Literary Repetition
I just read about the concept of centireading, reading the same book 100 times. It’s worth clicking over to that article to understand why a person would read the same book 100 times and what is gained from the experience. The author gives two examples of centireading, both started for very different reasons and, therefore, the experience is very different for each; implying that there are dozens of reasons for undertaking the endeavour and numerous benefits that can gained depending upon your initial reason.
But I really loved this line: “You can be acquaintances with many books, and friends with a few, but family with only one or two.”
I have one book that is family: The Phantom Tollbooth. I own about 30 copies, and I have the e-book with me at all times. I started reading that book when I was six, and I’ve never stopped. It is the single most important book in my life.
I have books that are between friends and family. They’re fictive kin. I haven’t read them 100 times, so they aren’t in the family category, but I’ve read them… a lot. Like 20, 30, 40 times… a lot. The Handmaid’s Tale (I like to read it yearly. No, I’m not sure I’ll read the sequel next fall), Harry Potter (all of them), Candide, The Visit, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
And then there are the good friends, such as The Magicians trilogy, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the Narnia books. And the acquaintances I’d like to be closer with, such as All Our Wrong Todays. And the acquaintances I’m just happy have come into my life, but I’m probably not going to invest too much in the relationship now that our time together has passed.
But hearing about centireading made me wonder if it’s time to choose a new family member to join The Phantom Tollbooth. Which book would be worth reading 100 times?
What do you think of this idea? Is there a book you could read 100 times and be happy you’re doing it each time?
7 comments
I don’t read book enough to even imagine reading any book 20 times, let alone 100!! The most I have probably read any one book is probably 2 or 3 at the most, and by that point I feel I know a book pretty well. I’m not a fast reader so maybe it’s because I really take time to absorb the words, but I can’t see reading the same book that many times.
While there are some books I have re-read several times, I can’t imagine reading any book 100 times. There are so many books in the world that I want to explore and so little time! This could never happen in my life unless I had a lot more free time than I do currently.
P.S. I have never heard of The Phantom Tollbooth
I’m pretty sure there are some children’s books I have read well over 100 times. (Red Hat Blue Hat Green Hat Oops….)
I can’t handle reading a book (for me) more than once a year give or take. So…
As a kid, I used to read books over and over again, purely because we could only get to the library once a week (and we were only permitted two books at a time), and we didn’t own that many books. Some were definitely like family. I reread some books, but when I joined a book club, I realised that there are so many great books that I didn’t have time to reread books. More recently, with my reading mojo AWOL, I’ve been thinking it would be a good way to get back into reading. That, and deciding to stop reading anything that hasn’t completely captured me.
I think I do not like rereading books so much. Even when reading a different Dan Brown I get that uneasy feeling of having read it before, just because the structure /tension / style? is the same.
I do admit to rereading my own blog sometimes. Reliving the hard emotions makes me cry every time. Going through the hard decisions and knowing the outcome makes me happy with the life I have.
My family books – have read at least 50 times, all at different points in my life. I could happily read them all a hundred time if I was inclined.
Anne of Green Gables series
A Room with a View
Pride and Prejudice
I go more for breadth than for centireading depth. There are so many books I want to read that I don’t tend to even double up.
The Penumbra book just came in from the library. But first I need to finish It Didn’t Start With You (nonfiction, about epigenetics).