Why do we re-read?

Any avid enough reader will tell you, most of us have that one book, or one series. That we regularly return to. I’ve known people that have read the same book enough times that they can't remember how many. It’s an odd practice, and I'm not really sure why we do it.

To a certain point, it might be about re-experiencing the book after a long enough time away that you can re-capture some of that first read experience. But I don’t see that accounting for the sheer amount that some people re-read some books. Do we derive some secondary fulfilment from the sheer familiarity of the words?

Personally when re-reading a book i have found my mind flowing back to states it first occupied when I’ve read it in the past. Perhaps that’s it? Perhaps we seek a temporary reprieve from the struggles of our lives, that we might flee into our own past through the medium of a beloved story?

French novelist François Mauriac is quoted to have said "Tell me what you read and I’ll tell you who you are’ is true enough, but I’d know you better if you told me what you reread." And I find that rather intriguing. Can we find elements of ourselves in the stories we find ourselves drawn back to? I think so, even if we are only seeing reflections of the things we aspire to.

I do think that the re-read is a fantastic measure of the quality of a story rather than the quality of the book. Brilliant prose may draw in the reader, and keep them turning pages until they reach the back cover. But it is the story, the undercurrent of message and meaning that sticks with us after the reading is done. It is the intent and aspiration of the protagonist that calls a reader to come back. For just one more read. 

When reading, we feel in ourselves some small part of what the character is feeling. We are taken along for that ride, and so return when that feeling is something we wish to experience.

Perhaps then, as writers. We should endeavour to write not stories, but experiences. We should endeavour to create in the character, and therefore in the reader. An experience that begs you to return.

Just one more time.