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

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 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!

Many already mentioned, but
Crampton Hodnet, by Barbara Pym

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!

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

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

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

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

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

I echo American Dirt - beautifully written and gripping.

The Orphan X series are complete page turners of you’re into that sort of thing, but my recommendation for something a little more high brow is The Cellist of Sarajevo.

Oh my gosh I loved all of these!
I laughed and cried at The End of Men. Have you read Last One at the Party? Really good.

Another vote for the Discworld books. I read my first one (Mort) at 14 and fell in love with them, I'd love to find them funny for the first time all over again.

The Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Reilly. I love them and have already re-read several times.

An Instance of the Fingerpoat by Iain Pears was truly spectacular

This is sitting in my TBR pile. I bought it as it was recommended on The Rest is History podcast.
I keep meaning to start it.

All the LOTR and all of Narnia.

Reading Narnia again as an adult came close

We need to talk about Kevin

Watership Down

The Harry Potter series

For the Fingersmith fans, I recommend Sarah Waters’ later novel Affinity, if you haven’t read it. Another Victorian setting, another intense female-centric world, twisty plot.

Another vote for The Secret History and A Little Life

The Push was excellent
All John Boyne

In keeping with your liked books;

Shogun
A Room with a View
The Lady's Maid
War and Peace (trust me it's an amazing cacophony of love stories and battles)
The Count of Monte Cristo
Don Quixote
The Color Purple
The Great Gatsby

Less like your liked books but still brilliant
The Stand by Stephen King
American God's by Neil Gaiman
Never where by Neil Gaiman
Run, Baby Run by Nicky Cruz
Herodotus The Histories
Anything by JG Ballard is amazing

It is, isn't it? But an unalloyed, harrowing read.

Middlemarch
All the Trollopes
A wonderful non fiction book called The Unfinished Palazzo. Magical reading experience.
Alice's Adventures

I've just finished Someone Like Me by M. R. Carey (he wrote The Girl With All The Gifts) and the plot is just incredibly good. Unlike anything I've really read before? You can only read the book once but I genuinely couldn't put it down.

Also Fellside by the same author is incredibly gripping too with a very clever twist.

Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood
The Essex Serpent, Sarah Perry
Mort, Terry Pratchett
Fingersmith, Sarah Waters
The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst
Signs for Lost Children, Sarah Moss

(funny how many Sarahs I've listed!)

Ah, The Shadow of the Wind. The ultimate riposte to the idea that reading makes you a better person. It didn't work that way for me - every time something came between me and Zafon's beautiful writing, whether it was a phone call from a family member or DH wanting my attention for some perfectly good reason, I turned into a cranky wolverine. I'm not one for mourning celebrity deaths, but I was genuinely sad about his. He was only 55 and should have had decades left and many more books to give us.