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This week's Top Ten list (host by The Broke and the Bookish) is all about what to reread. Stop by to see what is on everyone else's reread list.
I love to reread favorite books, just as I like to have a few cups of tea a day, eat pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, dine on tomato sandwiches during the summer when the garden is bursting with goodies, and make ham and bean soup when it snows.
Apart from rereading an Austen every year, here's my list of the books that are at the top of my reread list:
Middlemarch by George Eliot - I love this book and it's so rich and layered and wise and wonderful that I find it rewarding to reread at least every five or so years. I was due last year and it fell off my list, but I'm definitely rereading it soon.
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - One of the first classics I ever read, I read it 2-3 times as a teenager, but not since. Definitely overdue for a reread. Last year I reread Pickwick Papers, with whom I have a similar history, and loved it.
An Infamous Army by Georgette Heyer - The whole time I was reading it for plot, I was promising myself I would reread it for savoring.
Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series - I'm into book 2 on my third trip through this series, which I love so much. Sometimes I think that Outlander is to me as an adult what the Anne books and the Little House series were to me when I was a child.
The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher - A college friend gave me this novel when I was taking a long break from fiction as a young adult, and it resparked my love of a good story. It's been over twenty-five years since I read it and I want to see whether the magic is still there.
The Forest by Edward Rutherford - I love these massive historical fiction books, and I've reread London and loved it even more the second time. I remember finding The Forest absolutely enthralling.
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell - One my top 5 favorite books of all time. Much as I love Wives and Daughters, North and South really speaks directly to me.
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier - I really enjoy du Maurier's stories, but this one is so compelling and masterful that it's just a sheer pleasure to read.
Death in Venice by Thomas Mann - I studied Mann in college, but even before that I had read Death in Venice and found it completely absorbing, like listening to Mozart's Requiem in D Minor. It's exquisitely written and affects me deeply.
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray - The first time I read it I didn't like it; the second time I really liked; I'm curious how I will feel about the third time.
I'm toying with the idea of hosting a reading challenge on my blog in 2015 that would be all about rereading. Anybody interested? I haven't thought it through but as a rereader the idea obviously appeals to me. Any hints or tips about hosting a challenge?
I've read both Rebecca and the Outlander series several times and I've re-read some of Edward Rutherfurd's books too, though not The Forest. I love re-reading but haven't done enough of it since I started blogging! If you do host a challenge next year I would be interested in joining in.
ReplyDeleteLove Rebecca and all of these books. Aren't classics just the best. Absolutley adore them.
ReplyDeleteCheck out my Top Tuesday here
I love rereading my favorite books, too. And Middlemarch is definitely one of my favorites, as is The Shell Seekers. If you do decide to host a rereading challenge I would sign up. :)
ReplyDeleteI grew up as a fairly obsessive re-reader, starting with the Little House books, Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden. I don't re-read as much now, because I have so many unread books piled up, but earlier this year I tore through five of the Harry Potter books again, and several of my favorite Heyers (AIA isn't one of them though :)
ReplyDeleteMany of these books are works that I need to read for the fist time!
ReplyDeleteI really need to get to Middlemarch soon.
Rereading is very important. Some have suggested that great book needs to be read at least twice in order to really understand it.
The Shell Seekers was a favorite way back when! A couple of my blogging friends reread it last year and found it didn't quite stand the test of time. Of course, I was disappointed and may need to find out for myself.
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking about rereading several classics from high school. I don't really do challenges, but maybe if I think of it as a "project"... ;-)