While I check out tons of books from the public library, my home collection consists of old friends I enjoy rereading. They are books that open me up in some way to what is true or real. Some of my favorites include The Storied Life of AJ Fickery, everything by Laurie Colwin (!), The Ha-Ha by Dave King, Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen, and many of Elizabeth Berg’s books.
Oh my gosh, Dave King is a very old and dear friend of mine, and I love that novel! (I read it in galley about a million years ago!)
I have every Colwin title on my shelf, too, and multiples of some, as I can't resist buying charming editions when I see them at used bookstores. AJ Fickery has been on my list for awhile, so I must turn to it soon!!
And I so love Anna's Still Life with Bread Crumbs! Have you read it? (I've read all of hers, but that one is my favorite.)
Persuasion is my favorite Austen!! I’ve read it so many times, I’ve memorized the first few pages!! (And have gotten into so many arguments with friends who think it’s the worst Austen!!)
I rarely re-read books anymore (there’s always something new that catches my eye, like a new penny in the sidewalk), but re-reading was a regular feature of my child and young adulthood. Books from that time that I read over and over— A Wrinkle In Time, Little Women, The Secret Garden, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, The Bluest Eye, The Hitchiker’s Guide To The Galaxy.
With my kids I re-read out loud The Secret Garden (more than once), Harry Potter, and all of the Narnia books. As an adult I also read Good Omens several times, and in college I read Beloved three times in a row because it took me that many times to understand it.
I am the same way! I used to be SUCH a re-reader!! It rarely happens these days, unless I do so on Audible, et cetera. Which I have come to love. I echo your reread list and would add The Once And Future King. I adored that book. And was reading it yearly up until probably my forties!
How could I forget The Once And Future King?!? I read that so many times that I was personally offended when a friend with an older sister introduced me to The Mists of Avalon suggesting it was the *real* story. 😂
I really enjoyed All the Light We Cannot See (its themes are the power of human connection and resiliency) and it was a terrific escape from the real
World. And my wife loved Wolf Hall (I haven’t read it yet), but regardless I don’t think you can go wrong with either book.
Speaking of big summer blockbuster reads, I just started Elena Ferrante’s “My Brilliant Friend,” to see what all the fuss was about and how it landed in the #1 spot on that NYT top 100 books of the 21st century list. I’ve also got Rebecca Makkai’s most recent book “I Have Some Questions For You” going. Both are terrific so far.
I love anything and everything Rebecca writes! (I interviewed her after Questions came out) I liked My Brilliant Friend. But I think I'm the one person in the world who didn't absolutely love it. Perhaps I will try again! Glad you're enjoying both of them!
omg, Jane, I just wrote the same thing, above, so now there are two of us! (Or, okay, I have a friend in Boston, who qualifies as a Very Famous Novelist, who also did not love it and we spent one night, ages ago, frantically discussing!)
I read "The Days of Abandonment" thinking it was part of the series (oops) and after that I could not stomach the idea of another book of hers. Add me to the list!
Same. I was so confused how it ended up so many people’s top ten books (which led to the NYT list). But I often don’t get why certain books are on the best selling list.
No, you are not the only one who didn’t absolutely love Ferrante. All my Italian teachers, without exception, looked down on her work that was “too simple” and “too commercial”. What I appreciated about her.? That she wrote honestly about the complexities of a female friendship, the challenges of motherhood and the harrowing reality of violence. And, mostly, that she told twentieth century Italian history from the female perspective, putting women at its centre, not the margins. Also, she was a little easier to read than Dante in Italian :))
I loved Rebecca's latest so, so much! It's brilliantly executed and truly haunting! Okay, and I'm almost scared to admit this, but I am the only person in the world who did not love My Brilliant Friend. The only one! I do worry that there's something wrong with me...
Nothing wrong with you! :)) Check my comment above… all my Italian teachers disliked her. As a lover of the Italian culture and language I found many things to appreciate about her book, but even I paused for a moment and asked myself, why am I reading this? It reads like a telenovela! Her language is deceptively simplistic (also in the original Italian), but her observations are acutely accurate and unapologetic. I think if I were to point at Ferrante’s brilliance I would say that she understands human psyche like very few writers.
