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

[BusyTraybake]

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

The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa

The Manuscript Found in Zaragoza by Jan Potocki

An Apprenticeship or the Book of Pleasures by Clarice Lispector or any of hers really

Carole Shields: the stone diaries - I've only read it twice but I think of it often. A whole life documented in a very intimate way.

We love the same books. Please become ny best friend immediately.

Fingersmith-Sarah Waters- such a beautiful evocative book- makes you feel you are living in Victorian England- and a fabulous plot as well. Get well soon!

its A brilliant,brilliant novel.

Enders game (orson Scott card)
saga of the exiles (Julian may) then intervention and the milieu trilogy (must be that order)
these old shades (georgette heyer)
gone with the wind

yes to the Patrick Rothfuss too except he hasn’t finished the trilogy so don’t start until he has!

Just seconding a few of the above

Pat Barker - especially Regeneration and The Silence of the Girls & sequel

Barbara Kingsolver - The Poisonwood Bible

Anthony Doerr - All the light we cannot see

All of Georgette Heyer (lightweight historical fluff but done well)

Letters to the Lost by Iona Grey

He lost it from Atonement onwards, Saturdays and Solar are terrible novels!

All Christie and all Tolkien

For modern literature and I'm now a crime thriller fan
I Let You Go - Clare Mackintosh
It's incredible twist wise

A town like Alice (Neville Shute)
Trustee from the tool room (Neville Shute)

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

This was going to be my suggestion. Utterly fabulous book!

Lord of the rings. I'm like Christopher Lee now (I read it once a year like he did) but man, the magic of discovering it for the first time as a late teen just before the first film came out was...amazing.

Also the count of monte cristo and the pillars of the earth. I love them all so much.

Anything by Kazuo Ishiro - especially Remains and Klara.

But also some favourite books from my childhood - eg Tom's Midnight Garden.

I'm desperate for the final name of the wind Patrick rothfuss book to come out!!! Come on!!!! I hope he doesn't do a George r r Martin 😭

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver - a brilliantly terrifying ghost story wrthy of NR James comparisons

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy - I bawled my eyes out and don't want it to have a lesser impact on the next read

A God In Ruins by Kate Akinson - my dad had died the year before, and reading of a man's life, but the last few hours of the life ending, of towers crumbling just caught me and I blubbed away

To Serve Them All my Days, by Delderfield. Re-read it last year and cried again. Tried a few others of his and just no.

JD Robb Lt Eve Dallas - loved that series for so long. Used to chuckle away on the London commute. Couldnt wait to get the next one. (But very repetitive now)

We need to talk about kevin

I'm looking at my Kindle library now...

The Rosie Project - very very funny, I'd love to read it again for the first time.

Lots of books by Jill Mansell or Katie Fforde - sort of advanced chick lit

Still Alice - Lisa Genova

I would have said Persuasion as well, I would read that over and over. And I think it's time to revisit Jane Eyre (first read for my o levels - yes, that long ago).

Also, they are children's books but I vividly remember the first time I read Peter Pan as a child, as well as the CS Lewis Chronicles of Narnia books starting with The Lion, The Witch and the Wardobe.

Also Alan Garner books, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, The Moon of Gomrath and The Owl Service for the same reason.

The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown.
I have read it three times now.

Do not read Family Politics by John O’Farrell if it hurts to laugh. I couldn’t read it in public.

Wolf Hall
Bring up the Bodies
Mirror and light
Followed by Wolf Hall again!
My favourite books of all time.
I also loved Hamnet so much.
For light relief, riders and Rivals by Jilly Cooper.

’The Collector’ by John Fowles
’Norwegian Wood’ by Haruki Murakami
’How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia’ by Moshin Hamid
’A Week in December’ by Sebastian Faulks