10 Books I’d Like To Re-read

Top Ten Tuesday is currently hosted by artsyreadergirl and has weekly topics for bloggers to respond to and share. Click the link for more info and to read more submitted posts!

This week the prompt is for books I’d like to re-read. This is quite an easy one! I love to re-read books – not least because I have notoriously bad memory – and I’m working through re-reading some old favourites at the moment. In fact a really good portion of my reads this year have been re-reads!

This prompt also came well-timed for some Special Editions I’ve indulged in recently, so a perfect excuse to show off those as well!

Classic favourites

It’s been many years since I first read these, and they’ve been on my mind!

1. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend – I’ve been thinking about re-reading this series for a while! It’s an old favourite, and I somehow managed to get all the books in completely different editions! We were just talking about them at the weekend, I love them, but it drives Husband crazy!
2. Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett – I just reread Equal Rites on audio, and I’m planning to do the Witches series (and finally finish it).
3. Wise Children by Angela Carter – I studied this at A Level and loved it. I’m very curious to see what my now fully formed adult brain will make of this, and I’ve really been loving rediscovering Weird Lit. in the last few years, and I think it’s time to return to some classics.
4. Ubik by Philip K. Dick – There is a lot of PKD I want to read and return to, but this is number one. I read this in the lost years, and I was incredibly confused by it the whole time. Could not tell you what it is actually about. I’m very curious to re-read it now I’ve warmed back up my lit. brain, and I think I’m a more focused reader! (Also, maybe related… Folio Society have some gorgeous special editions…)

New Special Editions

I’ve been spending some money…

5. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke – When I saw an Instagram ad from The Folio Society for their new Special Edition of Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, I could not resist it. I love that book, it’s worthy of a special edition, and they did a beautiful job! The quality is amazing, the illustrations by Julian de Narvaez
   really add to the atmosphere, and I am thrilled with it. I am looking forward to re-reading it in this format!
6. Persuasion by Jane Austen – So when ordering Piranesi, I realised that 1) postage is really expensive for one book, and 2) they have some gorgeous Jane Austen special editions! I love Persuasion, I’ve already re-read it twice in two years (still yet to actually write about it properly!). The illustrations by Deanna Staffo are my favourite! I am in love with the image of Anne reading the most romantic letter ever written.
7. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen – and if I were getting Persuasion, I might as well get a P&P to match! You know I’ve been in a P&P vibe of late, I keep mentioning it (you could play a drinking game/bingo based on how many times I mention this book for TTT!), and it made its way on my TBR the other week! This one is illustrated by Anna and Elena Balbusso and is a different vibe, but still lots of character.

More recent(ish) favourites

These ones have just floated back to the front of my brain recently…

8. Ayoade On Top by Richard Ayoade – This is a weird one, I know. If there was ever a book that nobody ever asked for, it was this one! This is a ridiculous movie critique in which Richard critically examines an obscure 2003 dramedy that starred Gwyneth Paltrow and Mark Ruffalo called View From The Top. I listened to this audiobook during the 2020 lockdown when I went for my daily walks. I bought it because I’d gotten stuck in the Audible subscription trap and was trying to use up credits so I could cancel! (This is before I worked out that I do like fiction audiobooks, I just have to put them on 1.2x speed!). I’ve been thinking about it recently – even more so since I watched Richard on Last One Laughing (the most I’ve laughed at TV in a long time!). I’d love to re-listen and finally watch View From The Top. It sounds fucking awful (it has an impressive 14% on Rotten Tomatoes).
9. Fables by Bill Willingham – I can point to Zezee as the inspiration for this one and the next one. I saw a post from her the other day that reminded me that I never finished two comic book series that I own and previously loved. I’ll need to go back and re-read from the start, I think, because it’s been so many years! I think I got to Volume 9 originally.
10. Saga by Brian K. Vaughan – this is another comic series that I was completely in love with when it came out, and I have more volumes of it than I’ve finished reading! I’ve got to go back to the start and finally finish it.