thanks for your time.

[Cowboy]

I re-read the Dark Tower books several times waiting for the next one to come out.

[sueb84]

I constantly re-read books. In fact, in order to keep our library to a manageable count, I will finish a book and if it's a candidate to be re-read at some point, it stays. If I finish it and it's not worth another look it goes to the local second hand bookstore.

[Agincourt Concierge]

I re-read DT series (especially while waiting for them all to come out)...plus I have re-read many of Sai King's works as well as LOTR....I've taken that journey many times....

[nunu_chis]

I generally don`t like to re-read books, but I have done it three or four times: with Harry Potter 5 and 6 because (I read the 5 in English and then in spanish and the 6 twice in English but the second time I understood it much better), I also re-read some Agatha Christie`s books that I had read years ago, so I didn`t remember much.

[gallan1]

i'm in the process of starting at the beginning and rereading all of stephens books ...its been years since i read the older ones ...what i have found is i read differently now...its hard to explain hahha i guess its maturity ...so far i am enjoying the books (i'm only up to different seasons). yes i know the outcome ..but the ride is different .....does that make any sense

[DragonEyes67]

I have been meaning to reread the Dark Tower series myself.

I find that the books I reread most often (at least King books) are the short stories.

The books that I have reread the most in my lifetime are The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings series. My favorite story of all time.

[SKfan2006]

i love to re-read since you discover details you don't remember from the first reading.

[Presque Vu]

I re-read some books, and it was never boring for me to go through the same pages after a while. I re-read Insomnia, Pet Sematary, The Mist, Four After Midnight, Bag Of Bones, It etc. It all depends on how much you love a novel!

[Mr Nobody]

I think you can miss too much on a single read. Almost every book I've ever read has had nuances and meanings I've missed. And books can mature with age (in that, as you get older, your perspective changes, so you actually mature, but it adds 'flavour' to the book, if you get my meaning).
SK's works, more than most, almost demand a re-read, I've found. Especially if you're read others of his in the meantime. There are all sorts of linkages and references to other characters and plot-lines, and they really only make sense on a second time around. Then there are the things you missed or have forgotten within the story itself.
So, for me, half the fun of owning a book is in the re-reading at future points. Besides, what's the point in buying something like a book or DVD if it's a one-shot deal?

[RandomMan]

Thanks for your help...I hope to get the same experience as gallan1...that would be awesome.

[JohnDalglish]

Hi,

Yup, and I've read DT four times now and most of the rest of Sai King's canon more than twice and I find they just improve on re-reading when you have time to appreciate the richness of his prose and descriptive writing without rushing through the story as one tends to do on first read.

Long days and pleasant nights

[belynne333]

AWJS: I can't help but push through to get to the end sometimes.... but on the second trip through I always find things that I missed the first time. I have yet to be disappointed in an SK re-read....I can't even tell you how many times I have read the DT books: while I was waiting for the next book to come out, when I knew the next book would be coming out, once the series was finished, once every couple of years....

[tillyn]

Starting at the beginning and working my way to Lisey"s Story.

[pixiedaark]

I have re-read The Stand and The Dark Tower Series at least 3 times. (Funny thing is that I have to read The Stand before I read The Dark Tower Series.)

I have also re-read Duma Key, Lisey's Story and IT more than once.

I think I have re-read all of SK books except The Tommknockers. :sleepy::sad: Sorry, but I could barely get through it one time!

[Dark Reader]

I read the first edition of The Stand a while back and now i'm reading the uncut version, does that count as a re-read? :glare:

[bopropadop]

Re-reading should be mandatory IMHO. There are so many subtleties missed during a first read. Especially with SK and all of the DT connections...

[TheWalkinDude]

We are all here because we love SK ... and in my opinion ... everything written by SK should be re-read.

I've re-read the Dark Tower series numerous times, each time gaining something new out of the series.

I am currently re-reading everything that SK has ever written in publication order ... and throughout my quest, I have realized that I could re-read King ... over and over for the rest of my life.

[biodroid]

I would like to re-read, Pet Sematary, The Shining and Tommyknockers. I read them over 15 years ago and my Pet Sematary is falling apart so time for a new copy

[Cognac]

um .. . YES!! DO IT!!! MAKES IT BETTER!!!!

[Guershom]

Whats your opinion and have you done it???? I have never re-read a book. There have been times that I have put a book down for a while and had to go back several pages to pick it back up. I want to re-read Hearts as soon as I get done with DT VII but am afraid I will get bored as I begin remembering it. What is your experience???? Thanks for your time.


