On re-reading books

Dear reader,

For two days in May, my friend Roxanne and I decided to re-read the first Harry Potter book. We had so much fun doing it that I thought of writing a blog post about why I love re-reading books so much, as I re-read at least one Harry Potter book per year and have re-read my favourite book Lady Midnight six times already.

So lock your sit belts and get ready to discuss everything about re-reads!

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Re-reading books may seem weird to a lot of people. I have talked a lot about it online for the past few years and many people have told me how much they dislike it or even how they find it odd.

“Don’t you get bored? Don’t you feel guilty not reading something new?”

I have heard it all.

But the thing is that I do love re-reading books. I always did. There’s something so ressuring to actually know you will love said book and that you will be able to re-experience your first time reading it.

As I re-read Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in French with my friend Roxanne, I really understood how important re-reading is to me. It was somehow magical – I couldn’t stop smiling and it made me feel so good. Sharing it with a friend was even more special – we sent each other voice messages every night to talk about it and just screamed our love for it.

I had such a great time that I thought I could share with you a few reasons why I love re-reading books so much. My goal here isn’t to convince you that it’s cool, but more to explain to you all why I keep doing it with every book I loved.

❥ It makes me feel safe

Re-reading a good book is like going back home. You know what is going to happen, you know the places and you know the characters – everything is familiar and you already know that you’ll end up loving it. There’s nothing like re-reading the chapter of the first Harry Potter book when Harry finally arrives at Hogwarts and discovers the Great Hall for the first time. And how magic is it to be able to re-live it over and over again!

Words are beautiful because they are for ever. They are written on pages and won’t move, won’t change, won’t disappear. They are only here for you to go through them again and their magic won’t have left – you will always feel like the first time while re-reading your favourite book. You will still feel warm inside, you will still smile like an idiot and you will still whisper to yourself, “How I love this book“.

❥ I can always discover new things to it

A lot of people believe that because I re-read Lady Midnight six times then that means that I must know it by heart now. Though it is true that I am not really surprised reading it anymore, I still discover new things every time I re-read it. For example I totally forgot some of the games Emma and Jules used to play when they were children. Sure, it is small details but it also is what makes the book so special and what we don’t really notice or pay attention to on our first read.

Re-reading a book is like getting to know it better, like going on another date with it. You take more time of your life for it and you slowly understand what made you feel that way on that special chapter, how the author actually planned this big even in book two and so on. It’s like discovering every secrets of your favourite book, and there’s nothing quite like it.

❥ It makes me relive happy moments of my life

I cannot re-read a book without feeling as happy as I was during my first read, and it always takes me back to those special moments. For example, whenever I re-read Dracula, I can see myself reading the short version at the beach when I was 13 (though I didn’t understand it at all) and then the real book when I was 19, on my way to university, smiling in the metro and feeling awfully happy because of all those beautiful words and this magnificent story.

It does that with every book I decide to re-read. I always see my younger self discovering said book and feeling way too excited about it. I will never get used to this feeling, how actually words can not only make me travel back in time and places because of the world pictured in it but also because of my own experience with it. How magic is that?

❥ It’s a great way to share something with my friends

Finally re-reading a book is always a good excuse to take part in a buddy read with my friends, and I alwas end up having so much fun with it. We always chat about it and have so much meaningful conversations. When I re-read Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone my friend Roxanne and I kept discussing about the artwork, the portrayal of all the characters, the writing style, and being able to talk about all of that is so unique – I would have never done so when I first read it at 5 years old.

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And that is it!

Re-reading books is obviously very special to me and I know many of you are feeling the same way. I am actually thinking of organising a 24 hours readathon in order to re-read some old and new favs, and thought some of you may want to join!

Do you like re-reading books? Would you participate in a 24 hours re-readathon with me?

Love always,

Clara