The Joys and Challenges of Rereading Favourite Books

I rarely reread books.

Maybe it’s because I did a degree in English and after liberation – oops, I mean graduation – I associated rereading with toil. But mostly it’s because there are so many wonderful books to read (and now at my age, so little time left!) that revisiting one seems an indulgence. I’m also afraid I may end up disliking books I’d once loved – as was the case when I reread Wuthering Heights a few years ago. (Jane Eyre fared much better!)

I realised I may be atypical when I received a review for one of my own books, which concluded with the dismissive comment that although the reader had enjoyed it, she wouldn’t be reading it again. It was expressed with a sense of grievance – as though she only valued a book if she got multiple reads out of it.

Despite this, I’ve just finished a rare rereading myself – a book I loved when it first came out in the late ’80s. The book is Penelope Lively’s Moon Tiger – winner of the Booker Prize in 1987 and shortlisted for the Golden Booker. Now, almost forty years later, I’d forgotten the details of the book – remembering only that it had moved me greatly and left me with an abiding impression of Egypt and the desert – even though at the time I’d never been there.

As it happens, I loved Moon Tiger even more this second time. I loved its ambition, its complicated structure – mingling a first-person memoir with the points of view of other characters. I loved its refusal to follow a straight timeline. I loved its principal character, Claudia Hampton – despite her flaws and her uncompromising and often intolerant feelings for others, including her own daughter. I suspect if I’d met her, I’d have found her formidable and scary – she doesn’t have a single woman friend – but I’d have been in awe of her brilliance and her confidence. Egypt and the desert came alive all over again – and this time supported by my own vivid memories from my visit there in 2020 just before Covid.

It got me wondering whether I was unusual in resisting rereading, so I asked some of my writing friends whether they reread books and, if so, which were favourites to revisit. This produced an interesting discussion and differing views about which writers merited rereading and which didn’t.

Authors Lorna Fergusson and Alison Morton both reread enthusiastically and widely. Lorna says

‘You read first to find out what happens, but later readings are about rediscovery and new discoveries of the aspects you didn’t notice enough first time round ­– they are about savouring the prose and falling under the spell again. You meet old friends, you catch your breath, you sigh with pleasure at the perfect ending’.

For Alison rereading is habitual. ‘I constantly reread Georgette Heyer’s books, especially when I’m in need of comfort or I’m ill. Otherwise, I do reread a large proportion of books I’ve bought as I always see something new each time.

Debbie Young says

'I went to an Ali Smith talk once where she said of rereading that we are a different person every time we read the book, and should never feel guilty or apologetic for rereading something we love.’

Like Alison with Georgette Heyer, it’s often about a particular author or book who becomes totemic. Jean Gill is a massive Dorothy Dunnett fan and often savours again the pleasures of her Niccolo and Francis Crawford series. Liza Perrat has read Gone with the Wind multiple times. Debbie – who writes cosy crime – includes Dorothy L Sayers Busman’s Honeymoon and Strong Poison among her rereading favourites.

Carol Cooper also has a favourite comfort read. She says of Please Don’t Eat the Daisies by Jean Kerr. 'It’s broadly about the trials of being a writer when you’re also a mother to four mischievous boys, but among the laughs there’s so much that goes deeper. Although I lost my copy of the book a few years ago, that hardly matters since I now know most of it by heart.'

For some of us writers it’s all about getting inspiration from authors or books whose craft we genuinely admire. Here’s Lorna again:

‘…believe me there are some novels I never want to read again (Wuthering Heights …) but others which bear intense analysis and total familiarity but still feel fresh and fulfilling (Jane Austen, I’m looking at you…) It’s like clothes and jewellery and favourite places - some are once and throw away, some you do grow out of, others are dear friends and constant joys. All teach us something about writing and humanity.’

Jessica Bell has only ever re-read one book – but has done so multiple times. She says of Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson ‘It’s just written so beautifully. Very poetic.’ 

Or as Debbie says of Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle and Graham Greene's Travels with my Aunt ‘these are two books I wish I had written’.

The passage of time can impact our preceptions of a book. Children’s author, Karen Inglis, like me, rarely rereads. Her writerly role model was Amsterdam by Ian McEwan (another Booker winning book). She says of her recent reread that it didn’t reward a second visit, leaving her underwhelmed whereas first time around she’d thought it ‘a perfectly constructed novel’. And I could write a whole blogpost on various negative reactions to Wuthering Heights after a later-in-life read!

Writing this and reading Moon Tiger again has inspired me to have another reread – next up will be another of my past favourites, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.

To complete the circle where we started I’ll leave the last word to romantic novelist Helena Halme who said of Moon Tiger: ‘Wow, I can’t believe you also loved this book! I read it on the train while commuting to the BBC Monitoring Service in Reading from Portsmouth in my twenties. I keep telling everyone it’s one of my favourite novels. I need to reread it!’

Do you re-read? If so what makes you do it and what books are worthy of repetition? Are you a Wuthering Heights lover or, like Lorna, Debbie and me, don't think it merits rereading?

To find out more about the authors whose comments I included, check out their websites

Alison Morton – alternative history and thrillers https://www.alison-morton.com/

Lorna Fergusson – literary fiction https://www.lornafergusson.com/

Debbie Young – cosy crime https://authordebbieyoung.com/

Liza Perrat – historical fiction https://lizaperrat.com/

Jean Gill – multi genre https://jeangill.com/

Helena Halme – romantic fiction https://helenahalmebooks.com/

Jessica Bell – multipreneur https://www.iamjessicabell.com/

Carol Cooper – contemporary fiction and non fiction http://www.drcarolcooper.com/

Karen Inglis – children’s fiction https://kareninglisauthor.com/