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Original poster

Books you wish you could read for the 1st time again

209 replies

BusyTraybake · 05/03/2025 18:54

I am currently in bed recovering from surgery. I can expect to be immobile for 6 weeks and I am already bored out of my mind. I actually had a little cry earlier as I am so claustrophobic already.

I have found reading helps. Please recommend any books you wish you could read again for the first time.

Thanks in advance. In desperate in need of mental stimulation as I have turned to food which is not something I usually obsess over. Probably would be best for my overall recovery if I don’t pile on a pad of weight.

My answer to the question: never let me go, love in a time of cholera and persuasion

OP posts:
zingally · 06/03/2025 09:48

LunaNorth · 06/03/2025 07:57

Pride and Prejudice - in fact I have just read it for the first time, at the grand old age of 50, and I don’t know what I was playing at avoiding it for so long.

Fingersmith. There’s a moment that made me gasp out loud, which doesn’t happen often.

Great Expectations. There’s nothing like getting to know Joe Gargery. What a sweet man.

Cold Comfort Farm. From the moment the cow’s leg falls off, you know you’re not in Kansas any more.

The Wolf Hall Trilogy, particularly the first two. Superlative.

The Earthsea Chronicles. Immersive and strange, I loved them.

The Underground Railroad. Historical fiction as magic realism. So clever.

Americanah. Utterly absorbing. In fact, I love all of Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie’s books.

I wish you well in your recovery, that sounds tough.

I know exactly what moment you are referring to in Fingersmith! Probably my favourite all-time-ever twist. Absolutely outstanding.

zingally · 06/03/2025 09:46

Off the top of my head:

I Am Pilgrim - Terry Hayes
The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
Brothers - Bernice Rubens
Pillars Of The Earth - Ken Follett
Birds Of Prey - Wilbur Smith

Carriemac · 06/03/2025 09:33

For a cosy satisfying sick bed read Winter Solstice by Rosamund Piltcher is perfect.

Carriemac · 06/03/2025 09:31

@Middlefadiddle Larry's party is my absolute go to re read

5hell · 06/03/2025 09:22

Project Hail Mary (Andy Weir) ...interesting, thought-provoking, emotional sci-fi

Middlefadiddle · 06/03/2025 08:44

The Shipping News

Remarkbly Bright Creatures

A Town called Solace (and all other Mary Lawson)

Larry’s Party

Diary of a Nobody

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Wishing you a speedy recovery!

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 06/03/2025 08:31

Many already mentioned, but
Crampton Hodnet, by Barbara Pym

SerafinasGoose · 06/03/2025 08:25

Dymaxion · 05/03/2025 21:16

The lady vanishes by Ethel Lina White , you can't read it twice !

I think that was the title of the Hitchcock adaptation. The novel itself is called The Wheel Spins. But I love ELW - her books are fun and witty but also literary: full of Gothic tropes and allusions to Dante, Shakespeare etc.

The Moving Finger is, I think, based on the Edith Swann poison pen letter case. I can also thorougly recommend Some Must Watch: that one's another page-turner.

I've no idea why White is all-but forgotten whilst others of that genre have prospered, but some of her novels have come back into print so maybe she's due a rebirth!

LunaNorth · 06/03/2025 07:57

Pride and Prejudice - in fact I have just read it for the first time, at the grand old age of 50, and I don’t know what I was playing at avoiding it for so long.

Fingersmith. There’s a moment that made me gasp out loud, which doesn’t happen often.

Great Expectations. There’s nothing like getting to know Joe Gargery. What a sweet man.

Cold Comfort Farm. From the moment the cow’s leg falls off, you know you’re not in Kansas any more.

The Wolf Hall Trilogy, particularly the first two. Superlative.

The Earthsea Chronicles. Immersive and strange, I loved them.

The Underground Railroad. Historical fiction as magic realism. So clever.

Americanah. Utterly absorbing. In fact, I love all of Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie’s books.

I wish you well in your recovery, that sounds tough.

DustyLee123 · 06/03/2025 07:41

The Shell Seekers - Rosamunde Pilcher

Patcherdog · 06/03/2025 07:39

Hyperion by Dan Simmons

PurpleFlower1983 · 06/03/2025 06:53

If you’re not familiar with it, Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is a great book to discover the first time.

janeavrilavril · 06/03/2025 05:54

Hollowvoice · 05/03/2025 22:59

1984
The only book that's ever made me gasp out loud

yes, but so depressing when u are I hospital!

Pomegranatecarnage · 05/03/2025 23:31

Flippercanorious · 05/03/2025 19:12

The house of sleep by Jonathan coe

Me before you. Jojo moyes

I loved the House of Sleep. I’ve never met anyone else who has read it!

CrossPurposes · 05/03/2025 23:29

I'll third Fingersmith.

SlightlyJaded · 05/03/2025 23:24

Love all the books you mention OP

Off the top of my head:
100 Years of Solitude - GGM
Hamnet - Maggie O'Farrell (anything by MOF, really)
A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry (the audible of this is INCREDIBLE)
A God in Ruins - Much preferred to Life after Death
Year of Wonder - Geraldine Brooks (God I love this book. It's the one I recommend more than any other book)
Burial Rites - One of the most moving novels I've ever read
The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt (I preferred this to The Secret History)
11/22/63 - Stephen King. Just brilliant
Beloved - Toni Morrison (for when you want to SOB)
The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver (and also Demon Copperhead)

mac111 · 05/03/2025 23:12

Goodnight Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian - the first book I remember falling in love with as a child and read regularly ever since.

MrsElijahMikaelson1 · 05/03/2025 23:09

The hand that first held mine-Maggie o’farrell
a discovery of witches-Deborah Harkness

RayWinstone · 05/03/2025 23:06

Riders, Rivals and Polo by Jilly Cooper.
They're my ultimate, immersive comfort reads and I won't hear a bad word said about them 😁.

Cityzen74 · 05/03/2025 23:02

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. Best wishes for your recovery Flowers

Moier · 05/03/2025 23:00

The Thorn birds.
Memoirs of a Geshia.
Atonement.
Love lies Bleeding.

Jennifershuffles · 05/03/2025 23:00

Station 11 - strangely uplifting post apocalypse story

The Summer book by Tove Jansen - lovely focus on a relationship between a grandma & granddaughter and the Finnish lakes

Agree that the girl with all the gifts is a great book and a gripping narrative if you like that we are all completely beside ourselves is similar in tone.

Hollowvoice · 05/03/2025 22:59

1984
The only book that's ever made me gasp out loud

janeavrilavril · 05/03/2025 22:56

Jenny hurts should read Janny wurts; bloody autocorrect.

janeavrilavril · 05/03/2025 22:55

The man in the iron mask - Alexandre Dumas for the classics

Daughter of the Empire - Raymond E Feist and Jenny Hurts for fantasy

Suzanne: of Love and Art - Elaine Todd Koren for biography (set in Paris 1800s), she was a muse for Toulouse Lautrec but an artist in her own right.

Snowbound - Blake Crouch for thriller, they should make this into a movie and as fantastical as it seems, it is also all based in logic.

Others: The midnight library - Matt Haig about what could be if we lived in parallel universe and Graham Norton does some easy reading books which are decent.