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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:
singletonatlarge · 05/03/2025 19:33

I was also coming on to say Tana French, @arcticpandas! The Dublin Murders series got me through a really tough time last year.

Agree with Donna Tartt, The Secret History and The Goldfinch as well.

And would add Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies (not necessarily the third one though!)

If you want an audiobook, You Are Here by David Nicholls is lovely and a really easy listen.

LakieLady · 05/03/2025 19:32

Everything by Ian McEwan. There are many writers that have never written a bad book, but Ian McEwan has never written a bad sentence. To be able to read them all again and get the same thrill as I did the first time would be wonderful. Re-reading them is pretty damn good though.

Also Pat Barker's "Regeneration" trilogy.

For the lols, Jerome K Jerome: Three Men in a Boat, which still makes me lol, but I'd love to read it with the freshness of the first reading.

HeadNorth · 05/03/2025 19:32

Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr is just wonderful, the whole world is in it
This Thing of Darkness - Harry Thompson will keep you going for ages, especially if you are interested in Darwin & natural history
The Island of the Sea Women - Lisa See is moving & unforgettable

Earlyattheairport · 05/03/2025 19:32

A suitable boy by Vikram Seth. Nice and long!

CrickityCrickets · 05/03/2025 19:32

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

MementoMountain · 05/03/2025 19:31

Blackbirdflying · 05/03/2025 19:15

Possession by AS Byatt. I read it 30 years ago and have never read it again in case it does not live up to how I remember it.

Reread it! It's even better on a second reading.

BunsenBurnerBaby · 05/03/2025 19:30

IhadaStripeyDeckchair · 05/03/2025 19:15

Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell (the author not the comedian)

Yes! This one! Also his Bone Clocks (same author).

Arcadia by Iain Pears.

Original poster
BusyTraybake · 05/03/2025 19:30

Thanks all. Looking up every suggestion

I would also add Anna Karenina as a fav of mine.

OP posts:
arcticpandas · 05/03/2025 19:29

All books by Tana French, Sharon Bolton, Karin Slaughter and Belinda Bauer. If I have worries in my life these 4 can really help me to enter other worlds (not necessarily nice ones but then I'm a cynic so it has to be disturbing to feel real:).

Cushionseams · 05/03/2025 19:29

Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir.
Only read it once, I'm saving the second read for when I need EVERYTHING.

Birch101 · 05/03/2025 19:29

The woman who painted her dreams
Book by Isla Dewar

saveforthat · 05/03/2025 19:28

This may be a bit niche but The Apparition Phase. Took me back to my childhood when we used to love A Ghost Story for Christmas.

Gotthemoozles · 05/03/2025 19:28

Shantaram. Plus it's very long. It might fill the whole 6 weeks for you 😉

MyrtleLion · 05/03/2025 19:28

The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

I found playing video games on the Switch helped when I was recently unable to get out and desperately needed distraction. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes was a brilliant puzzle game that was very absorbing.

JustMeHello · 05/03/2025 19:28

I remember how beautiful I found the language in The God of Small Things, especially so first time round. Some of the writing is so beautifully phrased and i love how she uses unusual combined words to make very evocative images.

FastFood · 05/03/2025 19:27

A prayer for Owen by John Irving
The gray house by Mariam Petrosyan
The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov
The unbearable lightness of being by Kundera

TwoLeftSocksWithHoles · 05/03/2025 19:27

Skeleton Coast by John Marsh

True story of people shipwrecking during WW2 on the Namibian coast...

SilenceInside · 05/03/2025 19:27

Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit. Agree with Terry Pratchett, particularly the Discworld books. I first read Mort which is a particular favourite of mine. The Colour Of Magic is the first one. Dune by Frank Herbert. I, Robot by Asimov. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, which is nothing like the recent film.

Apologies if you aren't into sci fi and fantasy books!

AlmostCutMyHairToday · 05/03/2025 19:25

Sounds heavy, but Crime and Punishment - riveting, beautifully written, amazing glimpse into that time and place.
Entertaining and lighter - anything by David Sedaris, and Bill Bryson (recently read At Home, so entertaining!). Robert Harris' Pompeii, and heard his Conclave is v good.

RhubarbCrumbs · 05/03/2025 19:24

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara.

An utterly beautiful, heartbreaking, incredible book.

BreadInCaptivity · 05/03/2025 19:23

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

CheesecakeOnTheLanai · 05/03/2025 19:22

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. I was actually annoyed at having to go to work because I didn't want to put it down. I fell in love with the characters and it truly transports you to a different world, I re-read it at least once a year.
I hope you get well soon, that sounds so awful bless you.

RenoDakota · 05/03/2025 19:21

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.
All of Jane Austen.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.
The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy.
The Kenneth Williams Diaries.

stanleytheflamingo · 05/03/2025 19:20

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Allthebrightplaces · 05/03/2025 19:19

Pride and prejudice by Jane Austen
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Houssini
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
A court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas
The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston