[WEEKLY MUSING] on rereading...

will definitely reread this series at some point this year.

Hello,

Have you seen the goodreads update last week? The reread feature? I'm sure you have (unless of course you live in a castle far, far away and have no access to goodreads #sadlife and because living in a rock is so overrated!).

When I saw the update, I was basically like: I knew it! I knew that 2017 will be the year I reread my books. I do plan to reread many of my books ever since I considered restarting my blog. I mean why not reread them all, write new reviews, and actually finish some of book series I held off while I'm at it? Right? RIGHT?

Honestly though, I'm not so much into rereading but when I realized that many of my books are actually sequels and are in need of reading, I knew I had to go around them now. But then another problem came to me: I actually can't remember much on some of them. I mean sure I remember the gist of it but when reading through the finale or something, I at least have to know some details and characters and setting and such. And my memory is just soooo bad I forget half of the things I read right after reading them (or maybe a day or two after reading it. depends on the book I guess...).

why i reread / will reread more books
- for the love of books! Just really. The first time I reread Unwind, there wasn't even a sequel announced. It was a standalone. I reread it because it's an amazing and thought provoking book. SO, basically, I reread because the book is great! Don't we all do that?
- because book sequels had me like: why heck is this happening, even? I literally forget a lot of things about a book after a couple of days. or maybe hours? my brain is too preoccupied with lots of useless things to remember specific events and character names. ugh. I reread books because I want to get read the next in series and that's basically the case for me and why I'll be rereading more books this year like maybe Divergent, and the 5th Wave, and Throne of Glass. Gotta finish those series!!
- because my brain can't decipher what this author is saying. I don't know. There are times when I think that I wasn't able to completely understand a book, or the author has something more to say, or I missed an important point or I'm just too stupid to understand this brilliant piece of literature. Although I haven't exactly reread a book with this reason, I intend to reread some books with this in mind. Gotta find the right mindset though. This goes for some books I read and wish to reread and for some books I held off.
- because these books cost me a fortune and I'm just gonna touch them once? ohcomeonnow! Sometimes I'm just like, I bought this book from the money I saved so hard for. I read some of them in just a couple of days (probably for some of you guys in took you just hours!) and then I'll just have them sitting there in my shelf or occasionally have them pose for #bookstagram? It just feels wrong, you know?

I suck at rereading so I've only reread a few books so far. I can count them in my fingers admittedly. They are: Unwind, UnWholly, Red Rising, Golden Son, Pretenders, and The Young Elites. Excluding my manga volumes, of course, since I've reread them a several times.

Unwind & UnWholly (Unwind Dystology #1 & #2) | Neal Shusterman
I practically reread Unwind like 5 or 6 or 7 times. I don't, of course, know every freaking detail but I do know the story by heart. The Unwind Dystology is like an adventure dystopian novel. And its characters were well developed which is something I really, really love. Also, the world is horrifying and twisted and well thought of. Shusterman also makes it sound possible which makes the horrifying part scarier.
This series is about a world where 'unwinding' teenagers between 13 to 18 is made legal. Unwinding means 'aborting' a child yet at the same time keeping every part of his body alive. This is made possible by new technology. Each part of an unwind teenager is then used for medical purposes (parts replacement and all, like you know, when your arms get chopped off, buy an arm and you won't have to suffer not having one for the rest of your life... or something like that). This series is highly thought provoking which is why I LOVE IT.

Red Rising & Golden Son (Red Rising trilogy #1 & #2) | Pierce Brown
Along with the Unwind Dystology, Red Rising is another fave series of mine. Its world and characters completely absorbed me. The development is great and this series made me read a scifi book set in space which is completely not me!
This series is about a world where people have finally occupied other planets in the universe. However, the Lower Reds, the lowest people in the hierarchy, have no idea that this is happening. The Reds thought that they are preparing Mars, and the rest of the space, for future generations. They think of themselves as pioneers. Until Darrow, a Red punished by death yet survived, is introduced to this world and became a major part of the rebel group Sons of Ares. This series is thought provoking, has strong characters, and a world that completely absorbed me!

Pretenders (Pretenders #1) | Lisi Harrison
I don't read a lot of contemporary more so those that involve teenage drama and such but Lisi Harrison holds a special place in my heart which is why I picked this series up.
Pretenders is about five freshmen who became part of the school's 'Phoenix Five'. It's a prestigious title given to outstanding students. However, these five students are not really so outstanding. Told in journal entries which consisted of several fancy (and detailed for a journal) conversations, doodles, and a whole lot of humour, Pretenders is a quick and fun read. Also, it involves a mystery -- a mysterious member (or is she?) of the Phoenix Five has brought out all five of their journals to the whole school. Who is it and why let other people read it?

The Young Elites (the Young Elites #1) | Marie Lu
The first time I read The Young Elites, I just like: meh! This chick is so mad and powerful. Also, she doesn't know who to trust. #lonelylife The rave on The Rose Society was quite crazy and I'm just like: I really should just reread this thing and see how it goes and I'll jump to book two.
The Young Elites features Adelina, a survivor of the blood fever wherein survivors are marked with unusual eye and/or hair discoloration and at times, powers. When she decided to finally ran away from home, her powers went berserk and with her inability to control it, she ended up killing her father. Adelina was brought to the Young Elites and was trained. However, throughout her stay, she was brought into a difficult position by the leader of the Inquisition Axis and thus ruining things for her. She ended up not knowing how to trust people, who to turn into, and ultimately how to manage everything that's going on around her.

a few more words...
I think that rereading really allows us to take a fresh new look at a book. That's really just the case for me. For Unwind and Red Rising series, I was able to delve into the story even more and just get so absorbed in it and appreciate the characters even more. Other times like in the Young Elites, I ended up liking the book even more. From a 3-star read, it turned into a 4-star one. I want to reread more so that I can appreciate the books I have even more and maybe get into what the authors want me to see (as I mentioned above).

HOW ABOUT YOU

Do you reread books? How often do you reread? Why do you reread books? Do we have same reasons? Do you also reread the previous book in a series before diving into a new one? What are your fave rereads?

let's connect!