The fact that it’s not the same is a feature not a bug.

You are a different person when you reread/rewatch something so the book/movie feels different.

I reread books all the time. Most of them are stories that I take great delight in encountering again and again; they never get boring, I’m always experiencing something new and delightful. Books like “Crime and Punishment”, “The Great Gatsby”, and “Ender’s Game” are going to be very different when you reread them, i.e. reading them in high school, then rereading them when you’re an adult in your 40’s.

When you reread a book, you are not the same person you were the first time you read it; likewise the book is not the same, because you have changed. Books take on new meanings and experiences depending on when we re-encounter them.

Are you suggesting that, one should only do something once and never again? Would you say the same thing about riding a bicycle, or skydiving, or dining at a restaurant, or talking to someone you like?

Books cost money, and there are a limited number of books available in genres I enjoy. Sooner or later, the choice becomes rereading or not reading at all, and I prefer the former.

I enjoy the characters and the setting. Those things get better with each reading. I guess I see a great book as art, to be appreciated again and again. Over time, the story changes with your stage in life. For example, I used to love Hamlet, the character. Now I can hardly stand him, but enjoy watching Shakespeare dissect him. My response to Steinbeck’s Winter of our Discontent changes so much as I mature that it seems like a completely different book.

There are books that I’ve read and reread and taken away different things because of where I am in my life. After my dad died I looked at books that dealt with themes of loss differently. Now that I’m married I look at love stories in a new light. We change and the books we read change their meaning. There are books I plan to reread because post-pandemic my view of the world has definitely changed. I don’t know how old you are or where you are in your life, but it might not be time yet to revisit things. It’s ok either way.

Rereading/rewatching has become a measure of quality for me.

If a novel is worth to reread then it was actually very good. And nobody remembers a book page by page—there’s always something new to find. Your perspective may also have changed since you first read it.

I discovered many authors I still like when I was a kid - Conan Doyle, Wells, Verne, Asimov, others.

Now I’m 44 and revisiting some of them, because I don’t remember so well what I read more than 30 years ago. It’s a pleasure aking to that of visiting the house where you spent your childhood’s summers, or meeting an old, dear friend. It’s not the same for every author, of course: I love Bradbury but I don’t think I’ve ever read something of his twice, can’t explain why… maybe it’s just that, being his work so emotional, I want to keep in my heart what I felt the first time and not change it with new insights.

Furthermore, I’ve re-read everything by Terry Pratchett 4 times in my life and a fifth is incoming, because his books are so intelligent, funny, profound and have so many layers that every time I re-read them I find something new I didn’t know or remember.

The reason you give for not rereading is the one I give FOR rereading: you’re not going to experience the same emotions (or thoughts). You find new things when you revisit something, and books can hit differently in a different phase of life. Also, do you only listen to music once? For me, going back to a book I enjoy is like listening to a favourite album, I get enjoyment from the familiarity.

I do not re-read books but I do re-hear audio books very often, this why my taste in book and audio books is completly different and hardly ever overlapping.

Don’t need to push myself. I enjoy it

God awful at retaining things and miss a lot so the reread makes me almost feel like I’m reading the book understanding everything for the first time. But I only re-read books if I get a strong sense that there’s something special there that I missed.

I’m a huge rereader and normally dedicate January to old faves

I’m not a re-reader really (I’ve re-read some books but rarely enough that I don’t remember the first time so well) but isn’t it a bit of a weird perspective to think that you should push yourself re-reading a book? If you don’t feel like re-reading it, why on earth would you even try?

Try it. You’ll be surprised at how many details you have forgotten or you didn’t catch the first time round.

Also, with stories that depend heavily on a plot twist or something like that it’s a very different experience to go into it knowing the plot twist. At least if it’s a well written story you’ll find all these little hints that you didn’t pay much attention to but now they all make sense since you know where the story is leading.

Sure, you might not be able to re-create the same emotions, but what’s wrong with having new ones?

I don’t re-read or rewatch anything either, but the only books I have reread and considered rereading have been classics. I guess they’re classics for a reason lol. There are very few contemporary books I would reread, but the ones I would have more interesting plots, the kind of books you don’t want to put down, usually thrillers/mysteries for me