Book Discussion: Deciding What to Re-Read

It seems that every year I get a re-reading prompt. And every time, I immediately wonder what I'll re-read and when. This is a decision I'm still working on for this year.

From this link:

How to decide which book to reread

There’s no fixed formula for this, but there are some pointers that can illuminate the decision.

Sometimes, it’s obvious from the first pages of a book that we won’t be able to get as much out of it only in one go, other times we may only realize at the end of reading it that we’re compelled to revisit it in the future (either for pragmatic reasons: we need to study for an exam and haven’t yet grasped the material properly, or for personal ones: you want to deepen your understanding of the subject).

In my opinion, books that are worth re-reading meet at least one of the following criteria:

• you feel a calling to revisit passages or quotes from them
• it has stood the test of time
• it is the touchstone for an entire field of study
• you’re inspired by the ideas in it and want to apply them into your life
• you found the topic or delivery “out of your intellectual league” and would like to understand it better
• you would like to think more about that book’s subject

When to reread a book

So, to also touch on a practical matter: when should we decide to revisit a text?

For practical reasons, some texts need to be reread immediately. In other cases, it’s ideal to let some time pass, from 6 months to maybe one year, so let the ideas steep in your brain so you return to them with a more mature perspective. Or you could pick up a book you read ten years ago, one that you remember had an impact on you, so that you can enter a dialogue with the person you were before and observe how your outlook on the text and the world has changed.

I don't think I've considered many of these things. I know I tend to wait at least a year, though most often longer than that.  

Also when it says "re-read a favorite," I take a while to decide what I considered a favorite. Or else, I just re-read whatever I choose to. Sometimes I find my self checking put books I've already read, not remembering such. In most instances, I opt out of re-reading the book, if I don't feel interested in enough in reading it agin. For some books once is enough. And trying to remember what I read as a child gets harder each year, as I said in this post. 

How often do you re-read books and how do you decide what to read again?