Do you save books to reread? Do you like to repeat old movies?
I have friends who have books they call “keepers,” which
they keep on their shelves to pull out when they’re feeling down and want the
comfort of a familiar story, a guaranteed happy ending.
I don’t get it!
I can’t read a book more than once. Sometimes I’ll pick up a book, not realizing
it’s one I’ve already read, and I know by the time I get to the second page. No matter how much I enjoyed it the first
time, I must put it away.
If I’m reading a romance I can be sure I’ll get a happy
ending. The suspense for me is figuring
out how the author is going to accomplish that when at first the two people
involved seem so unlikely to be compatible.
I like surprises in the stories I read. I like books where I’m wondering how the
author is going to pull this off. I enjoy discovering that a supposedly sweet
and wholesome character is actually the evil mastermind behind whatever dastardly
deeds are going on.
On the other hand, there are times when I’ve figured out
the mystery before the characters in the book do. Really, how can they be so oblivious? I’m excessively excited when I turn out to be
right. I’m even more excited when I’m
wrong for a good reason.
I cannot re-watch movies or TV shows. I’m not even happy with the remakes of movies
I’ve already seen in their original form.
There are too many new stories out there for me to be interested
in one I’ve already finished.
Do you enjoy revisiting a favorite story? If so, can you tell me why?
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You can watch a video about our giveaway in Movie Theater or on YouTube.
The Monthly Giveaway page lists all the prizes. Enter often and tell your friends about Romance Gems.
OMG! I;ve read Gone with the Wind every year since High school and Pride and Prejudice at least 20 times!!!! Every JD Robb book has had at least 3 read-0vers from me, too! A good book, like a great wine, should be revisited, often!!! Hee hee
ReplyDeleteI have keepers and can watch and reread my favorites. I have parts of the book or movie that I love and could read or watch a million times. I look forward to the familiarity of the scene and the predictability only makes me enjoy it more. Yes, they're my dependable happy places.
ReplyDeleteI definitely have "keepers". I reread stories because, when I do, I discover I've missed a nuance or interpreted something incorrectly. I watch movies and shows over and over simply because it's familiar and predictable and I don't have to concentrate on it. I clean the house, etc. It's kind of like music for me. Now, that said, there are certain books and shows that just bring comfort like Pride and Prejudice, Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, and many others. But, I understand why you don't have "keepers"! My husband hates it that I have "keepers"!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite book of all time is Katherine by Anya Seton. I have re-read it several times, but when I started to re-read it after becoming a romance writer, I found HEAD HOPPING! It stopped me in my tracks!
ReplyDeleteMy husband is like you and once is enough. I love reading books over and over again. I may skim a bit on the second (or third or fourth) reading, but a good book is a good book and I love seeing certain parts again. And I read SOOO many books that I don't always remember every little part so it's like "Oh, that's right I remember this and love it."
ReplyDeleteAs for movies and shows, some of them are so quick and fast paced that often I miss things. The movie Frequency is a favorite, but even after seeing it 8 or 9 times, I still catch something I didn't the first 8 times. Because now that I know how it ends, I can see some of the foreshadowing or nuances of characters I hadn't caught before.
I wrote an entire blog last year on why I re-read all of Elizabeth Hoyt’s books. I’ve studied them for about 2 years now. I’ve learned about character development, chapter opening and closing. Plotting, and I focused on transitions until I saw how she does those, too. How she develops her series (she’s the Queen imo) I appreciate every book of hers more than I could have imagined.
ReplyDeleteI think that's different since you're studying technique and you'd almost have to read more than once! I've tried that but I get so caught up in the story I forget about technique.
DeleteA favorite book or movie is liking revisiting an old friend. Comfortable, satisfying, and I'm likely to learn a snippet I missed last visit.
ReplyDeleteI reread a lot. I think it's not so much for the story as the author's voice. They're comfort reads to me. A cool post!
ReplyDeleteOh, gosh! I have to admit that I can't relate. I love revisiting well-loved stories, either in books or movies. It's like seeing an old friend.
ReplyDeleteI can't do it with movies or TV, but I have a very short list of rereads: Pride and Prejudice, The Talisman, and The Chronicles of Narnia. Weird mix, I know!
ReplyDeleteHannah, I re-read books and re-watch movies and TV series. In most of the books I read again, I find something new, especially if I read it first years ago. As an older version of myself, I find new meaning and insights into many things. As for watching movies/TV series, too often I'm guilty of missing plot elements or dialogue because I was reading a book at the time or writing on the laptop. But there are some movies/TV that delight me so much with the interaction of characters and dialogue that it's a pleasure to visit them again. I look at re-reading and re-watching as visiting old friends I haven't seen in a long while.
ReplyDeleteI see that I'm in the minority with this!
ReplyDelete