I think a lot about books and obviously read as much as I can and want. But nevertheless I will never read all the books in the world and there are probably many gems out there that I know nothing about. And because of that, I rarely read books for the second or more times. Of course part of the reason why I do it so rarely is because I almost never enjoy a book so much that I would like to read it again.

I have also started to not hold on to books I am not planing to re-read, shaping my library of books that I love and care about, leaving out the ones other people thought are good, yet I didn’t quite enjoy. Which makes it also easier to realise what I want to read and what I don’t really.

So here’s a list of the books that I have loved the first time around and want to read again or already read for quite a few times and want to read again. I didn’t add LOTR or Harry Potter, because I decided that it’s a given and Ender’s Game, The Three Musketeers and  Perfume: The Story of a Murderer are honorable mentions.


5. Marissa Meyer – The Little Android
This story is actually a novella that is a part of Stars Above: A Lunar Chronicles Collection. I read it when this book wasn’t yet out and it was just a small novella.

It doesn’t actually feature any of the main heroes, yet it features an android that is remarkably similar to Iko and develops feelings and an ability to think. It was so interesting, heartbreaking and lovely that I would like to read it again. Yet, I have to warn you that there’s no point of reading it, if you haven’t read the series.

 


4. Colleen McCullough – The Thorn Birds
I read this book for the first time when I was sixteen years old because my friend and classmate Unda had found it at home, read it and said that it was awesome and I had to read it, simply had to read it!

So I did. And I loved it. Unfortunately, now, ten years later, I remember nothing of the book, have no idea what happened there (just that it is a romance and some priest or vicar was involved in a forbidden relationship), so I am kind of excited and scared at the same time. I have these wonderful memories of this book and am afraid to ruin them, but well, it’s one of the classics, it ought to be good, right?

 

3.  J.R.R. Tolkien – The Hobbit
I know I said that I won’t include LOTR, but technically, this is not in the series! I have read Hobbit four or five times and the first time was when I was about ten.

But the real realisation of how awesome this book was, came in 2013, when I was really ill and got the book for Christmas (from Linda again, I think). I wanted to read it for a long time and at last, I had a chance. I was really, really ill and Tom read it for me. I dozed off a lot and had to come back to some parts, but I loved it. I have read it twice since, I think.

I don’t really think that this needs much of an explanation, I just simply like the book a lot. I found it to be funny and full of magic and clever things, not to mention that my copy is signed by Andy Serkis, making it the most important book in my collection – Gollum is my favourite character in LOTR and Hobbit. And last time I read it, it received four stars on my goodreads page.

 

2. Margaret Mitchell – Gone with the Wind
I have read Gone with the Wind just once and I was fourteen years old when I did. I remember that I was going through library books, picking up some teen romances and piling them up, when I noticed this one.

I wasn’t sure, if I wanted to impress the librarian, but I took it with me and librarian was quick to notice that I had taken only the second book, so she found me the first one. And when I saw how huge the books were (and kind of old), I thought that I will never read them and just return, saying that I did.

But here we are now. I don’t know how did I start to read the first one, but I was so into it, that I couldn’t stop. I absolutely loved it and Scarlett’s pride was something I could relate to, although that is not necessary a positive thing. I haven’t read this book recently, so no star rating for this one.

 


1. Jane Austin – Pride and Prejudice
This book is one of my favourite books of all time and I consider it an almost flawless masterpiece. I think I would never really refuse to read it, because it is just an amazing story.

Funnily enough though, I didn’t like it that much when I read it for the first time and only after my friend Linda was obsessed with the film and we watched it several times, I gave it another chance. And I do not regret it the slightest. I suspect that I wasn’t grown up enough to truly enjoy and understand it.

Last time I read it was in the previous year and it received four stars from me, hence the “almost” flawless masterpiece.

 

So that his my list of the books that I would like to re-read. Looks like a rather romantic list, doesn’t it? Well, those are books I would like to read again, if I had time, book and no new releases pressing on my shelf that needed to be read. Let me know in the comment section about your favourite and most read books!