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!
July 23, 2016 at 17:47
I have only read Gone with the Wind once but it left a huge impression on me, probably going to read that again! Alice in Wonderland is the book I return to at least once a month.
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July 23, 2016 at 18:09
It was very similar to me and that is the reason I hope to read it again some time soon! 🙂
Alice in Wonderland though is a book I have never read. I once tried, when I was a kid, but couldn’t get into it. It seemed to complicated and even a bit dark. I will probably some time give it a chance, but I am not very excited about it. 😦
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July 23, 2016 at 18:05
Great selections! The two books I return to again and again are “The Shell Seekers” by Rosamunde Pilcher and “The Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Pilcher writes about life and love and home and family and food in such a beautiful, calm and comforting way that it’s like putting on a pair of warm, fuzzy slippers after a cold day of walking around in stilettos. Ruiz Zafon’s book is a combination of adventure and literature and philosophy and romance and heartbreak and I find something new, yet very calming, each time I read it. Love this post!!!
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July 23, 2016 at 18:13
I have read neither of them, but will try to remember to put them on my list. I have been trying to convince myself to try out books that were on “Tuesday Romance TV” – a thing on TV when I was small and your suggestions might work out, because Pilcher was the author of most of those stories!
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July 23, 2016 at 18:40
If I could only recommend one of her books, I would recommend the Shell Seekers. It really is very well-written book.
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July 23, 2016 at 19:01
Thank you! 🙂
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July 23, 2016 at 18:09
Treasure I land is my fave I have read it more than five times
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July 23, 2016 at 18:10
Oh, adventures! I loved these kind of books when I was a kid and still do. Thanks, will have to remember that! 🙂
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July 23, 2016 at 18:12
I know I still like reading these book
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July 23, 2016 at 18:13
It is so fun to recall old memories
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July 23, 2016 at 18:18
I love your post they help me to pick next book that I would love to read thanks for that
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July 23, 2016 at 19:02
Happy to help! 🙂
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July 23, 2016 at 18:18
🙂
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July 23, 2016 at 18:50
I haven’t read any of these books but they all look like good books 🙂
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July 23, 2016 at 21:55
I enjoy reading some of the books from my youth. I did reread the”Anne of Green Gales “. I started “Gone With The Wind” when I was younger but did not finish it. A few years later I reread it and finished it . I would like to read it once again because you always get something new out of a book when rereading it.
Marilyn
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July 24, 2016 at 11:20
I feel like I am literary the only person who has never read Anne of Green Gables! 😀 I grew up more with Scandinavian and German kid/teen literature.
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July 24, 2016 at 00:09
Pride and Prejudice is so amazing! I loved it when I read it for school (wrote an essay on Lydia Bennet) and I would love to read it again without the academic pressure attached. My favourite book to reread is probably The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It just takes me back to the happy time in my life I was at when I read it for the first time!
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July 24, 2016 at 11:19
Oh, I forgot about HG, I want to re-read that one too! I remember liking it quite a bit, yet the second and third book was a disappointment for me.
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July 24, 2016 at 02:16
I read Pride and Prejudice a month ago and really disliked it… why does Elizabeth like Mr. Darcy? He’s kind of a jerk to her.
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July 24, 2016 at 11:18
Well, I think it is quite often that the girls fall for the bad guys, isn’t it?
Besides, she finds out that he was so evil just because he had prejudices and wrong information and actually helped to settle many embarrassing things instead of being cause of them.
But you know, how it is, you can’t always like everything. Sad that it didn’t work out for you!
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July 24, 2016 at 07:40
Pride and Prejudice is a favorite of mine also! You are absolutely right when you talk about being afraid of ruining the book. I always have this fear too! It is quite depressing when I book is not as good as when it was first read. Especially younger aged books.
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July 24, 2016 at 11:16
Yes, indeed. It just gives memory of feeling amazing, of being the best thing ever. And if you read it again, you don’t even have to dislike it, with ‘meh’ is enough to ruin those memories!
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July 24, 2016 at 08:46
Pride and Prejudice is one of my all time favourite stories. A true classic. I need to purchase another copy as mine is being held together by tape and glue. I have thought of purchasing the story as an ebook, but being a classic, it should be in good old fashioned paper 🙂
JulieAnn
– My Romance Addiction
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July 24, 2016 at 11:15
Awww, that’s so cute. I was recently eyeing a beautiful hardback copy in National Gallery, to put like a “permanent” stamp on it, but somehow didn’t go for it. I really want a pretty, pretty and long lasting copy for this one!
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July 24, 2016 at 08:47
When I was younger and had more time, I would frequently reread books. Now since my to-read (first) list on Goodreads is over 500, rereading anything is much more of a luxury. I still have a to-reread list though and did manage to reread something this year (and review it), but I find rereading books, especially ones I haven’t perused in years, to offer a fresh, new perspective on ideas/motifs that I may not have noticed before.
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July 24, 2016 at 11:13
It is similar to me, and then there’s also the fact that you just simply have grown since the last time around and see new elements and things in the book!
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July 24, 2016 at 10:08
My mom chose my name from Thorn Birds, so I love seeing it around once in a while, even if I only use my second name now. I have yet to read the books, but I have the DVDs of the TV adaptation.
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July 24, 2016 at 11:12
I have never seen the film, but I remember loving the book. And when my mom saw me reading it, she was also in ave, because the book’s so good.
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July 24, 2016 at 12:46
I really need to get a copy!
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July 24, 2016 at 15:42
I agree on Pride and Prejudice. When I first picked it up, I didn’t like it that much. Then I watched the movie and picked it up again later and LOVED IT. Now every time I read it, it seems to get better and better!!
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July 24, 2016 at 16:15
Yup, the same for me! 🙂
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July 24, 2016 at 20:43
I’m glad something by Jane Austen made it on your list! =3 She should be read over and over again, perhaps with new eyes the older you get.
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July 24, 2016 at 21:02
I don’t have a book or two to recommend for rereading. Generally, if I liked it, I’d like rereading it. You catch nuances you missed the first time. Series are probably the most fun to reread because you can see authors setting up a plot point 3 books down the line.
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July 24, 2016 at 22:51
Thanks for stopping by my page, and liking my post! 🙂
I love this list, by the way. The Hobbit is on my personal re-read list as well!
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July 25, 2016 at 09:48
Some brilliant books on your list! I haven’t read The Thorn Birds, or Gone With the Wind yet, but I know they are classics for a reason – this is the reminder I need to bump them up my to-read list! The Hobbit is one of my most loved books – I’ve probably read it 3 or 4 times, and I’m sure I will read it again!
I understand the pains of having too many books to read, and not enough time, with shiny, new books being published all the time! I would love to re-read One Hundred Years of Solitude, and American Gods before the TV series comes out, but I have so many new, unread books to read that it’s hard to make time for old favourites!
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July 25, 2016 at 10:23
Oh, you put it so perfectly, Felicity! It a pity really that we can’t just perfectly have place, where we find out, what books are for us and then, can read only four-five star books. Something like sorting hat, just for books. So we could always be sure that the next new thing will be awesome or that it really is worth to start that one. 😀
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