Happy Sunday! Do you reread books? Do you value a reread? There are two posts up on rereading today. Amy is featured at 5 Minutes for Books. And Amanda has "In Defense of Rereading."
While I don't always have time to reread everything I want, I do value reading books again (and again and again.) Some books that I've reread multiple times are Frankenstein, Gone With The Wind, Ender's Game, and Life As We Knew It. There are actually a couple of books I'd love to reread now if only I could find the time. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. The first time through, I didn't really connect with the characters. Now that I know the characters. Now that I love the characters. I'd love to revisit this one. I'm hesitant because it would probably make me want to reread The Ask and The Answer and Monsters of Men. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I'd love to reread this one. I had such great fun with the graphic novel and the paranormal retelling. But reading those made me crave the original.
Which books would you love to reread?
What I've Reviewed This Week:
The Thorn. Beverly Lewis. 2010. Bethany House. 352 pages.
Wench. Dolen Perins-Valdez. 2010. HarperCollins. 293 pages.
Paul is Undead. Alan Goldsher. 2010. Simon & Schuster. 310 pages.
Revelations. Melissa de la Cruz. 2008. Hyperion. 272 pages.
The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester. Barbara O'Connor. 2010. August 2010. FSG. 176 pages.
The Silly Book with CD. Stoo Hample. 2010/2004/1961. Candlewick Press. 32 pages.
Tubby. Leslie Patricelli. 2010. September 2010. Candlewick Press. 28 pages.
Potty. Leslie Patricelli. 2010. September 2010. Candlewick Press. 28 pages.
Lily's Potty. Begin Smart Books. May 2010. 14 pages
Pete's Potty. Begin Smart Books. May 2010. 14 pages.
Maisy Goes to Bed. A Maisy Lift-the-Flap Classic. Lucy Cousins. 2010. September 2010. Candlewick Press. 16 pages.
Dirtball Pete. Eileen Brennan. 2010. August 2010. Random House. 32 pages.
Animal House. Candace Ryan. Illustrated by Nathan Hale. 2010. July 2010. Walker Books. 40 pages.
City Dog, Country Frog. Mo Willems. 2010. Hyperion. 64 pages.
Slugs, Bugs, & Lullabies. Music CD. Andrew Peterson and Randall Goodgame. 41 minutes.
Coming Soon:
More Than Words by Judith Miller. 2010. Bethany House. 368 pages.
Faithful. Janet Fox. 2010. Penguin. 336 pages.
The War to End All Wars: World War I. Russell Freedman. 2010. August 2010. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 192 pages.
Sabotaged. Margaret Peterson Haddix. 2010. August 2010. Simon & Schuster. 377 pages.
Currently Reading:
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. 1868. 544 pages.
Ninth Ward. Jewell Parker Rhodes. 2010. August 2010. Little, Brown. 217 pages.
Sir Charlie: Chaplin, the Funniest Man in the World by Sid Fleischman. 2010. June 2010. HarperCollins. 268 pages.
Bleak House. Charles Dickens. 1852-1853. 912 pages.
Unknown Ajax. Georgette Heyer. 1959/2009. Harlequin. 384 pages.
© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
6 comments:
I would love to make time to reread To Kill a Mockingbird and also Little Women. Jane Eyre, as you mentioned, would also be good....another book I haven't read, but would like to reread is Gone With The Wind.
The only books I have ever reread were the Harry Potter series. I had to refresh my memory before I read the final book in the series! Other than that, I think there are too many good books out there to spend time rereading something. That is just my humble opinion though!
Tina, I'd love to reread Little Women. I've never blogged about that one before.
Julie, I love, love, love reading new (new-to-me) books. And I definitely would want to spend *most* of my time that way. But I like rereading a few books each year. The blog gave me a good excuse to do this a couple of years ago! I reread many of my favorite L.M. Montgomery books!
There are lots of books I'd love to re-read - too numerous to mention. There are also lots and lots of new (to me) books that I'd love to read. The thing is to find the proper balance - and I think I have, one that suits me.
When you are reading a book for the first time - whatever type of book it is, even if it isn't specifically built on "suspense" (a thriller or the like) - there is still too great a craving to find out what happens next, what the characters will choose to do or say, to really savour the book. That is what re-reads are for - the difference is from a trip where you just want to get quickly from A to B, and a journey where you stop to see the sights and just... enjoy yourself. There is so much that one misses on a first read - and with any worthwhile book, a re-read gives you a chance to see the characters in a new light, with new understanding...
This got long, I had better stop now.:)
L.
Hey there! I have a book review blog as well, so I thought I'd check out the competition. Can I just say that it's incredible that you find the time to read and review so much?! It's insane! You're amazing.
And, to answer the question you posed in this blog post, I love re-reading books, but only after I haven't read them in a while. I've re-read the Harry Potter series at least a dozen times, the Hunger Games series quite a few, and I pretty much have Pride and Prejudice memorized. It's so hard, though, because I always feel sort of guilty re-reading books when I know there are so many more amazing books out there that I need to give a chance.
Anyway, great blog! I look forward to checking out more of your posts :)
C. S. Lewis once said "An unliterary man may be defined as one who reads books once only. There is hope for a man who has never read Malory or Boswell or Tristram Shandy or Shakespeare's Sonnets: but what can you do with a man who says he 'has read' them, meaning he has read them once, and thinks that settles the matter?". I think I have to agree with him. Sometimes books give you a different impression the second (or third) time around.
I re-read "Jane Eyre" all the time as well as "Little Women" and "Rebecca". I would love to find time to re-read "The Three Musketeers", "Anna Karenina", and "Les Miserables". Maybe one day!
BTW, glad to see that you are reading "Bleak House". That is my favorite Dickens story. Be sure to watch the BBC version with Gillian Anderson once you have read it!
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