To Re-Read or Not to Re-Read

The decision to re-read a book can be one that is fraught with peril. For some, however, it is not really a decision at all. Some people are almost compulsive re-readers of the books of which they are fond. There are those who annually re-read The Lord of The Rings, for instance among an almost infinite number of other books.

There are some who read a book and, immediately, re-read it. There are some who read a book in their youth and return to it later in life to find new perspectives within it. The text has stayed the same (or has it?) but the reader has changed. They are, in essence, an almost completely different reader.

There are others more circumspect about the very idea about re-reading. Wary. Superstitious, even. Would the magic of the original reading experience of a cherished work be destroyed by the very act of re-reading? Is re-reading, in and of itself, a revisionist act? A changing of memory? Might it not even supplant the original reading?

I search my mind and in its vast empty recesses seek to find the memory of the last book I re-read. Most certainly I have kept books sacred to me since youth. But which, if any, have I re-read? Poems I have, most certainly, re-read. Individual poems – though not an author’s work as a whole that I once read long ago. I have considered re-reading many times and dismissed it. I have returned to books that I stopped reading and starting reading them again – though this does not count, in my view, as a true “re-reading” of a work.

Have I re-read a book in the last decade? The last two decades? If I had a list of every book I had ever read or had ever been read to me – even as a child – would I re-read them as an act of bibliographic archaeology? It is something I will consider.

First, though, let us contemplate the ten books most commonly marked to re-read according to Goodreads – all of which are available from the Mercer County Library System – which, currently, are the following:

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

On Long Island in the early 1920s the mysterious Jay Gatsby tries to rekindle his romance with Daisy, a young woman who has married another man, the wealthy and cruel Tom Buchanan.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father--a crusading local lawyer--risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.

1984 by George Orwell

Winston Smith toes the Party line, rewriting history to satisfy the demands of the Ministry of Truth. With each lie he writes, Winston grows to hate the Party that seeks power for its own sake and persecutes those who dare to commit thoughtcrimes. But as he starts to think for himself, Winston can't escape the fact that Big Brother is always watching...

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Story of Holden Caufield with his idiosyncrasies, penetrating insight, confusion, sensitivity and negativism. Holden, knowing he is to be expelled from school, decides to leave early. He spends three days in New York City and tells the story of what he did and suffered there.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Burdened with the dark, dangerous, and seemingly impossible task of locating and destroying Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes, Harry, feeling alone and uncertain about his future, struggles to find the inner strength he needs to follow the path set out before him.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

At the turn of eighteenth-century England, spirited Elizabeth Bennet copes with the suit of the snobbish Mr. Darcy while trying to sort out the romantic entanglements of two of her sisters, sweet and beautiful Jane and scatterbrained Lydia.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

 In a society in which books are outlawed, Montag, a regimented fireman in charge of burning the forbidden volumes, meets a revolutionary school teacher who dares to read. Suddenly he finds himself a hunted fugitive, forced to choose not only between two women, but between personal safety and intellectual freedom.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to take part in an adventure from which he may never return.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition putting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place.

Certainly, while many people would agree at least one of the above books would be on their “to re-read list” – for me it would be The Hobbit – the list in and of itself lacks the diversity of authors that I have loved throughout my life. Of course, it should be noted, that a list of books marked “reread” on Goodreads is not a scientific study by any means. And so, I continue to give thought to the books I’ve read through my life and I have started to reflect on what my list might be. What books would be on yours?

- by Chip McAuley, Hickory Corner Branch