Old Favourites

Returning to old favourites

Recently I’ve started to reread Daphne du Maurier’s classic Rebecca.

It’s about the third or fourth time I’ve read this book. Every so often I get an urge for some dark moody writing (maybe to counteract the stark heat of the Australian summer), and this book always provides on the foreboding front. If you haven’t read any of du Maurier’s books, Rebecca is a good place to start. She hooks you from the first spine-tingling sentence, “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”

But my habit of returning to books that I’ve already read is not restricted to Rebecca. The need to reread usually comes when I hit a roadblock in my reading, or when life gets more stressful and I don’t have the energy to engage with a brand new story.

My reading tastes have changed since I was a teenager, yet now and again I find myself grabbing a fantasy book by an author I loved as a younger person. Works by Alison Croggon, Isobelle Carmody, Garth Nix, Philip Pullman and JK Rowling are regulars (I really should just bite the bullet and buy the box set of Harry Potter!).

Perhaps it’s a subconscious desire for something safe and predictable that draws me back to these books, particularly when life goes into hyperdrive. Or maybe it’s simply the attraction of what I know is a rollicking good story and lively characters.

I’ve heard of people going back to reread The Lord of the Rings and A Tale of Two Cities because they love the rich story or feel deeply connected to the characters…I’ve also talked to people who can’t bear the thought of having to go back to a story they’ve already read. My mum is one such reader: she has shelves and shelves of books that have been read once and that’s that. “I already knows what’s going to happen, so what’s the point in going back over it?” is her point of view, and it makes sense – she mostly reads crime fiction.

If you are a rereader like me, what are the books you go back to and why? Or if you are a person who never rereads a book, why not?