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

Time Travellers Wife - Audrey Niffenegger. (I know some people find elements of it problematic but I don't necessarily agree and it is one of my absolute favourite books).

The Midnight Library - Matt Haigh

His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

Sci-fi / horror wise - The Long Walk - Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman) and I Am Legend - Richard Matheson (wish someone would make a proper film version of this)

Guilty pleasures - Fourth Wing / Iron Flame / Onyx Storm, A Court of Thorns and Roses series and the Kate Daniels series.

Dystopian - Wool Trilogy, Divergent Trilogy (although I still wish the ending was different) and Handmaids Tale / The Testaments (but might be a bit too close to home at the minute)

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

This is the one I was going to recommend too. Such a beautiful book and it has always stayed with me.

I've also loved everything I've ever read by Maggie o'farrell.

I see others have recommended the wolf hall trilogy. These are great but audiobook (read by Ben miles) was the way to go for me. Always available for free from your local library on libby or BorrowBox.

Great idea for a thread OP, hope your recovery goes well.

Sorry that was supposed to be in reply to The God of Small Things by Arundahti Roy

Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

I’ve just read two delightful, funny, clever books that aren’t “literary” but were so satisfying:

‘the wedding people’ by Alison Espach

‘mrs plansky’s revenge’ by Spencer Quinn

Deftly written, witty and fun books!

The last lecture-Randy Pausch, my absolute favourite book.

I would be going for Narnia and Harry Potter again as I prefere children's books - I may grow older but I'll never grow up!
Also A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley and BeSwitched by Kate Saunders.
This Child of Mine by Sinead Moriarty if I have to choose a grown up one. I also like Katie Ffforde and Patricia Scanlan.
Wishing you a speedy recovery xx

Books I wish I could read again to have that experience as you read food the first time that you just don’t get with the second

it happened in Boston? By Russell h greenan

the master and margarita by Bulgakov

rebecca by Daphne du maurier

books I will read again because I love his writing- Kurt Vonnegut

Loving this thread! Agree with lots said already especially Terry Pratchett. Would add Good Omens to that too. And many children’s books, like The Children of Green Knowe and Charmed Life and others by Diana Wynne Jones (had lots of fun re-reading them to DS)

Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Sutanto for a bit of fun. Just finished reading it for the second time and still didn't want it to end.
Thursday murder club series by Richard Osman.
On earth we're briefly gorgeous by Ocean Vuong - poetic and beautiful but quite dark in places so I'd have to be in the right mood to read it again.
Transcendent kingdom by Yaa Gyasi - also quite dark in places so likewise would need to be in the right mood.
The future by Naomi Alderman - quite long and a bit preachy at times but an interesting thought experiment.

For gentle but non 'cosy' escapism, with some great characters, Elizabeth Pewsey's Mountjoy series. Kindle versions are published as Elizabeth Aston.

https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/products/children-of-chance-book-elizabeth-pewsey-9780340618202

One Day, never been so bereft at finishing a book

Vine Street by Dominic Nolan
Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky by Patrick Hamilton
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
What A Carve-Up by Jonathan Coe
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith
The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James
Deathless by Catherynne Valente
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stewart
The Girl With The Louding Voice by Abi Daré
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones
Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier

All the Light We Cannot See - can't remember the author sorry
Outlander - Diana Galbadon
The Harsd Way - Lee Child
IT - Stephen King
Empire of the Vampire - Jay Kristoff

So many brilliant recommendations already and I could add more than I will.

But I'd say David Copperfield by Charles Dickens and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.

I'd love to go back and read the Shardlake series by CJ Sansom, the first one is called Dissolution. I also like Ken Follett books as I think he's a great story teller.

The invisible life of Addie La Rue
The midnight library
The first fifteen lives of Harry August

Hope you feel better soon x

"We are all completely behind ourselves" is the best book ever, imho

I'd love to be laying on a sun lounger with a big fat new novel by Maeve Binchy.

The Man on a Donkey is a doorstop of a historical novel which would be ideal.

How about reading your way through something like Trollope's Palliser series? Or Elizabeth Jane Howard's Cazalet Chronicles?

For those mentioning The Bone Clocks, I would also give mention to Slade House, which is a very dark companion book to The Bone Clocks.

Would I reread it? No, but that's because obe chapter in it really upset me about a girl at a party who isn't the coolest or most attractive, and believes a boy she likes is paying her attention when really it's all going wrong, but in a really creepy way. It really hit a nerve and to be honest I think i would get the same feeling if I read it again.

Anything by Sarah J Mass - Esp the ACOTAR series
The beekeeper of Aleppo
The Island of Sea Women
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

That last one rocked my world and opened my eyes in ways i cant even describe. If I ever had a genie in a bottle and three wishes, re-reading that would be one of my wishes. Honestly, READ IT!

Howards End
All my Friends are Superheroes
The Song of Achilles
The Five

Very different and not original but favourites of all time Roots, Memoirs of a Geisha, Captain Corelli, Kite runner, Wild Swans, Free Country (George Mahood), Round Ireland with a fridge. Enjoyed America Dirt recommended here a few months ago.

Yes yes for the Master and Margarita!