On why I re-read some books.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Sometimes I give a significant amount of thought towards my reading habits (wait... doesn't everyone?). For example, some months I will just get through books at a extremely fast rate, and other months - though I am still reading - I seem to only get through one or two books at most.
And, realistically, I have quite a few books that I want to get through - not just in my lifetime, but in particular this year.

So why re-read?
To be honest I think it's mostly because I need to refresh my memory on a certain premise, or I need to remind myself of the emotions that I feel while reading a particular book. A few of my favoured re-reads are books about reading - ones that have always (without fail) rekindled my love for reading when I've been having a bit of a reading slump.
Another favourite re-read is Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, and I have read this multiple times since I first bought it back on my first or second year of uni. The reason I read this one is because, despite reading being a very solitary activity, it helps me to reconnect to the world. It reminds me of certain things that I love - eating, meditating, focusing on the little things, love itself. 

The book I just finished reading for the second time is The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin (pictured above). I can' really say what drew me to picking it up again, but the main (flimsy) reason I remember was that I hadn't actually read my physical copy before - having read it on my kindle previously. I wanted to read it so I could put it back on my shelf and know that I had pored over it's pages. And I'm really glad that I did. While I don't feel that this book is life-changing, I do think it makes you think a bit more - and thinking about happiness in particular seems a pretty good past-time.

Ultimately, I think I re-read things because I need to reclaim some part of myself that I remember having while I read that book before. In a way, I guess I'm journeying back to myself through the pages of someone else's book.

Make of that what you will. Love to all who read even the most disjointed posts on this blog.

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