I think the dilemma is : will the second reading enhance your knowledge and taste of the book, or on the contrary spoil it ? Oddly enough, I reckon I've never read any of Stephen's novels twice...short stories yes, a few of them, but as for novels I'm perhaps afraid I'll be somehow disappointed with the second reading...I will read Insomnia and The Stand again, but it doesn't really count since I couldn't finish Insomnia (the only time it happened to me with a King book...maybe 'cause I'm an insomniac myself) and I'd only read the abridged version of The Stand.
But yeah, re-read Pet Sematary, Dead Zone, Cujo,...why not ? I'm so different a man now...but wouldn't it create a wave of nostalgia to read with an adult's eyes stories I discovered and enjoyed greatly when I was a teenager ?

As for your question about Hearts of Atlantis, I would advise you not to re-read it again if you can still remember the story, aside from the general pattern I mean.

Also, there are so many novels I want to read and haven't so far (including several by Stephen) I tend to think it's better to discover new ones.

[JohnDalglish]

I think the dilemma is : will the second reading enhance your knowledge and taste of the book, or on the contrary spoil it ? .

Hi,

Enhance, in my experience, certainly in the case of Sai King.

I think most of us read the first time for the pure story, but on subsequent reads one can appreciate more the quality of the prose and also the inevitable subtexts present in all his work IMO.

Long days and pleasant nights

[Haunted]

i'm in the process of starting at the beginning and rereading all of stephens books ...its been years since i read the older ones ...what i have found is i read differently now...its hard to explain hahha i guess its maturity ...so far i am enjoying the books (i'm only up to different seasons). yes i know the outcome ..but the ride is different .....does that make any sense

I think you've got it! You are a different person today than when you first read those books. Enjoy your journey.:biggrin2:

[Haunted]

John makes some wonderful points here. I am not a re-reader except for The Stand and Salem's Lot. I read the abridged version of The Stand and when the unabridged version came out bought and read that! I will re-read it again as it is one of my very favorites.

I just recently re-read Salem's Lot. This was my first King book. I was blown away by my re-read experience. It was like reading it for the first time.:biggrin2:


"And yet they both knew, of course. They were not alone."

[Merlsmom]

Before discovering Sai King I used to never re-read a book save for the LOTR series, but I find that reading King works again and again is like being at an archeological dig. One unearths new and exciting things with every layer and it takes several reads to sift through all the layers. That's why King rules, IMO.

[aussiewonder]

There are a few I re-read by accident, like Rose Madder, it had been so long since I had read it, I still enjoyed it. I do intend to re-read DT, but I have so many books I need and want to read, I will have to get to it later.

[nosila]

I'm a huge rereader. An amazing book can be reread dozens of times without it ever getting old.

[smooth operator]

The first time I read a book, I read very quickly, so that I can see what's going to happen. If it was a good book the first time around, I will pick it back up after a few months (or longer) and re-read it more slowly, to savor it, if you will. I am re-reading The Stand (unabridged) right now. For me, a good book is like a good friend - I often revisit them.

[daffyrocks]

I'm a huge rereader. An amazing book can be reread dozens of times without it ever getting old.

I couldn't agree more! I'm the same with movies, if I love them, I can watch them over and over and over and..... !!! I have re-read so many of SK's books and have never tired of them yet! Is it bad to admit I have read IT so many times I almost have it memorised?!?! :blush:

[delores 74]

I re-read books, much to my husband's annoyance...lol. I've re-read several of SK's, Delores Claiborne being the one I've re-read the most. At last count it was around 7 times. Re-reads of the older ones are planned, as soon as I get done reading the stack of books I got from my mom and my ex-mother in law.
Non SK books I've re-read are Helter Skelter, Step Into My Parlor (the Jeffrey Dahmer true crime), Small Sacrifices (Diane Downs true crime), and Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series.

[hysteria_625]

I love to reread. The Stand has become a yearly reread and never loses its edge - going on 20 years! I agree too that as I've matured and gone back to reread books I haven't read since junior high or high school I was able to look at them with a differnent eye/mind. I just finished rereading The Tommyknockers. This was the first SK book I read in junior high and one of the few SK books I'd not reread. It was like rediscovering an old friend.

[LOTUS]

An amazing book can be reread dozens of times without it ever getting old.

You said it.:smile2::smile2::smile2:

[King Jacob]

I don't reread often. I've yet to even reread The Dark Tower series, but I will before the year is out.

[Girl87]

I haven't re-read a book yet. But plan to read Black House. I started last summer with it, never finished the book. And now I'll try again.

[Doc Wilson]

I just began a re-read of the SK cannon. I found that the ones I've read over twenty years ago are just vague memories now.

A couple of times now I've picked up one to re-read that was too familiar to enjoy and had to put it back down. I can't stand to re-read something if I know page to page what is going to happen.

I just ordered a copy of Cycle of the Werewolf, looking forward to having a go at re-reading it.

[Mephisto]

Man, when I was in college, and especially in grad school, it seemed like there was no such thing as just reading a book once, LOL! But when reading strictly for pleasure . . . ? Sometimes I'll read a book a second or third time if I had a good experience with it in the past, but there are usually several years between reads.

