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Heaven: Books to reread
We often have threads about what people are reading. I often find what I want to do is reread something I read a while back. I often get more out of it than I did before. What are some books to reread? What are some books you have read more than once?
I myself am presently rereading "The Hobbit" by J. R. R. Tolkien and "Year of the Unicorn" by Andre Norton. A book I have red several times is "Excalibur" by Sanders Anne Laubenthal. (I could list many more.)
I myself am presently rereading "The Hobbit" by J. R. R. Tolkien and "Year of the Unicorn" by Andre Norton. A book I have red several times is "Excalibur" by Sanders Anne Laubenthal. (I could list many more.)
Comments
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
Several early mysteries by Ellery Queen
Several early "Saint" mysteries by Leslie Charteris
All the Charlie Chan mysteries by Earl Derr Biggers.
Yeah, that's enough to be going on with for now...
And P.G. Wodehouse!
There are a couple of books I’m glad I read but don’t think I’d be keen to reread including 1984.
Fortunately, it's a few years since I last did this, but if I'm ill and groggy I reread some of my Chalet School books.
I read all of the Little House on the Prairie books as a child and loved them. It was a revelation when I reread them as bedtime stories to my children. Second time around I could see the Ingall's life through adult eyes, the poverty, the disaster of a bad harvest, the constant uprooting and moving.
Another I seem to be periodically drawn to re-reading is Rumor Godden’s In This House of Brede.
I had quite forgotten about Eon, thanks for reminding me of something I need to track down and re-read.
School collection. More recently, I’ve had a phase of revisiting some of the Noel Streatfield novels I remember from childhood.
Current re-read is Catherine Fox’s ‘Realms of Glory,’ the final book in her Lindchester chronicles. I’d recommend her works to all you Trollope fans out there. She deserves a wider audience.
‘Realms of Glory’ is in my to-be-read pile. I've read and enjoyed all of the previous ones.
I also love many of the books others have mentioned like Love in a Cold Climate and Jane Eyre, which I've probably read a dozen times. What is it about these books we reread even when we know exactly what will happen?
With a good book, it's not a matter of knowing what will happen, but experiencing what happens.
I do that too. In my case it's not so much dislike of suspense, but impatience. I want to know where this thing is going.
I love that whole series; I've already re-read it once since my initial reading and am sure it'll be another that I return to over the years.
hey, thanks! (scribbles note)
Indeed. I'm also someone who re-reads more than first-reads and takes a trusted book on holiday in case I don't enjoy the new read. If I'm going abroad it's always The Wind in the Willows as I get horribly homesick and that's so quintessentially English, and all about home and friendship.
I reread a lot of the books I enjoyed as a child and many of the ones mentioned here. Other favourites include Robert Harris's Pompeii, William Horwood's Skallagrigg and Elizabeth Goudge's novels.
That's about what it is for me, I think, and that may be why all my favorite writers are great at creating atmosphere. When I stretch out to read, I prefer to be in England sometime before World War I. Anyone who can take me there is very appreciated.
I've got to re-read George Eliot's Middlemarch for w*rk - my own idea - but, though I loved it when I first read it, I find I keep putting it off. It's a bit of an intimidating prospect.
Or, as a review of the movie Remains of the Day (which had a high degree of sexual tension between the 2 main characters said, "The Butler didn't do it". I don't remember who the reviewer was, but it was the most succinct review I'd ever read.
I re-read a lot of the books already mentioned; Trollop, Austen, LOTR, Hitch-Hikers' Guide., but recently I've re-read Cynthia Voigt's "Tillerman" series of 6 Young Adult books, one of which won a Newbury Medal, whilst another was a Newbury Honor book. I enjoyed all but one of them.
Re-reading books for me is often a comfort when I'm feeling stressed out. When we were averaging a shake every couple of hours the Moomin books were a gentle escape, as was PG Wodehouse. Which in some ways seems a strange combination to me now -- but it worked.
I have read and re-read them since my daughters brought them home as teenagers. I didn't like Sons from Afar. Is that the one you didn't like?
Yes, that is the best of the pre-internet (and slash/fan-fic) Trek books
My personal favourite re-reads are the two Jade Darcy books (by Stephen Goldin and Mary Mason) and Riddley Walker (by Russell Hoban)
For tense and uncertain situations (waiting for doctors) I have Milton's Paradise Lost and Che Guevara's Guerilla warfare
I do not get on with Austen, I do not get on with PG Woodhouse and I struggle with Anthony Trollope. Books that deal with the intrigues of polite society leave me cold. My imagination requires a breath of air within the drawing rooms.
Moo, I found Come A Stranger the least enjoyable. Sons From Afar I was OK because I liked Sammy's character. I liked Mina too in the other books, but for some reason this one felt more awkward.
Mary Renault.
Graham Greene.
At the insistent urgings of a friend of mine, who has read it repeatedly (five times?), I'm going to tackle Tristram Shandy.
At TIFF (2006?) I saw a film version of Tristram Shandy - Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Dylan Moran - dir. Michael Winterbottom - and it was simultaneously disorienting and hilarious. As yet, no clue how closely it adheres to the novel.
Robertson Davies is simply incredibly good - can I suggest you add The Salterton Trilogy to the list?
Me too. And I notice new things each time. Plus Harry Potter and Gaiman's Neverwhere.
A Cock and Bull Story. It is a fascinating film - it is a film about making a film of the book - something which is impossible, because it is very definitively a written piece. And the film is good as a representative of how complex and confusing the book is.
The book is also disorintating, peculiar, obscure. I loved it, others might not.
Graham Green is fantastic because there is always a different nuance you can pick out on re-reading.
William Dalrymple books I can read again and again. They are non-fiction, historical and reflective.
As to Michael Morpurgo (well I am just a big kid).............his books are for all ages.
Try David Walliams books - they aren't just for children but have important things to say. "Gangsta Granny" I think I have read 3 times now!!!!