Re-Read a Favorite Book
Today is Day 14 of my Happiness Hacks series.
Nope, I didn’t accidentally stutter when writing this happiness hack title.
Today I’ve landed on something that’s a new one for me. I’ve always loved to read, but I have never put much thought into my reading habits. I was listening to a podcast today, and Jess Lahey and KJ Dell’Antonia were talking about how they select books, what part they read to “check it out,” and whether they always finish books they start. It got me thinking about my own reading habits.
When I’m on vacation, I read novels – several of them. I love reading on airplanes, beaches, and pretty much anywhere, especially when I don’t feel any time constraint. I love novels, but sometimes when I’m reading one at home it can be a problem. I stay up too late reading, and it wrecks my next day. About a month ago, I reluctantly turned off the light to go to sleep, only to wake up at 3 am wondering how the book was going to end. I only had about 50 pages left, so I got up in the middle of the night to finish the book. Therein lies the problematic part of reading a gripping novel when I’m at home.
Another reading habit of mine is always having not one but several books going simultaneously. I thought everyone read that way, but I’ve learned that some people always read linearly – one book, start to finish, before moving on to the next. I don’t do that.
The reading habit of mine that I’m ready to change as of today is re-reading favorite books, something I’ve only rarely done before (mostly when reading aloud childhood favorites to my kids). In the past, when I heard about people who re-read the same book many times, I thought, “Why would I re-read a book when there are SO MANY out there I still want to read?”
No more. I realized today that re-reading a favorite book is a fantastic happiness hack.
There are certain books that I remember enjoying so much. Coupled with my terrible memory, which probably will make re-reading a book feel like the first time through, I’ve decided to become more of re-reader. I started today with Brene Brown’s The Gifts of Imperfection. In the book, I have about 62 sticky notes and numerous dog-ears, highlights, and notes. I’m already finding it to be a great re-read! A side benefit of this particular happiness hack is that I’m feeling giddy about going through my library and picking out my old favorites to add to my reading stack!
Do you have a book you’ve read more than once because you like it so much? I’d love to hear about it!