I'm really captivated by your yearly re-read. One year I re-read books I'd recently read, because I felt I might have missed something. What surprised me the most, and was also helpful, was how different my reception and experience of every book I re-read that year was. Mood, time of year/life, perspective, who-knows: so much can influence how we receive a book (or anything in life).
Recently I reread a book my mom gave me when I first moved to NYC at 22, "A Woman of Independent Means" by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey. I didn't return for its literary merit, but to return to a book that had some an impact on my idea of being a "woman of independent means" and how I saw it today, 38 years later. It was astounding. I am going to make a note to reread one book a year. It's valuable on so many levels, including a cozy, delicious revisit of a favorite place.
I agree, Tatyana, some books that I so deeply treasured can no longer resonate with me a year or two or a decade or more later. But I find I do still honor that initial connection. The reverse has also happened -- a book I didn't care for at all will suddenly bowl me over years after I first read it. I suppose it's proof we humans are always growing and changing!
One of my all time favorites to reread is 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff, a memoir of letters between a NYC writer and London bookseller. I recently reread the James Herriot series, All Creatures Great and Small. The warmth and humor in them make me laugh out loud. I also reread The #1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith. They make me want to visit Botswana.
Omg I love 84 Charing Cross Road so, so much!!! (Have you seen the collectors edition from Slightly Foxed?! It’s beautiful and perfect!) It’s a true favorite of mine, perhaps bc I went to grad school in London and spent a million hours in used bookshops!!
Those are the perfect books to read during the stressful times we're in. On one of my visits to England, I visited the village and the building where Herriot had his surgery. My mom was an enormous fan of his work and was very moved!
There is a new updated version of All Creatiures Great and Small on PBS. It's the only TV we subscribe to. They are very well-done and expand on some of the characters like Mrs. Hall. I'm looking forward to the 4th season in January.
Wonderful summaries - so many books and not enough time to read! Coincidentally, I just posted a piece on the book Anthony Doerr wrote about writing All the Light We Cannot See. His memoir Four Seasons in Rome is a delightful river of observations and experiences, and I’m reading it again now. I lean heavily toward nonfiction and memoir and while I haven’t been in the habit of rereading favorites cover to cover, I may just start. 😊
My husband was actually at the American Academy in Rome with him and so, of course, we have a copy of his Rome memoir in our house! I’ve not yet read it, possibly bc my husband doesn’t *love* it, I think perhaps bc his own experiences and take on Rome are quite different?
Joanna how wonderful to have had that experience! Rome is a fantastic and complex city and I imagine each of us who’ve been have a unique take on our time in the Eternal City. For my part, I love Doerr’s prose and thoroughly enjoyed his memoir, which I read before traveling to Rome. .
I feel like I have to add: another ritual of mine involves exactly this! Reading books set in the city/place I’m visiting both beforehand and while there (and often after), and I really think it deepens the experience of travel, right? (I traveled to Spain this summer and in Barcelona read Colm Toibin’s memoir of the city, which really made me understand its history!!)
Yes, reading a good book about a city before my trip just heightens my experience when I get there. I’m thinking of the pantheon, which filled me with awe, just as it did Doerr. I’ve not been to Spain as yet, but before we go, I shall read Toibin’s memoir. 😊
Please don't apologize for one second about spending "half your time" celebrating our next president Kamala Harris. After a decade of torture and anxiety, to return to joy means my husband and I and friends spend every second savoring this turnaround. Even our reading is more joyous because....life is more joyous. Plus it all has literary elements. An inciting incident, strong protagonist/heroine, epic quest, good against evil, great supporting characters. Today I went on-line and read everything I could about Kamala's life - great reading! Amazing woman and family! As for reading and re-reading books, YES. I keep the books I re-read - and there are many - beside me on a big shelf, and every time I re-read them, I'm a different person. And even as I read a book the first time, if I really love it, I'm already planning to read it again because I savor it so much and know I've missed stuff or just want to live in that place again.
