Do you have favourite books you return to over and over again, enjoying once more the characters, settings and plot twists?

If so, then you and I have nothing in common. 

Ditto if your idea of a fun night in is sitting down to work your way through the boxed set of your favourite TV series. For the umpteenth time.

I just don’t get it. 

I figure that even if I read a book a week for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t even scratch the surface of all the wonderful novels in the world.

And here we are, in the golden age of television, with every amazing series available at the press of the Netflix remote, ready for bingeing 24/7. And people re-watch shows?

But that’s not even the main reason I can’t bring myself to do it.

The main reason is this: I know what’s going to happen. I may not remember every detail but I remember the guts of it, and the bits I’ve forgotten feel familiar as I read or see them again.

The lack of narrative tension just makes it seem like a bore.

But it’s not only books and movies for which I have a low repetition threshold. Restaurants, holiday destinations, family activities, even places to live – I like to try something new, just in case it’s better than the last one.

I suppose it could be a form of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), which I should probably try to contain.

But now that I think about it, I’m not always this way. If I feel like I’ve played the field enough, I’m happy to choose one and settle down. This is nowhere more obvious than with ice cream.

You see, I reckon I’ve reached an age where even new flavours seem just like variations of things I’ve already tried.

So if I don’t pick my standard favourite, I almost always regret it.

And that flavour of choice is vanilla.

Plain, old vanilla, time after time. So maybe I should try re-reading some books after all. I might just find the familiarity enjoyable.