Reading and Re-Reading

[rj_anderson]

[Crossposted from Tumblr, because I never seem to post anything here otherwise...]

 

Never mind all the books on your To Be Read shelf, because who knows why you’re reading them or if they’re going to be any good. I want to know what’s on your To Be Re-Read shelf — the books you loved so much you’re planning to revisit them for the second, third, or mumbletyseventh time.

 

My TBRR shelf right now consists of:

• Till We Have Faces, Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra by C.S. Lewis
• The Golden Key and Other Stories and The Lost Princess by George MacDonald
• The Dragon With a Chocolate Heart by Stephanie Burgis (published hardcover, previously read in manuscript)
• Something Dark and Holy by Emily A. Duncan (still in manuscript, but final draft -- to be published in 2019)

And I’m also re-reading Elizabeth E. Wein’s The Sunbird aloud to my youngest son.

 

What’s in your TBRR pile lately, if you have one?

Comments

[kerravonsen]

Nice to see you here...

My most often re-read books, hmmm. In no particular order:

* "Scout's Progress" by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller (my favourite of the Liaden Universe stories, but I tend to re-read them all, especially when a new one comes out)
* "The Beacon At Alexandria" by Gillian Bradshaw (my favourite historical novel ever) Closely followed by her "Island of Ghosts".
* "The Curse of Chalion" and "The Paladin of Souls" by Lois McMaster Bujold (oddly, I tend to re-read Paladin more often than Curse)
* "Tinker" by Wen Spencer -- which shouldn't be good, but is. (And then I go and re-read all the other books in the series... which is alas quite short, and I want to find out what happens next)
* random Regency romances by Georgette Heyer. I mean, I can't really pick a particular one that I re-read more than others. I've also learned that it isn't a good idea to read more than three in a row, or they all start sounding the same. In that sense, she is a limited pleasure.

Hmmm, re-reading some George MacDonald would be good. Not sure whether I would take another tilt at "Phantases" or "Lilith", tumble into "At The Back of the North Wind", or dip into the short stories. I don't feel like re-reading "Princess and the Goblin" or "Princess and Curdie" at the moment, I think they got re-read-out...

[rj_anderson]

I really need to re-read CURSE and PALADIN both: I've only read them once (but I liked PALADIN best, too).

And yes, I can definitely see that with Heyer. I have a bunch that I wouldn't mind re-reading one of these days, but in small doses.

I have never brought myself to re-read LILITH or PHANTASTES, having not cared for them at all the first time around, but I've read NORTH WIND a couple of times and might do so again. Still not anywhere near as compelling for me as the CURDIE books and the short stories, though.

And I have never read Bradshaw! Do you think I would like her?

[kerravonsen]

I have never brought myself to re-read LILITH or PHANTASTES, having not cared for them at all the first time around

I can get that. I want to try again with them because I found them evocative as well as hard to understand.

And I have never read Bradshaw! Do you think I would like her?

You know how people say "the past is a foriegn country"? With her, the past is an alien planet... where the world-building is very well done. Yes, you would like her. Especially "The Beacon at Alexandria", I think, because strong female protagonist, disguise, adventure, friendship, and understated romance. Besides Beacon and "Island of Ghosts", I'd recommend "The Sand-Reckoner" (about Archimedes!), "Cleopatra's Heir", "Wolf Hunt" (historical fantasy) and "Dangerous Notes" (near-future SF with an overtone of Greek myth). Oh, and she also wrote an Arthurian trilogy (which I how I discovered her, actually) which I don't tend to re-read because Tragic Ending of Arthur Saga makes me sad.