The Perks of Being a Re-Reader

Good afternoon, dragonflies! 

I am a huge re-reader.

In fact, 9/30 of the books I've read so far this year were re-reads, as is one of my current reads. 

Also, yes I realize I haven't read loads this year, if you take a look at my more recent Bookish Talks, you'll start to realize why! 

So, when combining my love for re-reads and my lack of time to read, my physical TBR is becoming absolutely huge! 

So... why 'waste' time re-reading?

Part of my bookshelf!

A friend of mine on Instagram, @anniekslibrary, suggested that I make a blogpost about my reasons for re-reading, and I thought that was a great idea! There are many reasons why I reach for books that I have already read, at least once. 

1. New books coming out
If you are in the YA bookish community in any way at all, you know for sure that Kingdom of Ash, the final Throne of Glass book by Sarah J Maas, is coming out later this month. It is one of the biggest publications of the year, as far as hype goes! 
But although the hype is real, her last book in the main series was published in 2016...
Now, I don't have super memory. On top of that, my blogging style has changed a lot over the years. I don't remember a lot of the ToG books, although I can give a general storyline and I know which specific parts I found incredible. I could never, in good conscience, go into the next book without a re-read. 

This isn't only applicable to ToG! In my head, any series that is still growing merits a re-read to enjoy the full experience of the series all at once, rather than reading a book a year. 

This is also why I've been avoiding new YA books that are going to be the start of a new series. I'd rather read either stand-alones or series that are already all published! 


2. Mood
I am a huge mood reader - never have I been able to stick to a monthly TBR list, different books call to me at different times. If I'm definitely in a mythology mood, I'll reach for Percy Jackson. If I know I want a book that features characters that make my heart do things, it's The Infernal Devices. Something more serious? I Am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak. 


3. Comfort
Now we're going into some more psychological territory, so brace yourself! 

I'm in a relatively new city, studying a new degree, and on my own for the first time. Even when I went to Australia for a semester, I had spoken to people who I would live with before hand, so it was easy to become friends. Now, I'm hours away from anyone I know, and everyone in my house is very keep-to-yourself individualistic. I am as well, but the lack of a common area makes it impossible to casually meet people. Additionally, people in my degree all know each other from previous studies - it's an odd situation, especially for an introvert. But I'm making it work as well as I can :)

So it's been very, very tempting to re-read old favorites just for the sake of comfort - re-reading such books gives a sense of familiarity. It's not even a conscious choice, I just thought about this recently. But I don't mind, it's nice!

However, who's to say re-reading's all that bad? It's something I wholly enjoy doing, despite the fact that it leads to a lack of blogger content (oops!). 

I feel like re-reading is an act that really increases your appreciation for a story. With every re-read, you notice more little details and jokes that you did not notice before. Maybe something in your life happened that'll make you understand a character's emotions or motives on a deeper level. Sometimes you'll end up loving a book you thought wasn't interesting, simply because you read said book a few years too early.

Whatever the reason, a re-read always offers new insight on the story you thought you knew. 

(Also, you can become an absolute genius when it comes to random book trivia! Re-reading Harry Potter has come into use more than once!)


So I guess this is it! My three main re-read reasons! My re-readsons, if you will, as well as why I enjoy re-reads! 

Do you re-read a lot? Can you relate to any of these reasons? Let me know! 

Stay bookish!