There are very few situations that I honestly feel warrant
re-reading: picture books to my son, books I am teaching at work, and
selections for book club (and only if I must). It boils down to the simple fact
that my TBR list is just too intense to justify spending precious time on books
I’ve already devoted hours too. Once in a while, though, usually when I am
hearing my students discuss their outside reading assignments, I do have the
desire to revisit some favorites. And while I don’t have any immediate plans
to, here are a few that I’ve definitely considered lately:
House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende- I read this in high
school and instantly fell in love with magical realism, so I feel like the
origin of this preference deserves a reread. Fun fact: in college I wrote an
impassioned letter to the editor of my hometown newspaper defending the novel
when a group of parents were trying to remove it from the IB curriculum.
Crime and Punishment by Fydor Dostoyevsky: This is another
high school love for me, which also sparked an interest in Russian literature
(I took a few classes in college on it). I remember we had to do this sort of
“interactive notebook” on in junior year and I CRUSHED the assignment, doing
every possible variation and option the teacher gave us. I received plenty of
extra credit with the comment, “Whether this is a labor of love or a love of
labor, I’m not sure.”
The Narnia Series by CS Lewis: I have all of these in one
collected volume but I’ve been tempted to buy a boxed set, especially since
I’ll be able to read it with Sawyer in a few years. I remember these books so
fondly and was so proud that I completed them all. (Julie has been reading
them! Check out her reviews)
The Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole: I know I
loved it and thought it was hilarious, but I seriously remember very little.
I’m disgusted with myself.
I used to never reread books, for the same reason as you, but in the last few years I have started rereading a few favourites. I loved Crime and Punishment when I read it as a teenager, and I've been thinking of rereading it but I'm always worried that I won't like books as much the second time around.
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