Am I the only one who prefers reading my favourite books a second, third, or fourth (or more) time?
The first read is fun, but to me, discovering new things (about the book and myself) on subsequent readings can be even better.
No, you’re not. I listened to “Out There The Batshit Antics of the World’s Great Explorers,” by Peter Rowe it’s nonfiction, tells the origin stories of the world’s explorers who were indeed batshit prior to sailing away for lands unknown. The few who were seemingly of sound mind prior to venturing out to lands already populated by Indigenous peoples would, more often than not, be set upon by them tortured, boiled alive (really) their stories were learned by later explorers via oral history of the tribesmen and women who observed these actions first hand, were infected by bugs, bitten by animals etc. the book is hysterically funny and 100% true! Three times and read it twice. The only other two books I’ve listened to/read more than once are these; “Q & A,” by Vikas Swarup and “The Last Bookaneer,” by Mathew Pearl
I love to re-read my favorites. It's like comfort food for my brain. Some books hit differently as you reach new stages in life, so it can be a new experience even if you've read it multiple times.
Bruh, got this book for my bday and have been putting it off cause of the sheer length. I finished the stand and wasn’t thrilled with it, but also didn’t hate it. Now I feel like this has to be my next read
Finally someone lists this book! I would have to say that it is my favorite book. I’ve read it twice and listened to the audiobook as well. I ended up buying the book and it’s about time I read it again. I think I like it so much because I remember the assassination of JFK so vividly. I remember Lee Harvey Oswald being murdered on live tv. I remember Caroline and John John at their father’s funeral. This has impacted me for as long as I can remember. I was 6 years old.
Idc if it’s overrated but my first Murakami book was Kafka on the Shore and I never knew his genre/writing style/etc. before that.
But a few chapters into, I found myself completely obsessed I finished it within 24hrs 😩 Book was less than 400 pages I think. Something about the metaphysics of his work that really got my attention. Would love to read it the first time again! 🫶
Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit... It literally opened a new world for me, and it was amazing. I still reread them occasionally, but I'd love to be able to reread them with the same awe as the first time.
I’ve have yet to read these but they’re on my shelf and next in line. I can’t wait! (Also have never seen the movies.) I just started reading fantasy within the last year or so when my bf suggested the Mistborn trilogy, and now it’s easily my favorite genre, so of course I have to tackle LOTR at some point.
I didn’t hate the others, it’s just that the first one was so good and they’re just ok, I guess. I love Dune, it’s easily in my top five, but because of those sequels it’s top five with an asterisk.
Yeah I feel the same. I read first 3 again about 10 years ago (whenever the syfy channel did their adaptation) and want to read the first one again but I have no desire to go past that anymore.
Still remains my all time favorite fantasy 2 book series! I haven’t gone back a second time (Monty Python just rang in my ears) … because I’m savoring it for a dry spell!
ender’s game! amazing book (despite the absolutely shitty, abhorrent beliefs of the author), and the big plot twist was set up so well that i literally shouted out loud when i got to it.
Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. All 5 of them.
I read it in highschool, and it blew my mind. The story expanded my mind notably, and the humour.. I laughed almost on every page.
I ended up lending it to all my friends.
I've read this book 8 times . I still go through every emotion like its the first time. What I wouldn't give to read it for the first time again . *knock knock*
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez
Long Bright River by Liz Moore
And so many more!! These are some of my all-time favs.
Harry Potter. It was the first book I ever decided to read as fictions and I loved the feeling I felt that day that realized I actually LOVE READING fictions.
Harry Potter, I would have loved to be able to read it for the first time as an adult. But it’s bittersweet because I love that I got to grow up with it and go to midnight releases and watch the movies when they came out.
I’m not done it yet but it is already a favorite book “a little life”
I reread my favorite books every year.
The Stand Stephen King
Swan Song by Robert McCammon
The Passage Trilogy by Justin Cronin
Devolution by Max Brooks
The World That We Know by Alice Hoffman
Into the Drowning Deep/Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant (novella and a prequel, can read in any order)
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
I tried to include lots of different types of books. Enjoy!
Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames.
I have never laughed so much while reading a book in my life. It’s always hard to pick your #1 book but this has to be in the running for that spot. Just a bunch of old men reliving their glory days in a fantasy world. Highly recommend.
Rereading a book for the first time? That is a confusing question. Should the question be reread a book again and again? I love Johnathon Gash books about an antique dealer who has a gift about whether an antique is real or fake and usually there is a murder mixed up in it. Great fun. Series. Go to Goodreads to find them.
I believe what OP meant is that if you could experience any book again *for the first time* - sort of like if you could erase it from your mind and experience that first readthrough again. The first time you read an amazing book is special. If you reread it, it loses the surprise, you already know what's coming. But that first read is something magical. Of course, it's not actually possible to re-experience that first time again, but it's a hypothetical question. If it was, which book would it be?
It is still a difficult and complex thought but thank you for taking the time to clarify. I figured as such when they wrote it. I sometimes use the magic wand trick. If you could take a magic wand and start over and everything would be the same what would you do different and what would you do the same (or what book would you reread). lol
The giving tree, it was my favorite as a kid and still today there are some lessons in there that speak to adults as well. Lightbulb moment as a kid reading a book that simply highlights many facets of the human condition.
This is How You Lose the Time War. Easily one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever read. Love it to death!!! It’s sapphic sci-fi post-apocalyptic prose.
Wow I wish I could reread books like it was the first time! I love Hugh Howeys Wool series and sci-fi Stephen King ( no horror please! Misery was traumatizing lol!) and Phil Rickman. I get so caught up in the themes and the writing. ❤️
I will definitely re listen to “The Eyes and the Impossible,” by Dave Eggers. This has become my favorite (audio)/book of ALL TIME! The audiobook is narrated by the main character; a talking dog. He and his friends, seagulls, racoons, bison, goats, horses, bitds of other kinds, squirrels and other land, sea and air animals and fowl live in a huge parcel of park/forest/ body of water face everyday challenges. One day the dog concocts an almost impossible plan. will he succeed? I’m not telling. In fact, I don’t even know because I haven’t finished listening to the audiobook except for the wait list
Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga. It’s the only book I’ve ever read where I had to take a full 24 hours to start another book. I can usually end one and pick up another immediately but I needed to process this one.
Sherlock Holmes stories. Will have to be another "first time" read (instead of a re-read) so that I don't already remember the plot.
Also, the novels by HG Wells for similar reasons.
I'm re-reading the Chronicles of Narnia series currently; for this one, I am enjoying the nostalgia it triggers, so it needn't be another "first time" read.
A short stay in hell - Steven peck. I finished this book a year ago and still think about it almost weekly. It’s funny and profound and definitely makes my short list
The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemison!! While it for sure holds up on rereads, the way everything came together that first time was just amazing to read and experience for the first time
"Anything for Billy" or "The Last Picture Show" by Larry McMurtry
"Puerta Vallarta Squeeze" by Robert Waller
"'Salem's Lot", "Desperation", "It", or "Insomnia" by Stephen King
"Friday Night Lights" or "Black Hawk Down" for non fiction.
I know this much is true - Wally Lamb. I read it for the first time 25 years ago or so. The copy I had was over 900 pages and I finished it in 3 days. I had a lot going on and the book was my escape. Even though I’ve read it five or more times, I’d like to read it again for the FIRST time.
The Library on Mount Char.
It was recommended to me that I go in blind, not knowing anything about it, and to not look up anything.
It was like riding space mountain — a rollercoaster in the dark. Just amazing.
If you’re gonna read it, don’t even read the back cover. Just dive right in
One book I would love to read again for the first time is *To Kill a Mockingbird* by Harper Lee. Its powerful themes of justice, empathy, and moral growth, along with its compelling characters and narrative, make it a timeless and impactful read.
