During February, I re-read the H.G. Wells classic The War of the Worlds. In March, I will be re-reading Hemingway’s “Big Two-Hearted River.” The latter is a story I have re-read every spring now for more than 45 years.

I have come to believe that one of the many reasons I re-read books is that returning to them is a way of checking in with myself—and even more so, a way of recentering myself.

I suspect that favorite books and poems express something fundamental about who we are or what we believe. At least, I think that is the case for me.

Why do you think you re-read certain works?