I saw a tweet that someone was going to be rereading the Malazan books by Canadian author Steven Erikson in anticipation of the forthcoming book in the series, The Crippled God. Five years ago, this wouldn’t have even pinged on my radar, but when I read that today, I kind of had to pause.
You are talking about rereading what, 9 books in the series? And these are not quick reads – they are fairly thick tomes, so dedicating the time to reread them all is no small undertaking ad quite the time investment.
Five years ago I probably would’ve done the same thing. Heck, I DID do the same thing – Not with Malazan, but with other series like the Wheel of Time and the Sword of Truth, for example. Today, even contemplating rereading those massive books gives me the willies. I mean, I have a ton of books sitting on my night stand waiting to be read for the first time, so committing the time to reread stuff to prep for the new book coming out? Isn’t that what WikiPedia is for now?
(c) Patrick Hester
Don’t get me wrong, I understand pleasure and passion; the book industry (among others) relies on it, on passionate fans who cannot wait for the latest, greatest book in their most favorite series to come along (Mockingjay, for example?), but I think there comes a point where there’s just too many other things you could be reading, new worlds you could be experiencing rather than going back to reread nine or ten books in a series just to get ready for the next one.
I admit that I have reread certain books for pleasure. The Lord of the Rings is an excellent example of this, as is The Hobbit. There was a time, probably a ten to fifteen year period from high school on, when I would crack at least one of those books open once a year and read through it. For someone who wants to write scifi and fantasy, rereading these classics is akin to training with Yoda.
I even reread the Wheel of Time books. Once. Now, I either skim the last book or check WikiPedia (or the most excellent Wheel of Time FAQ) when there’s a new book coming out, just to refresh my mind on where things were left and what’s going on. I also got over the Sword of Truth series – pretty much stopped reading or being interested in it around Faith of the Fallen – which is a whole other post.
Today, I don’t think I have that same, intense, ravenous hunger and need to reread any book. To be honest, finding a book that I haven’t yet read that invokes that kind of need to read (we call these page turners, folks) is getting harder and harder. Maybe that’s just something that softens over time as we get older – I don’t know. Maybe I’m crazy weird off the norm here, but there it is.
What do you think? What series makes you salivate when you think about it? What series must you reread before the new installment comes out – and more importantly – why?
~P
@atfmb
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Next Read, John Ottinger. John Ottinger said: P: Passion and Pleasure http://bit.ly/cFzA1M [...]
So far I’ve never reread a series. I was tempted to reread the Sword of Truth prior to Confessor being released, but like you I was daunted by the task. I’m going through my first read of Lord of the Rings right now (I got through half of Fellowship about 7 years ago and got bored with it, finally giving it another chance) and I’m rereading some Terry PRatchet books in order to read his Discworld series in order too.
This is why I get so irritated with the fact that every fantasy book that comes out is part of a series. When a new book comes out in a series I no longer remember all the details of the previous books and just reading a summery doesn’t bring it all back for me in the same way, so I have to spend valuable time rereading books that I already read. And I have to do these each time a new book in the same series comes out, instead of reading a book that is new to me. I do this, because I want to fully enjoy the newest release, but I do it grudgingly.
There are very few books I can think of that I would reread just for fun. Perhaps The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy or Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next books.
I feel rather let down by Brandon Sanderson who did provide wonderful stand-alone fantasy books. It will now be quite a while before we will be seeing another one from him.
I don’t re-read anything but I do re-read my favorites. Usually because I’ve forgotten them enough to enjoy the experience again.
I reread LOTR before each movie, but I rarely go back and reread older books. Too many new worlds to explore.
My husband and I will occasionally reread Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files when a new one comes out. We’ve also read the Forstchen’s Lost Regiment series about 3 times each, but just because we enjoy it, not to refresh our memories. Sometimes you just find a series of books that is so enjoyable that you can pick it up every few years and still lose yourself in it.
I’ll reread Song of Ice and Fire so I’m ready for Dance with Dragons when it comes out. That series has so many details going on that I do want to read Dance with the first four books fresh in my mind. They’re not short books, but they are rather fast reads, so maybe 2-3 weeks to plow through the four books?
Other than that, I’ve got some finished trilogies that I’ve read more than once, but it’s for pure enjoyment, not because I’m waiting for the next book.
I don’t know. I understand that it’s a lot of words, but with the Malazan books you are talking about an incredible number of plot details, characters, plot threads and themes – things that reward multiple readings.
That’s part of the pleasure of diving into these books in the first place, isn’t it – to discover whole new worlds?
when one of those worlds is as vast as that contained within the Malazan books, it makes sense to me that you might just want to travel back there. To be able to return to cities that you couldn’t vist any other way, revisit beloved characters that you couldn’t see at any other time and notice things that you didn’t the first time around – little notes that meant nothing at the time but 3 books later take on a significance – that can compound the pleasure you received the first time, deepen it, expand it, make it live more vividly in your mind.
I don’t feel the ‘need’ to reread when a new book in a series comes out, but I often feel the desire to. Especially if it’s a series that I’ve loved (and if it isn’t a series that I’ve loved why on earth am I buying the latest book?)
I’ve been to Paris, but I wouldn’t feel the need to explain why I’d want to return…
At some point I’ll reread Tad Williams’ Otherland series, it’s sitting on the shelf waiting for that day. It was such an intense series that I’m sure that I missed lots of information while pouring through the books. I did read the Twilight series 4 times through before I discovered Kim Harrison’s Hollows and Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld. I loved the books but I also had an unmet need for romance/adventure/fantasy novels of the supernatural/paranormal genre.
I used to reread books a lot. In fact, I have an entire shelf of books that I’ve read numerous times. Now I don’t buy a book unless I think I’ll read it again. And yet, I haven’t reread a book in several years. No time. I used to skim my favourites when I knew I didn’t have time to read a full book (so I’d get through it in an hour, just reading the ‘good bits’).
More recently I’ve been doing book reviews on my blog and there’s a drive to review the newest and best that pushes old classics and loved books to the side. I also find that while I used to love long series I simply don’t have time to read them once now, let alone several times. And it is hard to remember details. Even thick books end up further down the pile, and I love thick books – more time for development (if the author’s good and not just filling pages with useless information). It’s a shame, as some of the fun of reading has left and reading feels more like a job at times. Still, when I retire I’ll have several shelves of excellent books I don’t remember, and the time to read them all again.
[...] via Passion and Pleasure – Grasping for the Wind. [...]