Oooooh, I love this, Kirie. Your words about rereading went deep into my heart! And yes to everything you write about Kamala!! And YES to more joy!! Loads and heaps more!
I read Sharyn McCrumb's Ballad series once a year. I also read To Kill a Mockingbird once a year. I adore Kate Morton's book, Homecoming. I have a hard copy and audio, as well. Mark Sullivan's The Last Green Valley. All the Light We Cannot See.
Okay, I've not read any of these, other than To Kill a Mockingbird, and am now very curious! Thank you! And I feel so excited and relieved that I'm not the only one who reads books annually!
Wolf Hall is a masterpiece. I love all of Mantel's writing, but in the Wolf Hall trilogy she steeps us in Tudor England and its politics. It's an experience, not a read!
I re-read quite few favourites: The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E M Delafield; The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford; Dickens' Bleak House; Susannah Clarkes' Piranesi....
And now I'm even more excited to turn to Wolf Hall!
I love, love Bleak House (huge Dickens person here) and Nancy Mitford!! I don't know the Delafield but it sounds so up my alley, so ordering now! Thank you!
Thank you for your recommendations! Wolf Hall has been on my radar and now I know I must read it.
Two books I carry with me in my heart and love to read again are The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert & The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd.
And when I really need a break from the world I get back to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Sometimes you need something absurd to make you cry-laugh!
Yes, we definitely need the absurd sometimes! I love The Signature of All Things! So beautiful! (In case you're interested and missed it, I interviewed Liz). I haven't read The Book of Longings, but I love SMK's writing so I will check it out! Thanks!
A book I return to again and again is Isabelle Allende’s The Stories of Eva Luna. The first pages still get me in the heart. Allende’s way in which she uses words is so lovely and heartbreaking. Been returning to this one for over 20 years.
I love to reread- like you, I always enjoy rereading Laurie Colwin. Also Eve Babitz. Very fond of India Knights novels. A perennial favourite is anything by LM Montgomery. I’ve reread the Anne books many times but have recently been reading the Emily books for the 4 th or 5 th time- I adore The Blue Castle- sometimes a re read is the greatest comfort. I am always buying new books and enjoying those as well but an old favourite on a vacation is a treat- last summer I reread Persuasion, still my favourite Austen.
I can’t explain what it is about Pattern Recognition by William Gibson, but I reread it every few years. I can’t even get into the other books in the series, known as Blue Ant. Just this one.
I absolutely LOVED All The Light We Cannot See! Have you watched the Netflix series? I was a bit disappointed, but I usually am with novel adaptations for the screen.
I reread Edith Grossman’s translation of Don Quixote every year (sometimes every other year). The audiobook, narrated by George Guidal, is incredible! It’s such a feel-good novel for me. I still laugh out loud at Quixote’s and Sancho’s misadventures. Their dialogue is wonderful. Their’s is such a touching relationship.
Weirdly, I was just talking about All The Light moments before reading your comment! I also love that book! I heard the series wasn't as good but I haven't seen it yet. Curious to hear what Joanna say!
I haven't read DQ since I was a teen. Perhaps it's time to reread!
Okay, my son--who is nineteen and starts college tomorrow (!)--read Don Quixote back in May, as part of his attempt to fill in the gaps in his literary education, and absolutely loved it, so I was actually thinking of reading it myself! In part, also, because: I just spent three weeks in Spain and learned more about Cervantes than I've ever known (all fascinating); and I *just* read Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy, which is partly a gloss on Don Quixote! So, you've clinched it for me! Thank you!
And I haven't yet see the Netflix series of All the Light, I think bc I thought I should read the book first, but maybe it's okay?
Okay, I was fascinated by a name that kept coming up in Madrid: Lope de Vega. In Barrio de las Letras, his house is a perfectly preserved tourist attraction and the street named after him is larger and more grand than that of Cervantes. Eventually, a local designer I befriended explained that the two were rivals, though the rivalry larger stemmed from Cervantes’ feelings of jealousy, as in their day Lope de Vega was far, far more widely read and famous!!
