Rhi Reads

Musings on a Re-Read

Returning to a book you once loved can be a risky thing to do, almost like revisiting a version of yourself and your taste from another time. In this, my inaugural column, I thought I’d indulge in some unapologetic wordplay, and examine the re-read. 

This week, I returned to a book I adored in 2020, Anxious People by Fredrik Backman. Six years ago, I found it warm, quirky and charming, a story that navigated the messiness of people and life with heart and careful comedy. In 2026, I’m struggling to make it past the first fifty pages. I’m bored. Maybe my tastes have changed. Maybe it's that I now know the twist. Or maybe some books only belong to the moment in time you first encountered them.

Not all re-reads falter. Last year, I decided to return to a book I read in high school. On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta is a story lodged somewhere permanent in my mind: somewhere formative. Would it be the same? I certainly am not. But re-reading this book transported me to my 14 year old self, and I devoured every page, remembered every chapter, like the book had been patiently waiting for me to come back. 

Re-reading, I think, mirrors so many other parts of life. We revisit places, relationships, jobs, expecting them to feel the same, and maybe hoping they won’t. Sometimes they meet the expectation, sometimes the memory is better. Sometimes they reveal that what we loved wasn’t ever just the thing itself, but who we were when we first experienced it. 

A book that doesn’t live up to its memory is disappointing, sure, but it’s also helpful. It tells you you’ve changed; your taste has sharpened or softened, your perspective has shifted. And when a book does live up to expectations, what a joy! You’ve found a little thread connecting who you were to who you are now. 

So, maybe my irritation with Anxious People is unfair. I find myself judging the book and wondering why I liked it so much. But perhaps the question isn’t whether a book holds up on a second reading, but whether we do. 

Books that demand a re-read:

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

A Man Called Ove - Fredrik Backman 

And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie

1984 - George Orwell

Rhianna McCourt