Rereading (and re-watching for that matter) is one of the greatest joys of my life; there’s something so comforting about re-visiting a world that is familiar, filled with your favourite characters, and falling in love with the story all over again. This is one reason why rereading is always a great decision, despite the fact that there always seems to be guilt attached to it – the idea that we must stay productive even in our hobbies is one that I always struggle to unlearn, but try to daily. This need for comfort is why I reread my favourite books for most of January, a month that can sometimes feel quite bleak.

My Most Re-read Books/ Series:

My most re-read books are ones that I have loved both as a teenager and as an adult. Every Last Word is a book that I will cherish forever, I was recommended it by a youtuber at the time and it felt so raw and beautifully sad; I love the character of Samantha as reading this book felt like the first time I had seen a character who was allowed to make mistakes and become better for them, alongside her relationship with AJ as it showed that mental health issues cannot simply be solved by love. The Anna and the French Kiss series is one of the first YA romances I read as a teenager and to put it lightly, I was obsessed! Isla and the Happily Ever After was my personal favourite as I related to Isla as an adolescent, and still do in some ways. The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is a classic and although I read it for the first time as an older teen, I fell in love with the writing and the characters and still reread it to this day. Red, White, and Royal Blue gripped me from the first read, so much so that I read it thrice in the one year and it will forever be one of my favourite rom-com’s. Love, Theoretically is (as I’ve previously mentioned) written by my favourite romance author Ali Hazelwood, and remains my absolute favourite romance book. Last, but not least is The Shadowhunter Chronicles, specifically the Infernal Devices Series. This series is my ultimate comfort read, sometimes I will read specific scenes and others I will read the books in their entirety, either way – these books, and the characters within them are one of my favourite things in existence.

Benefits of Rereading:

If you also feel needless guilt over rereading instead of picking up a book from your, no doubt, mile long list of un-read books, then here are some benefits to re-reading that can serve as an excuse.

• Cognitive skills: Rereading reinforces memory and comprehension skills as repetition is a long-used method of learning. The act of reading a book over and over again allows for your brain to learn the knowledge fully and benefits your memory in the long-term.
• Re-discovering and uncovering previously unforeseen parts of the novel: Reading something for the first time allows one to pick up the most prevalent information, however there are often times when there are messages hidden within the text that do not immediately reveal themselves. Rereading a novel brings more nuance to the text and allows the reader to seek out other parts of the novel that they didn’t initially understand.
• Reading for nostalgia and comfort in stability: The nostalgia that re-reading provides us can often contribute to our emotional well-being. This nostalgia also allows the reader to re-discover parts of themselves from the time they read the novel. The familiarity of the novel creates that sense of comfort, both within re-visiting the person we were in that initial read, and the characters and world of the text.

Regardless of the reason, rereading is an act that benefits us in many ways and allows us to feel joy in the mundane. Therefore, the next time you feel the need to reread, I urge you to give in.