Fellowship Point is truly one of my all-time favorites, up there with Middlemarch. (I blurbed it and for maybe a year, I kept rambling on about it in to anyone and everyone, and I could see people were like, "yeah, okay, a 700-page novel about old ladies in Maine, sure, Joanna." And then they read it and understood!
I love The Great Believers! I've read that a couple of times. I somehow hadn't heard of Fellowship Point. Just checked it out and it looks wonderful! Thanks for the tip!
Agree about Fellowship Point. Profound examination of friendship over time. It went in lots of different directions which at first felt weird and then it didn’t.
While I check out tons of books from the public library, my home collection consists of old friends I enjoy rereading. They are books that open me up in some way to what is true or real. Some of my favorites include The Storied Life of AJ Fickery, everything by Laurie Colwin (!), The Ha-Ha by Dave King, Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen, and many of Elizabeth Berg’s books.
Oh my gosh, Dave King is a very old and dear friend of mine, and I love that novel! (I read it in galley about a million years ago!)
I have every Colwin title on my shelf, too, and multiples of some, as I can't resist buying charming editions when I see them at used bookstores. AJ Fickery has been on my list for awhile, so I must turn to it soon!!
And I so love Anna's Still Life with Bread Crumbs! Have you read it? (I've read all of hers, but that one is my favorite.)
Your home collection consists of very good old friends!! No wonder you enjoy rereading them!!
Persuasion by Jane Austen is my re read book. I love it - funny, sad, tender and every time I read it I find something new.
Persuasion is my favorite Austen!! I’ve read it so many times, I’ve memorized the first few pages!! (And have gotten into so many arguments with friends who think it’s the worst Austen!!)
Yes to all of this! 🌸
I rarely re-read books anymore (there’s always something new that catches my eye, like a new penny in the sidewalk), but re-reading was a regular feature of my child and young adulthood. Books from that time that I read over and over— A Wrinkle In Time, Little Women, The Secret Garden, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, The Bluest Eye, The Hitchiker’s Guide To The Galaxy.
With my kids I re-read out loud The Secret Garden (more than once), Harry Potter, and all of the Narnia books. As an adult I also read Good Omens several times, and in college I read Beloved three times in a row because it took me that many times to understand it.
I am the same way! I used to be SUCH a re-reader!! It rarely happens these days, unless I do so on Audible, et cetera. Which I have come to love. I echo your reread list and would add The Once And Future King. I adored that book. And was reading it yearly up until probably my forties!
How could I forget The Once And Future King?!? I read that so many times that I was personally offended when a friend with an older sister introduced me to The Mists of Avalon suggesting it was the *real* story. 😂
OMG!! Same!! Over time, I grew to appreciate The Mists of Avalon. But TOAFK is The Real Story!! 😹
I really enjoyed All the Light We Cannot See (its themes are the power of human connection and resiliency) and it was a terrific escape from the real
World. And my wife loved Wolf Hall (I haven’t read it yet), but regardless I don’t think you can go wrong with either book.
Speaking of big summer blockbuster reads, I just started Elena Ferrante’s “My Brilliant Friend,” to see what all the fuss was about and how it landed in the #1 spot on that NYT top 100 books of the 21st century list. I’ve also got Rebecca Makkai’s most recent book “I Have Some Questions For You” going. Both are terrific so far.
Yes, both wonderful books, I agree!
I love anything and everything Rebecca writes! (I interviewed her after Questions came out) I liked My Brilliant Friend. But I think I'm the one person in the world who didn't absolutely love it. Perhaps I will try again! Glad you're enjoying both of them!
omg, Jane, I just wrote the same thing, above, so now there are two of us! (Or, okay, I have a friend in Boston, who qualifies as a Very Famous Novelist, who also did not love it and we spent one night, ages ago, frantically discussing!)
I read "The Days of Abandonment" thinking it was part of the series (oops) and after that I could not stomach the idea of another book of hers. Add me to the list!
I need to be a part of a frantic discussion! I don't get it?!?
Same. I was so confused how it ended up so many people’s top ten books (which led to the NYT list). But I often don’t get why certain books are on the best selling list.
I know!!
