Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme brought to you by The Broke and the Bookish. Want to make your own list? Clicking the image will take you to this week’s post. Happy listing!)
Re-reading a favorite book is like catching up with a good friend you haven’t seen in a long time. I love being able to go back and catch details that I might have missed, or see how my thoughts about the characters or situations has changed. Here are the ten books that I want to re-read.
1. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) – This is always at the top of my re-read list. I love this book with a passion that a lot of people find just the teeniest bit odd. I love it so much that right after I finish a re-read, I sometimes flip right back to the beginning and start again.
2. Thursday Next series (Jasper Fforde) – Another series I could read over and over (and over) again. My favorite so far is Lost in a Good Book, although it’s tough to pick a favorite.
3. Graceling (Kristin Cashore) – Katsa is one of my favorite characters, and I love the entire story.
4. Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen) – I read this for the first time this year for the Gothic Reading Challenge, and enjoyed the satire. I’m sure I’ll give it another read at some point.
5. The Book Thief (Markus Zusak) – I read it when it first came out, without realizing how big an impact it seems to have had on so many readers. I need to pick it back up.
6. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (Fannie Flagg) – Another one that I read over and over again (and I’ve seen the movie a million times). It’s such a great story, and I love Flagg’s writing style.
7. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas) – I read this for a high school English class and loved it. So many great characters, great lines, plot twists, and intricacies. No one does it like Dumas.
8. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) – Read it in high school after seeing the most recent film adaptation. Just the right amount of silly and clever — my favorite combination.
9. Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper, Case Closed (Patricia Cornwell) – Although she’s best known for her Kay Scarpetta novels, my first encounter with Cornwell was reading her non-fiction work, Portrait of a Killer. Everyone has their favorite candidate for who the vicious killer actually was, and in this book, Cornwell posits that it was Walter Sickert, a maybe-more-than-slightly-crazy artist whose paintings were eerily similar to the Ripper’s crime scenes. Interesting reading (don’t try reading it at night, though, especially if you’re alone).
Books I should give another try
My friends might not believe me, but I actually don’t enjoy everything I read. It’s easy for me to re-read books that I liked, but it’s a different story when I start thinking about books that I didn’t like, but really should give another shot (for various reasons).
10. Eragon (Christopher Paolini) – I read Eragon and Eldest, but could never really enjoy the series that much. Now that (supposedly) the final book is coming out, I should consider giving it another shot — after all, I love fantasy stories, especially ones that involve dragons.
11. Great Expectations (Charles Dickens) – Why is this the first book that people always have to read for high school English? It’s enough to put anyone off reading forever! But it’s a classic, and should be given a fair shake. The minute I get too annoyed, however, I’m chucking the damn thing.
Your turn. What’s on your re-read list?
Also, time is running out to win a free copy of Veronica Roth’s Divergent. Click through to sign up (it’s easy!).
One on my reread list is Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
Lee
Tossing It Out
I know a lot of people like Ayn Rand, but I can’t bring myself to stand behind her personal philosophies. It’s too mean-spirited, I think. I saw Fountainhead on someone’s list this week, too.
I was 25 when I read Atlas Shrugged and kind of liked it, but was also annoyed by it. I’m curious how I’d feel about it now. Of what I understand about her philosophies I think there are some parts that sound pretty interesting while others that I might question. I recent saw the old film version of The Fountainhead and quite liked it.
Lee
Tossing It Out
I hate it when I only like parts of a book. The good parts are good, but they’re tainted by the stuff I didn’t like. I don’t know a lot about Rand’s philosophies, but the little I’ve heard is kind of disturbing.
Did you know they’re making a film adaptation of Atlas Shrugged? It’s got some relatively well-known actors in it. Part 1 was released in April of this year.
Part 1 of Atlas didn’t do so well I don’t think which disappointed me . I do want to see it. I heard that the production had some problems and had to be put together rather rapidly.
Lee
Tossing It Out
I heard something similar. Probably to do with budget. I hear they went all out with it, and didn’t make their money back (it’s a pretty niche market they’re trying to appeal to).
From your list, I’ve only read Graeceling, but it is most certainly a keeper. Portrait of a Killer sounds interesting, I might have to check it out. I like true crime once in awhile.
Graceling is one of my favorite accidental finds. Have you read Fire?
I’m usually a fiction kind of gal, but I’ve always been interested by Jack the Ripper — there’s some interesting psychology going on there.
I think I’ve read the Hitchhiker’s Guide over 10 times at this point. It’s definitely worth re-reading!
It’s definitely one of those books where you catch small things you missed in previous readings. It’s like a treasure hunt! 😉
At some point I’d also like to reread The Thursday Next series – I’m sure there’s so many little things I missed. My fav was the Well of Lost Plots, but I really did like Lost in a Good Book! I just read Monte Cristo a few months ago and really enjoyed it! I’m very excited to try Three Musketeers.
Jasper Fforde gives Austen a run for her money in my “favorite author” category. Well of Lost Plots is probably my second favorite. 🙂
I remember trying to read The Three Musketeers in high school (probably just after reading Monte Cristo), but it didn’t capture my attention. I need to get a copy and give it another try sometime.
Portrait of a Killer sounds quite interesting. The Inheritance books seem like it’s either love or hate. I love them, but you knew that. 😉
Cornwell’s a great writer, and a good researcher. She gets into the psyche of Sickert, and makes what I think is a strong case for his being the Ripper. But there are several other strong candidates as well. I wonder if we’ll ever figure it out?
I didn’t really hate the Inheritance series, it was just kind of blah. I read a lot of fantasy, and Paolini’s books, though good, didn’t hold a candle to some of the other authors I was reading at the time. Or have read since. I have the books though, so it won’t cost me anything but time to try them again.
I should definitely give Pride and Prejudice another read. I enjoyed it in college, but I kind of wish I hadn’t needed to read it for class. Somehow I feel I would have enjoyed it more. And I really need to read The Book Thief most definitely. 🙂 Excellent list, thank you for sharing!
I think it’s true of most people that they enjoy a book more if they’re not being required to read it. 🙂 The Book Thief was on a lot of lists — I didn’t think it would have as big an impact as it did. Thank you for sharing your list too, and for stopping by to comment on mine!