Got My Book

The 2016 Discussion Challenge is hosted by Nicole @Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @It Starts At Midnight. “So often book bloggers mean to post more discussions on our blogs, but we just don’t quite get around to it. Well, we wanted to give everyone a little motivation to keep the discussions going, plus give us a place to link up our discussions so that more people will see our precious words of wisdom (or … you know … our GIF-filled rants).”

Next week's Top Ten Tuesday will be a Freebie Week, so I will be linking up this post:

Top Five Reasons I Prefer Rereading*

(*For me, rereading usually equals relistening and I use those words interchangeably)

One of the things I am loving best about blogging is the opportunity to relisten to each of my older books from start to finish, without the slightest touch of guilt, in preparation for posting the review. Usually I just listen to bits and pieces here and there, as time allows.

I Love Spending Time with my Favorite Characters

Not much to add to this.

I Have Less Trouble Stopping

You know those reader/blogger confessions posts? My biggest confession is that I have a really really hard time stopping once I start reading. I'll tell myself "just one more chapter" before I go to bed, and end up greeting the sun. The same thing happens if there is some place I should go, or something I should do. If it isn't an absolute must do, I will likely skip it.

When I am rereading a book, I am more likely (though not guaranteed) to be able to quit when I should.

I Don't Stress About What Might Happen

Are they going to break up, is someone going to die, will humanity be destroyed? Even if the answer is yes, and it makes me mad, at least I know that going in.

I Really Enjoy Identifying the Foreshadowing

Since becoming a blogger, I have been trying to pay more attention to why a particular book does or doesn't work for me the first time, and why I may or may not enjoy relistening to it. One of the things I have realized that I enjoy most is noticing all the places that an answer or twist was foreshadowed.

I Can Catch Things I Missed

An author may put years into writing a book, and a good one puts in lots of layers. Like foreshadowing, I like finding new things that I didn't catch the first (2, 3, 4 ...) times.

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Of course, it is not possible to reread something you haven't read before. And I can't find new favorites if I don't read new books. Next week I will be starting a 3 part series on how a book goes from "never heard of it" to a purchase (I don't buy, non-free, books unless I've read them and know they will be reread). I will include how I find books, how I organize them, how I build my TBR lists, and how I read.

Talk to Me (pretty please)

• Do you ever reread?
• What makes a book a reread candidate for you?
• Am I the only one who can't stop reading?

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• If you are a first time visitor, how did you discover my blog?
• I recently debuted my redesigned blog. What do you think?

RELATED POSTS:

Get a Second Opinion:

• "To Re-read Books or Not to Re-read?" by Carrie-Jo @ That's Normal
  

"But, truthfully, other than the rush you get once or twice a year when you find a fantastic new book/series, I like re-reading better."

• "Why Re-Read?" by Peter Damien @ Book Riot
  

"Sometimes it’s not the books that change, though, it’s you. If I’m the same sort of person I was five years ago, then I’m failing utterly at being alive. (Mark Twain said it best: “Consistency requires me to be as ignorant today as I was yesterday.”) Between one re-read and another, I’ve grown and lived…but I’ve also expanded my vocabulary and read countless other books, seen films, listened to music, had new thoughts, and done new writing myself. All of that is there, lurking just offstage, when I step back into a book for a revisit, and all of it changes how I view that book. "

• "Why I Don’t Re-read Books" by and @ Barnabas Piper
  

"There are too many books in the world to read the same one twice (or more). As Tony Reinke says in his book Lit! (paraphrased), we only have one life to live and chance to live it. He is referring to reading intentionally, and I find my intention being to absorb as many good books as possible. It’s a compulsion to find the next good book, to absorb the knowledge it offers, to soak in the creativity and beauty within, and then do it all over again with the next book."

• "In Defense of Not Rereading" by Maggie Libby Davis @ Barely South Blog

"The second reason a rereading can fail is our tendency to romanticize the past. In college, I loved the eloquent ramblings of Henderson. I remembered this as a joyful manner of distraction, a playful darting about the story. When I tried to reread it, I kept thinking, “Enough already with this overindulgent hot air.” And that’s a shame (and apologies to Bellow fans). The pleasure I derived the first time was not only unfulfilled in the second attempt, it was also tarnished."

This week's discussion will also be linked up with the following (hover for descriptions):