No, you are not the only one who didn’t absolutely love Ferrante. All my Italian teachers, without exception, looked down on her work that was “too simple” and “too commercial”. What I appreciated about her.? That she wrote honestly about the complexities of a female friendship, the challenges of motherhood and the harrowing reality of violence. And, mostly, that she told twentieth century Italian history from the female perspective, putting women at its centre, not the margins. Also, she was a little easier to read than Dante in Italian :))
Oh, that's so interesting!! And, yes, you describe her work beautifully! I agree.
I loved Rebecca's latest so, so much! It's brilliantly executed and truly haunting! Okay, and I'm almost scared to admit this, but I am the only person in the world who did not love My Brilliant Friend. The only one! I do worry that there's something wrong with me...
Nothing wrong with you! :)) Check my comment above… all my Italian teachers disliked her. As a lover of the Italian culture and language I found many things to appreciate about her book, but even I paused for a moment and asked myself, why am I reading this? It reads like a telenovela! Her language is deceptively simplistic (also in the original Italian), but her observations are acutely accurate and unapologetic. I think if I were to point at Ferrante’s brilliance I would say that she understands human psyche like very few writers.
I started reading My Brilliant Friend, and I couldn't finish it. I don't remember why, but it didn't speak to me.
I started reading My Brilliant Friend, and I couldn't finish it. I don't remember why, but it didn't speak to me.
I'm really captivated by your yearly re-read. One year I re-read books I'd recently read, because I felt I might have missed something. What surprised me the most, and was also helpful, was how different my reception and experience of every book I re-read that year was. Mood, time of year/life, perspective, who-knows: so much can influence how we receive a book (or anything in life).
Recently I reread a book my mom gave me when I first moved to NYC at 22, "A Woman of Independent Means" by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey. I didn't return for its literary merit, but to return to a book that had some an impact on my idea of being a "woman of independent means" and how I saw it today, 38 years later. It was astounding. I am going to make a note to reread one book a year. It's valuable on so many levels, including a cozy, delicious revisit of a favorite place.
I agree, Tatyana, some books that I so deeply treasured can no longer resonate with me a year or two or a decade or more later. But I find I do still honor that initial connection. The reverse has also happened -- a book I didn't care for at all will suddenly bowl me over years after I first read it. I suppose it's proof we humans are always growing and changing!
Yes!!
One of my all time favorites to reread is 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff, a memoir of letters between a NYC writer and London bookseller. I recently reread the James Herriot series, All Creatures Great and Small. The warmth and humor in them make me laugh out loud. I also reread The #1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith. They make me want to visit Botswana.
Omg I love 84 Charing Cross Road so, so much!!! (Have you seen the collectors edition from Slightly Foxed?! It’s beautiful and perfect!) It’s a true favorite of mine, perhaps bc I went to grad school in London and spent a million hours in used bookshops!!
Those books introduced me to bush tea, and I have been drinking it ever since!
I just googled that. Yum! Which brand do you prefer?
https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwjKtK-QtIeIAxXJLa0GHSqSNqUYABAlGgJwdg&co=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwoJa2BhBPEiwA0l0ImFEvowjaSOOKy9RfeSd-YsuvhhhMHKS-56fWPMEtzj5fq_-nAuEVihoCPugQAvD_BwE&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESVeD2S6b7r-PcMcCcKFyRnl0Iy0kk_w71duGLTgmo0YTG6Tfswr8zpqhwxdKlBdZmttvMFXXn11RF8DTp0u0e5DdDWaiE1cJ_GL007TD7CAX80Nwh018&sig=AOD64_0rIunBp4gFcz_JbDzu-E1ea7nrIg&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwjWv6iQtIeIAxUQEkQIHUUjDVcQwg8oAHoECAYQIw&adurl=
Oooh, I didn't realize Rooibos was considered bush tea. I've drunk that for decades. Yum!! Thanks!
Those are the perfect books to read during the stressful times we're in. On one of my visits to England, I visited the village and the building where Herriot had his surgery. My mom was an enormous fan of his work and was very moved!
There is a new updated version of All Creatiures Great and Small on PBS. It's the only TV we subscribe to. They are very well-done and expand on some of the characters like Mrs. Hall. I'm looking forward to the 4th season in January.
