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What Happens When You Reread Books You Love

Classic painting of a young woman reading a book.
Reading Woman by Ivan Kramskoy

Rereading

Rereading is something I often do with my favorite novels. The dog-eared pages on a paperback I bought when I was eleven, bent book covers, and loose pages are all caused by how often I have read and reread that particular book.

My Emily of New Moon paperback copy, for instance, finally had to be replaced after what was probably my 20th rereading of it. Pondering my addiction to rereading has left me with the question of why. Why is it that we reread the same stories filled with unchanged characters again and again?

What makes the scene where Elizabeth Bennet meets Mr. Darcy almost as exciting as the first time I read it? Why do I still smile when Mr. Rochester proposes to Jane? What is it about Emily of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s series of books that invites me back endlessly?

I think Gail Carson Levine (author of Ella Enchanted) says it perfectly when she said, “There’s nothing wrong with reading a book you love over and over. When you do, the words get inside you, become a part of you, in a way that words in a book you’ve read only once can’t” (Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly).

The words do become part of you, as do the characters. They can become the inspiration for your own life choices. The more you reread a book, the more it becomes ingrained into your memory.

I first read Emily of New Moon when I was eleven and haven’t stopped rereading since. Like Emily, I planned to “climb the Alpine path” to success one day. Something about climbing this Alpine Path resonated with my ultimate goal to become a writer, and writing for me had everything to do with my life as a reader.

Despite her flaws, and she had many, identifying with Emily Byrd Starr became my most memorable reading experience as a child. Looking back, no moment of reading has ever stood out to me more than that moment when I realized I had become lost in a book, lost in Emily’s world.

The instant I entered little Emily’s imaginative existence and my personal experience through the looking glass, I was hooked on reading for life (although books were already important by this point). More than any other book, however, Emily of New Moon encouraged me along my own path to a universe bursting with books. Would this world of books, however, resonate with me as equally if I hadn’t returned to Emily’s world more than once?

The answer is no. Like so many other memories and books never revisited, Emily would have been lost. I know I understand books on a deeper level with each rereading. A new metaphor, a new symbol, or a detail I may have overlooked.

How exciting is it that I can return to a familiar story and always find something new? So I say, keep rereading. Reread the books that become a part of you, the books that helped shape who you are; return to the books to gain a new experience and a new memory.

What books do you like to reread? We’d love to hear from you…


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By on September 5th, 2013

About Autumn Topping

In second grade, Autumn wrote her first story, “The Spinach Monster,” and hasn't stopped writing since. Intrigued by the tales her grandmother told of vampires, witches, and ghosts as a girl, she's always been drawn to the fantastic. Later, Autumn studied English and Creative Writing (continuing her love for classic literature and everything old-fashioned) and graduated with an MA in Children’s Literature and an MS in Library & Information Science from Simmons College. Currently, she co-runs this lovely site and works as a YA Librarian.

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4 thoughts on “What Happens When You Reread Books You Love”

  1. This post spoke directly to and from my heart <3 I cannot even tell you how many times I re-read Anne of Green Gables or Jane Eyre! 🙂 and it is different and magical and amazing every time and I think those books really have influenced the person I am today! Love this blog post, so well said, so true.

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