Do rereads count towards your reading goal, or is it just cheating?

This is a question I’ve seen debated in comment sections before and one I would like to weigh in on. It’s interesting since I reread the Harry Potter series constantly. Once I finish the seventh, I hop back to the first and start all over again.

Starting with the arguments I’ve seen saying that a reread shouldn’t count.

You’ve Already Read The Story/It’s Not New/Progress

So, these arguments basically go along the belief that since you’ve already read the story, you aren’t progressing, which I mean, you aren’t reading new material and, therefore, not getting through your TBR pile.  

It’s Cheating

This one is wild. It’s Cheating. Dè idir? What do you mean by “it’s cheating”? 

From what I gather, I think this refers to rereading books to make reaching the reading goal easier. However, each individual person sets their own reading goal, so it’s not like we are competing; at least, I don’t. I don’t understand this one, but all I can think is that some people believe that only new reads should count towards reading goals.

My stance

For me, I think rereads do count towards reading goals. As I’ve said, I reread Harry Potter constantly and count it towards my reading goals. The logic I follow is I spent the time and energy reading a story. It may have been a story I’ve read a thousand times, but it is still one I took time to read; therefore, it obviously counts. I don’t understand how a reread shouldn’t count unless you’re not actually reading the book and just marking it as read, but I don’t understand that logic. 

Setting The Goal

From trying to understand the whole to count a reread or not thing, it seems some people either do or believe people just want to mark books as read so their reading goal looks good. 

I’m trying to get this book blog going. I’ve got a bookstagram, AND I want to be a proofreader. All bookish things. I’m currently doing an English & Journalism degree, doing the English Creative Writing dissertation, and my highest reading goal has been what I set for this year. 

A massive twenty. 

Yeah, twenty. Not because I won’t read twenty, I think I’ll read more than twenty, but because it is a nice manageable number that I believe I can hit easily. I don’t understand this whole: “If you don’t read a minimum of fifty books, then you aren’t a real reader.” Like, my dude, chill. I love reading. I try to read daily, but I’m just a bit slower. I have other responsibilities and other hobbies. Some days, I don’t feel like picking up my current read and delving into it. Some days, I want to space out, mindlessly playing video games and collecting as many achievements as possible. This brings down the reading goal count but lets me continue to enjoy reading. A hobby can quickly fizzle away if you force it too much.

In the end, I will advocate for the stance that rereading does count towards your reading goals. You are still exploring the story from the pages of a book, even if you’ve already seen it. That’s like saying you’re not actually reading because you’ve read it before. That I’m not actually playing Final Fantasy XV because January 2024 will mark the seventh year I’ve played it as a tradition, and it will be the who knows how many times I’ve played it in total. 

It sounds dumb when it’s said like that. 

So, do rereads count towards count towards your reading goal?

Rereads are fine. Add them to your reading goal. Because at the end of the day, it’s not a competition; it’s just a way to measure your own progress. 

Also, if anyone is so upset that you’ve reread a book (like me and the Harry Potter series), then the better question is if they are okay. How is this upsetting people? Like, chill. It’s a book. It’s my goal. 

As Daz Black (Daz Games) taught me oh so many years ago:

If you aren’t hurting yourself or anyone else: you do you, boo.