Wonderful summaries - so many books and not enough time to read! Coincidentally, I just posted a piece on the book Anthony Doerr wrote about writing All the Light We Cannot See. His memoir Four Seasons in Rome is a delightful river of observations and experiences, and I’m reading it again now. I lean heavily toward nonfiction and memoir and while I haven’t been in the habit of rereading favorites cover to cover, I may just start. 😊
My husband was actually at the American Academy in Rome with him and so, of course, we have a copy of his Rome memoir in our house! I’ve not yet read it, possibly bc my husband doesn’t *love* it, I think perhaps bc his own experiences and take on Rome are quite different?
Joanna how wonderful to have had that experience! Rome is a fantastic and complex city and I imagine each of us who’ve been have a unique take on our time in the Eternal City. For my part, I love Doerr’s prose and thoroughly enjoyed his memoir, which I read before traveling to Rome. .
I feel like I have to add: another ritual of mine involves exactly this! Reading books set in the city/place I’m visiting both beforehand and while there (and often after), and I really think it deepens the experience of travel, right? (I traveled to Spain this summer and in Barcelona read Colm Toibin’s memoir of the city, which really made me understand its history!!)
Yes, reading a good book about a city before my trip just heightens my experience when I get there. I’m thinking of the pantheon, which filled me with awe, just as it did Doerr. I’ve not been to Spain as yet, but before we go, I shall read Toibin’s memoir. 😊
I agree -- not enough time!! I didn't know about that memoir. That sounds wonderful! Thanks for sharing!
Please don't apologize for one second about spending "half your time" celebrating our next president Kamala Harris. After a decade of torture and anxiety, to return to joy means my husband and I and friends spend every second savoring this turnaround. Even our reading is more joyous because....life is more joyous. Plus it all has literary elements. An inciting incident, strong protagonist/heroine, epic quest, good against evil, great supporting characters. Today I went on-line and read everything I could about Kamala's life - great reading! Amazing woman and family! As for reading and re-reading books, YES. I keep the books I re-read - and there are many - beside me on a big shelf, and every time I re-read them, I'm a different person. And even as I read a book the first time, if I really love it, I'm already planning to read it again because I savor it so much and know I've missed stuff or just want to live in that place again.
Oooooh, I love this, Kirie. Your words about rereading went deep into my heart! And yes to everything you write about Kamala!! And YES to more joy!! Loads and heaps more!
I read Sharyn McCrumb's Ballad series once a year. I also read To Kill a Mockingbird once a year. I adore Kate Morton's book, Homecoming. I have a hard copy and audio, as well. Mark Sullivan's The Last Green Valley. All the Light We Cannot See.
Well, more books to add to my list!! I've heard good things about Homecoming! Thanks!
Okay, I've not read any of these, other than To Kill a Mockingbird, and am now very curious! Thank you! And I feel so excited and relieved that I'm not the only one who reads books annually!
Wolf Hall is a masterpiece. I love all of Mantel's writing, but in the Wolf Hall trilogy she steeps us in Tudor England and its politics. It's an experience, not a read!
I re-read quite few favourites: The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E M Delafield; The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford; Dickens' Bleak House; Susannah Clarkes' Piranesi....
Wonderful list!! I keep meaning to read The Pursuit of Love and never getting to it, so this is the perfect nudge. Thanks!
And now I'm even more excited to turn to Wolf Hall!
I love, love Bleak House (huge Dickens person here) and Nancy Mitford!! I don't know the Delafield but it sounds so up my alley, so ordering now! Thank you!
Thank you for your recommendations! Wolf Hall has been on my radar and now I know I must read it.
Two books I carry with me in my heart and love to read again are The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert & The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd.
And when I really need a break from the world I get back to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Sometimes you need something absurd to make you cry-laugh!
Yes, we definitely need the absurd sometimes! I love The Signature of All Things! So beautiful! (In case you're interested and missed it, I interviewed Liz). I haven't read The Book of Longings, but I love SMK's writing so I will check it out! Thanks!