[scarywriter]

one of the great things about a book much more than movies or tv is that the reader brings him/herself to it. Personal experience, age, social status, education and a whole array of factors can all influence which characters or situations you sympathize with or how you understand it. They will effect what you take away from the writing. As you get older, grow, mature, and generally change you bring those changes to the books you read or reread. So really, imho, every reading is new in a way.

[Matthew.Degnan]

I don't tend to re-read books but I have re-read On Writing 3 times and a few other SK books quite a few times. I only re-read books that are really really amazing.

[Bluey Lunger]

they got this section in most bookstores, the classics. most if not all of them are worth reading time and again. they got this other section in most bookstores, in the "k" section. yeah, so anyway, there's this guy up in maine, stephen king, and like, he's the equivalent of shakespeare, only he's living in our time, man. (sorry, reading pynchon and i'm back in the 60s, or early 70s) shakespeare has been read, spoke, studied. i've done that. i've done the classics. i derive as much pleasure from rereading sk as i have with those others. so...go figure.

[Firebird]

you re-watch movies, why not re-read books?

[teejay17]

one of the great things about a book much more than movies or tv is that the reader brings him/herself to it. Personal experience, age, social status, education and a whole array of factors can all influence which characters or situations you sympathize with or how you understand it. They will effect what you take away from the writing. As you get older, grow, mature, and generally change you bring those changes to the books you read or reread. So really, imho, every reading is new in a way.
That's a very good point. I've reread a bunch of King's works over the years, and the experiences have always been different, depending on my age and education level, etcetera (meaning I had different experiences reading the same works while in high school, my B.A. and M.A.).
Also, rereading quite soon after the initial read also produces different results; you tend to get more out of it, and see more, than the first read through.
Of course, one does not have to re-read everything, just certain favourites (or if you're laboriously studying an author for a dissertation or something), and sometimes one could also just re-read certain passages and chapters as well.

[catnoel]

I have re-read every book he has written!!! I am currently re-reading 'The Long Walk" for the umpteenth time.

[youngfibre]

I have done Insomnia a few times but i think i have re-read Esane Case's Wing Men like 40 times. Its hard to re- read SK when there still plenty waiting which havnt gotten a read yet

[Kat9]

I constantly re-read books. It seems to go new book, old book, new book, old book for me! I find re-reading a book like meeting up with an old friend. It's comforting and like returning to place you really like being. Also, I agree with Mr. Nobody, what's the point in owning books if you don't re-read them? I love some books so much that I couldn't bear not to read them again. Having said that there's so many books and only so much time out there to read them in!

[michal]

I reread every book I enjoyed. I blush to say it but there are some books I read over 50 times. I'm the same with films though. When I find a movie I really like I'll watch it until the disk stops working.

[su_joaninhas]

I´ve only re-read Insomnia and Bag of Bones... The first because I liked sooo much, and I wanted to remember the story, and the second because I had nothing to read and feed my addiction... ahuaha

[Immoli]

I reread occasionally, only when I really like the book though.

Part of me doesn't like to reread because I feel lke the time I spent reading that book could have been better spent reading another for the first time. >.>

Though when I do I wait until it has been awhile. I have read And Then There Were None three times. Once as a Freshman in High School, then a Sophomore (I think.....maybe junior....) And again just recently as a senior. The only other book I have reread has been Eragon.. >.>
I have been wanting to reread a lot of Stephen King though. Mainly the Dark Tower series. I want to wait to read that until I finish reading all the books connected to it.

[teejay17]

I reread occasionally, only when I really like the book though.

Part of me doesn't like to reread because I feel lke the time I spent reading that book could have been better spent reading another for the first time. >.>

Though when I do I wait until it has been awhile. I have read And Then There Were None three times. Once as a Freshman in High School, then a Sophomore (I think.....maybe junior....) And again just recently as a senior. The only other book I have reread has been Eragon.. >.>
I have been wanting to reread a lot of Stephen King though. Mainly the Dark Tower series. I want to wait to read that until I finish reading all the books connected to it.
The Dark Tower warrants many re-reads.

[randallFlaggfan1]

Personally, I've found the reread experience to be more rewarding. Plus, there are always things you miss the first time!!

[91rewoT]

I think you can miss too much on a single read. Almost every book I've ever read has had nuances and meanings I've missed. And books can mature with age (in that, as you get older, your perspective changes, so you actually mature, but it adds 'flavour' to the book, if you get my meaning).
SK's works, more than most, almost demand a re-read, I've found. Especially if you're read others of his in the meantime. There are all sorts of linkages and references to other characters and plot-lines, and they really only make sense on a second time around. Then there are the things you missed or have forgotten within the story itself.
So, for me, half the fun of owning a book is in the re-reading at future points. Besides, what's the point in buying something like a book or DVD if it's a one-shot deal?

I couldn't have said it better myself! (so I didn't even try :wink2: )