Why Reread?

SF Signal shocks me as they take a hard line on rereading.

... I have re-read books before:

* I read Dune twice. It did not hold up nearly as well on the second read.
* I read The Fellowship of the Ring twice, but only because the first time through Lord of the Rings, I stopped in the middle of The Two Towers.
* A non-genre example: I read Lord of the Flies twice; one force-fed reading in high school, and one much better reading as an adult.
* (I've also said I want to re-read The Man Who Fell to Earth.)

That's all I can recall at this point. I usually don't re-read books because there is so much other good stuff out there to read and part of me - no matter how illogical and impossible I know it to be - wants to read it all.

That's all that can be recalled? I reread all the time. A book is like an old friend. I can't just say hi once and then never look in its direction again. And, there are those who agree ...

If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.

Oscar Wilde

When you reread a classic, you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than there was before

Cliff Fadiman

If a book is really good, it deserves to be read again, and if it’s great, it should be read at least three times.

Anatole Broyard

“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.

Francois Muriac

I don’t lend books.

Commander Adama, Battlestar Galactica

Ok, Adama's quote isn't about rereading, but I bet he doesn't lend books because he wants to reread them. Why else?