I loved both those books Angela but never thought to reread them. I think Signature is Gilbert’s best book.
I agree! It's so lovely!
A book I return to again and again is Isabelle Allende’s The Stories of Eva Luna. The first pages still get me in the heart. Allende’s way in which she uses words is so lovely and heartbreaking. Been returning to this one for over 20 years.
I’ve been meaning to read this forever—I own a copy!!—and now will move to top of my pile!
I love that you have such a relationship with that book! It's like coming home!
I love to reread- like you, I always enjoy rereading Laurie Colwin. Also Eve Babitz. Very fond of India Knights novels. A perennial favourite is anything by LM Montgomery. I’ve reread the Anne books many times but have recently been reading the Emily books for the 4 th or 5 th time- I adore The Blue Castle- sometimes a re read is the greatest comfort. I am always buying new books and enjoying those as well but an old favourite on a vacation is a treat- last summer I reread Persuasion, still my favourite Austen.
I love this: sometimes a re read is the greatest comfort. So so so true!
I can’t explain what it is about Pattern Recognition by William Gibson, but I reread it every few years. I can’t even get into the other books in the series, known as Blue Ant. Just this one.
I loved William Gibson--and Philip K. Dick--in college! Maybe it's time to revisit?
One of my all time favorites
Ooooh, I haven't read that, but now I'm intrigued! Thanks, Fran!
I absolutely LOVED All The Light We Cannot See! Have you watched the Netflix series? I was a bit disappointed, but I usually am with novel adaptations for the screen.
I reread Edith Grossman’s translation of Don Quixote every year (sometimes every other year). The audiobook, narrated by George Guidal, is incredible! It’s such a feel-good novel for me. I still laugh out loud at Quixote’s and Sancho’s misadventures. Their dialogue is wonderful. Their’s is such a touching relationship.
Weirdly, I was just talking about All The Light moments before reading your comment! I also love that book! I heard the series wasn't as good but I haven't seen it yet. Curious to hear what Joanna say!
I haven't read DQ since I was a teen. Perhaps it's time to reread!
Okay, my son--who is nineteen and starts college tomorrow (!)--read Don Quixote back in May, as part of his attempt to fill in the gaps in his literary education, and absolutely loved it, so I was actually thinking of reading it myself! In part, also, because: I just spent three weeks in Spain and learned more about Cervantes than I've ever known (all fascinating); and I *just* read Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy, which is partly a gloss on Don Quixote! So, you've clinched it for me! Thank you!
And I haven't yet see the Netflix series of All the Light, I think bc I thought I should read the book first, but maybe it's okay?
I envy your trip to Spain! That is a bucket list item for me. What is one of the most fascinating things you learned about Cervantes?
Okay, I was fascinated by a name that kept coming up in Madrid: Lope de Vega. In Barrio de las Letras, his house is a perfectly preserved tourist attraction and the street named after him is larger and more grand than that of Cervantes. Eventually, a local designer I befriended explained that the two were rivals, though the rivalry larger stemmed from Cervantes’ feelings of jealousy, as in their day Lope de Vega was far, far more widely read and famous!!
I read books over and over. Some personal favorites…fellowship point…..Time in its Flight….The Great Believers
Fellowship Point is truly one of my all-time favorites, up there with Middlemarch. (I blurbed it and for maybe a year, I kept rambling on about it in to anyone and everyone, and I could see people were like, "yeah, okay, a 700-page novel about old ladies in Maine, sure, Joanna." And then they read it and understood!
And The Great Believers is truly magnificent!
Oh my gosh, FP sounds heavenly!!
I love The Great Believers! I've read that a couple of times. I somehow hadn't heard of Fellowship Point. Just checked it out and it looks wonderful! Thanks for the tip!
Jane, it's incredible. If you love 19th century fiction, you will LOVE.
I do!!
Fellowship point is really lovely and thought provoking. Hope you like it
Agree about Fellowship Point. Profound examination of friendship over time. It went in lots of different directions which at first felt weird and then it didn’t.
And also a brilliant dissection of race and class in the U.S.
I'm keen to read that now! Thanks!
Perfect description