Read-Rewind-Repeat

As a kid, if I didn't have a book in hand, then it could be found on my face. Seriously. I have the pictures my parents took to prove it. I'd fall asleep reading, and my book would settle over my face. I'm so glad that my boys inherited the reading gene. I found my youngest sound asleep once (he was five at the time) with his arms stuck straight up in the air...still holding his book. My middle child can't wake up in the mornings because he can't tear himself away from whatever story he's engrossed in at night...even if he has read it many times before (I think he has read Eragon three times already). And it's not for lack of books. It's for the love of a particular experience.

I'll confess that I'm a re-reader too. Yep. Like my boys, I've read books where I love the characters and their experience...their emotional growth...so much that I'll go back and read it again (and sometimes again). Just because I don't re-read a particular story doesn't mean it's not fantastic or memorable. There are simply some stories that make me feel good in a way that's...well...addicting. Call them chocolate stories, if you would ;). Sometimes it's the setting that pulls me back for an escape. Sometimes it's a delicious, mouth watering hero. Sometimes it's a heroine I can identify with. But often, it's a mixture of indefinable qualities that tap into an inner me. Simply put. I want to be there. So I go...again and again. Nora Roberts is probably at the top of the list of books I've re-read, along with Debbie Macomber, Susan Wiggs, and many others (including shorter, category stories).

Confession number two: I'll watch a movie many times over for the same reasons. I think movies are easier to re-watch just because of time constraints. I can multi-task with movies (ie. crochet, sew, brush the dog...). I've watched my favorite romances, as well as Star Wars and Star Trek movies, too many times to count. I've lost track of how many times my boys have watched the Harry Potter movies (I did make them read the books first ;).

To me, re-reading and re-watching are calorie free comforts. They're vacation escapes without the cost of airfare or lodging. What about you? What's the greatest number of times you've read a particular book or watched a particular movie? Which book or movie was it? Or are you a one time only person?

P.S. Coming soon...three weeks in a row of brain picking author interviews starting next Monday! Check out the right side bar for the schedule. I'll bring coffee :)