As most of you probably know, I am NOT a re-reader. I just can’t bring myself to reread a book – even a fantastic book – when I know that there are so many books out there that I still haven’t read. That I desperately want to read!! The only time I ever reread books is when I am reading an old favorite along with my kids (and even those are few and far between).
Which is why it baffles me that they LOVE to reread books. ALL. THE. TIME. This past week we celebrated my middle daughter’s birthday, and the only thing that she really wanted was more of the Warriors books by Erin Hunter. There are like 30 books in this series and she’s read all of them multiple times (some of them, I think she’s read like four times). But she loves these books, and getting them from the library over and over again is just not sufficient. She owns a couple of the series already, but she wants to own them all so that she can read them again and again … and again …
I literally, at one point, had to force her to read something else in between – just to make me feel better, really. Luckily, she has been reading some other things lately, but the Warriors series was still the first thing she asked for when her birthday came around!
My older daughter isn’t quite as bad, but she often rereads as well – and she doesn’t even always reread the books in a series in order! This manages to activate another serious issue that I have – I CANNOT read books out of order! But, if she finds a book laying around that piques her interest, she’ll read it – even if it’s book #3 in a series. Then, she might go back and reread books one and two, if she feels like it. Seriously, it makes me want to hyper-ventilate just thinking about it!
Recently, my oldest and I had a conversation that went basically like this …
J: Mom, I really want to reread the MILA 2.0 series again. Is the third book out yet? Can you please get the first book from the library?
(At this point, I’m just thrilled that she wants to read them in order! I originally had the first book as an e-book for review, but I deleted it after I was done with it because … well … I was done with it. Then I got a hardcover of the second book for review and my daughter was super interested in that cover – I finally got her the first book from the library so she could read them both.)
ME: (Checks Goodreads) Oh, wow! The third book isn’t even coming out until February of 2016. Do you still want to reread the first two right now?
J: Darn! Yeah, I definitely still want to reread them.
ME: (After checking the library status) Sorry, the first book is checked out right now. I can put it on hold if you want me to.
J: Aw, man. Okay, put it on hold.
Me: (Thinking in my head, “How many times is she going to reread these books before 2016? Oh no! The book isn’t available at the library, and she’s going to just read the books out of order – it’s going to drive me crazy! Hurry, distract her!!”) You know, you should really read the Unwind series by Neal Shusterman. I think you’re old enough now, and it’s one of my favorite series of all time. It’s all about how people will accept crazy things if they’re considered “normal” for society. People decide that it’s okay to basically chop their teenagers up and donate all their parts if they’re bad enough kids. (I know, I’m horrible for describing the book this way, but I know how to get my daughter’s attention.)
J: (Eyebrows raise in confusion and slight revulsion mixed with a distinct look of “Hey, that’s cool!”)
ME – (“Yes, I have her!! Crisis averted!”)
J: Awesome! Where’s the first book?
(I tell her where to find the books and we have long, meaningful discussions about all sorts of things like the value of life, what makes a person a person, whether or not I’d unwind her – she’s kidding with this question – I think – etc. As soon as she leaves the room, I head to Amazon to buy MILA 2.0 – it NEEDS to be here before she’s done with the Unwind series so she doesn’t resort to reading the books out of order!)
Anyway, I’m pretty sure you can see who the neurotic one in the family is – and it’s not either of my kids. Really, though, now that you’ve gotten to know me a little, are you at all surprised?
Oh, and I told my oldest that I’m going to reread the Unwind series with her, so I guess I will be doing some rereading soon, after all.
How about you? Do your kids (or siblings … or parents … boyfriend … whoever) have different reading habits than you that drive you crazy? How do you cope?
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