Yes

I've read F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby eight or nine times, and it really does get better each time. I always notice something different or appreciate passages I never lingered over before. It is the most poetic novel I've ever read, and it is infinitely savorable. Fitzgerald scholar Matthew Bruccoli called it "inexhaustible" for its interpretive complexity. When I was younger I most enjoyed the humor and partying and drinking in the book, and had favorite passages that remain in memory to this day, and I can still quote them. I admit that some of those well-worn passages have lost some of their power, but I always find something else to give me goosebumps or some new-found subtlety I never noticed before.

Someone (I can't remember who) once called the film Dazed & Confused "incredibly re-watchable". That's certainly true of that film, and even moreso of The Godfather parts 1 and 2. Partly because it's a confusing and subtle film, and you understand a little bit more each time, but also because it's just so damn GOOD. The acting, the cinematography, the music--everything is so pitch-perfect. It comes on TV all the time, and yet each time you come across it while channel-surfing, it's hard to look away. Infinitely fascinating.

Douglas

Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, NY

Yes

I always read or see something that I didn't notice before, or I just enjoyed the book or movie so much I want to re-experience that joy. Two favorite books I've read multiple times are Ray Bradbury's "Dandelion Wine" and TomRobbins' "Another Roadside Attraction".

Toby

Brooklyn, New York

No

I NEVER reread a book -- there are just too many to read. Even at 15 or so per month, there will still always be more I NEED to get to. I really tried to read Conroy's "Beach Music" because I felt it was so beautiful and important, but I just couldn't plod through it. Likewise, I seldom watch a film more than once, and find my attention wandering if I do so, even during "Out of Africa"...
Maybe it goes with my feeling about Christmas and new babies, DON'T tell me the sex of the baby-to-be, or hint about the gift, because it's all about the anticipation and surprise!

Deborah

salt lake city, ut

No

I never reread/rewatch anything. I have tried, I get bored within the first few minutes. I do listen to the same music over and over again.

Souie

NYC

Yes

Sadly I only revisit movies. A movie is two hours of my time vs the many (wonderful) hours I could spend re-reading favorite books.

I blame it on the Sunday NY Times and the New Yorker. Barely have time to read new books!

Fave movies: Great Lebowski, Inglorious Basterds, Bande a Part (Godard) and other French films, Pulp Fiction, All that Jazz -- there are many others because I love escaping into film.

In addition, music consumes much of my life (but not enough)!

Georgiana

DC

Yes

There are several authors whose books I have read and reread...some as many as 20 times. I have reread Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein numerous times. I have done the same with Ayn Rand for both the Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged (and I am still trying to find out what the conservatives seem to be reading into it). I do the same with movies having watched "Cinema Paridiso" numerous times and sharing it with friends as well as watching it myself just because I know I will cry some where near the end (happening a different spot each time) recognizing new and personally important ideas each time. I have laughed at and with The Women (1939; Roz Russell, Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer) trading lines with friends who have also seen the film during and after a re-watch ("On the train to Reno"; "My God, Your skin makes the Rockie Mountains look like chiffon velvet!"...). Books and films that I treasure, reread and re-watch are treasured friends that teach and reteach lessons, ideas and concepts that daily life can grind down and even destroy. Going back gives me a recharge and opportunity to see again old friends and old ideas that really are valuable to me.

Michael

Fort Myers, Florida

Yes

Romancing the Stone

Curtis

Hilton Head , SC

Yes

Familiar stories are kind of brain candy for me. There's a young adult series by Patricia C. Wrede called "The Enchanted Forest Chronicles" I reread the first book "Dealing With Dragons" every few years. I can finish it in a day, and I have the first paragraph memorized. It's fun and reminds me of my childhood.

I also have read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenence by Robert Pirsig 3 times, and I get more out of it each time. It's very different reading it at 16 and again at 22 and then at 28. Same goes for Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings. Philosophy grows on you and changes as you get older.

Anne

Arlington, MA

No

I never re-read books except for graphic novels and comics of the Tin Tin variety. The one novel I have re-read in its entirety is THE MAGUS (John Fowles) -- and that happened in part because it was a new edition, with some re-written passages.

On the other hand, I very frequently watch movies repeatedly. And of course I listen to passages of music many, many times over.

For me, there's a fundamental difference between things read versus things seen/heard. When I read a book, its ideas are recorded permanently in my brain and I feel I don't need to go back to the source.

By contrast, when I'm looking at something, or listening, the "ideas" don't remain with me in the same way.

But I recognize that these differences are intensely personal. The pleasure I get from seeing something I want to look at is really powerful. For instance, I "played" (if that's the word) the graphic adventure games MYST and RIVEN over and over just because I found them hypnotically beautiful. Hardly anyone I know had that response -- if they played at all, it was just to to get to the end and either "win" or "lose". The pleasure was entirely incidental.

Perhaps for me, a book is similar to what MYST/RIVEN were to many players, one-time amusements. On the other hand, I do continue to read, love (and hate!) books -- hard copies, not virtual -- whereas I am no longer even vaguely interested in graphic adventure games!

We humans are full of quirks.

Magnolia

RI

Yes

When I was in my late twenties, Jane Eyre grabbed me by the throat and has never let go. I can't remember how many times I've read it, but each time I buy a new, cheap copy, which ends up dog- eared, marked-up and over-loved. Somehow every reading is fresh -- there is simply no way I could have understood it on one reading, and now, deep in middle age, I hope it will keep evolving with me through life.

But I have learned the hard way that this book does absolutely nothing for many, many fine readers, as other classics do nothing for me.

Kurt, I think you don't re-read because you have not found your Jane Eyre. One day you'll find it, and then you will need no encouragement to re-read; it will be a blazing necessity.

Kate

Providence RI

Yes

I have reread Marge Piercy's novel, Small Changes, every year for the past 35 years or so. Every time I read it I find new discoveries in it and it causes different feelings (last year I threw it across the room and this year I was in awe of the women's courage). Other books I do reread but this one is obviously my favorite.

Yours in reading, hannahjbayard @aol.com

hannah

Brooklyn, New York

No

I seem to have the same "problem" that Kurt has. I am constantly discovering the old and the new at the same time and find that I am challenged with enjoying them both before revisiting a previously read or viewed great work of art. I find myself almost in a stated of anxiety when seasons come upon me where everywhere I turn there seems to be a movie, show or book that has just come out, or been rereleased and was previously undiscovered by me. I become frantic to read and watch all at the same time.

That being said, I have a list that I am constantly updating of books, movies and shows that I want to read and watch with my kids when I have them (The Chronicles of Narnia, Great Gatsby, the original Willy Wonka, Jaws and Lost to name a few). And I cannot wait for the days when I get to revisit those greats with them.

Alex

Nashville, TN

No

I have on occassion re-read a book but I don't usually make a habit of it. I too am a slow reader and feel as though I am so behind on all the great contemporary writers. My goal is to read work that I'm not familiar with old or new.
Also, some times re-reading can be like seeing some one from your past. Some experiences are very much about place and time, they've already played a role in the formation of the person you've become and in your out look on life.

I am however more likely to give a film a second viewing.

Angela Muriel

NEW YORK

Yes

I'm not only a re-reader of books, especially of certain passages, I am also a re-watcher of films. Right now, I'm thoroughly addicted to BBCs film "North and South" starring <sigh> Richard Armitage. (His character in that series (John Thornton) is my hew all-time favorite hero. He has replaced Darcy in "Pride and Prejudice", and that's saying a LOT!).

I'm absolutely UNapologetic about my re-watchings or re=readings.

The two books I constantly re-read are Bronte's "Jane Eyre" and Austen's "Pride and Prejudice".IMO, there are no contemporary writers I can think of who can equal Austen or Bronte. (Take that, Delafield and Collins! ;)

Mary Grace

Westport, CT

Yes

I would love to read everything. There are so many great books that I haven't read. But, alas, I am also a slow reader, and with the limited time there is, I often find myself going back over a book I've already read and has touched me. Plus, a re-reading is enlightening and there is always that slight change in your perspective when you come back to a favorite work. I have often reread long stretches of 'On The Road'.

Raul

Kew Gardens, NY

Yes

There are some films that are comforting to watch simply to enjoy the visual movement on the screen. Dynamic art, like watching films and reading books, forces us to sit and do the unthinkable -- nothing -- for a certain amount of time. We can listen to music and walk around, we can glance at a painting and move on, but films and books encourage us to still ourselves and simply share in the movement of something outside of ourselves and bring it inward. We are not being utilized, we are not doing anything productive, we are simply existing in a moment of self-indulgent pleasure. This is why I love re-watching Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette. For that amount of time, I can simply watch the swirl and hum of pinks and blues across the screen, allow a thumping soundtrack to come into my rib bones, and revel in the energy and frivolousness of being a woman and still quite young. I'm not sure it's the best film ever made, but to me, it is the most perfect -- for taking two hours to sit, to do nothing, and to appreciate how beautiful life is in art and then getting back up and finding that art in my life in a circular exchange that feels like making love with an old lover over and over again.

Elena

New York, New York

Yes

I watch "All About Eve" whenever I'm in the dumps. It NEVER fails to cheer me up and I still occasionally hear a line or catch a nuance I've missed in past viewings.

I also re-read randomly selected passages from Moby Dick, whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul...This is my substitute for pistol and ball.

Sara

New York City

No

Kurt,
Anne Fadiman does not understand. There are those of for whom reading the first time is difficult and plodding work. That does not mean that we don't love what we are reading the first time. It just means that reading with comprehension and taking in all that is being said is a great investment of effort.
Thanks to Studio 360 I read Moby Dick for the first time just a few years ago. I loved it, but cannot conceive of rereading it.
Kurt, when you explained how you are unable to reread, I found myself in complete agreement with you.
John

John

Forest Hills, New York

Yes

I re-read the same poems constantly, and will play the same music over and over again on a CD player or on the piano; I watch many movies over and over again obsessively--especially, I will always watch "The Desk Set" over and over again, I have watched it over and over again for at least thirty years. I think of Bunny Watson (the Hepburn character) often, and covet her apartment. I think I want to be Bunny Watson.

Part of how I earn my living involves re-reading novels and short stories, so am not sure that this counts.

Margaret

NYC

Yes

There are some films that not just reward but demand revisiting. Some of Michael Haenke's films, espeically "Code Unknown" is one such. For me, however, the one that comes to mind first is "Blade Runner." I must have seen that film at least 40 times and still, STILL find something new in it.

Chirantan

Ny, NY