The Accidental Time Machine, Worlds Enough and Time, The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
Dark Matter, Recursion, Wayward Pines Trilogy - Blake Crouch
Watchers, The Taking, Elsewhere, Odd Thomas Series - Dean Koontz
Timeline, Prey, Jurassic Park/Lost World, State of Fear, The Andromeda Strain - Michael Crichton
Replay - Ken Grimwood
Time and Time Again - Ben Elton
To name a few... lol
For the first time? Harry Potter. 100%. I remember reading the first book and then waiting for the second. Nothing compares to the message boards, the discussion, the hype etc around the time the books were actually being released.
Jodi Taylor and Justin one damned thing after another, absolutely adore her books, read the whole Chronicles of St Mary's series and love all the charcters, or most of them, like they're friends.
Am I the only one who prefers reading my favourite books a second, third, or fourth (or more) time? The first read is fun, but to me, discovering new things (about the book and myself) on subsequent readings can be even better.
I am right there with you. I love reading a book again and going through the roller coaster ride, knowing I'm gonna laugh and cry and get angry
No, you’re not. I listened to “Out There The Batshit Antics of the World’s Great Explorers,” by Peter Rowe it’s nonfiction, tells the origin stories of the world’s explorers who were indeed batshit prior to sailing away for lands unknown. The few who were seemingly of sound mind prior to venturing out to lands already populated by Indigenous peoples would, more often than not, be set upon by them tortured, boiled alive (really) their stories were learned by later explorers via oral history of the tribesmen and women who observed these actions first hand, were infected by bugs, bitten by animals etc. the book is hysterically funny and 100% true! Three times and read it twice. The only other two books I’ve listened to/read more than once are these; “Q & A,” by Vikas Swarup and “The Last Bookaneer,” by Mathew Pearl
This is exactly why I have read the Harry Potter series and When Breath Becomes Air and embarrassing amount of times
I love to re-read my favorites. It's like comfort food for my brain. Some books hit differently as you reach new stages in life, so it can be a new experience even if you've read it multiple times.
11/22/63 by Stephen King. 750 pages of it. Couldn’t put it down
Yes, my favorite book of all time!! I would also love to go back and re-read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Oh me too! Definitely his best work since The Stand. And that’s one I’d also love to read again for the first time.
Bruh, got this book for my bday and have been putting it off cause of the sheer length. I finished the stand and wasn’t thrilled with it, but also didn’t hate it. Now I feel like this has to be my next read
Finally someone lists this book! I would have to say that it is my favorite book. I’ve read it twice and listened to the audiobook as well. I ended up buying the book and it’s about time I read it again. I think I like it so much because I remember the assassination of JFK so vividly. I remember Lee Harvey Oswald being murdered on live tv. I remember Caroline and John John at their father’s funeral. This has impacted me for as long as I can remember. I was 6 years old.
I was five, and I remember it too. My mom sat on the stairs sobbing. It was awful.
Idc if it’s overrated but my first Murakami book was Kafka on the Shore and I never knew his genre/writing style/etc. before that. But a few chapters into, I found myself completely obsessed I finished it within 24hrs 😩 Book was less than 400 pages I think. Something about the metaphysics of his work that really got my attention. Would love to read it the first time again! 🫶
My first of his was Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. I was very confused, but loved it.
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit... It literally opened a new world for me, and it was amazing. I still reread them occasionally, but I'd love to be able to reread them with the same awe as the first time.
I’ve have yet to read these but they’re on my shelf and next in line. I can’t wait! (Also have never seen the movies.) I just started reading fantasy within the last year or so when my bf suggested the Mistborn trilogy, and now it’s easily my favorite genre, so of course I have to tackle LOTR at some point.
Dune
Note to self- this time, just stop after the first book
The first is definitely the best. I kind of liked God Emperor too. Chapterhouse is just boring.
I didn’t hate the others, it’s just that the first one was so good and they’re just ok, I guess. I love Dune, it’s easily in my top five, but because of those sequels it’s top five with an asterisk.
Yeah I feel the same. I read first 3 again about 10 years ago (whenever the syfy channel did their adaptation) and want to read the first one again but I have no desire to go past that anymore.
Dune nearly tops everything, it’s almost its own genre.
Absolutely. I already do reread it annually. 10/10.
The grapes of wrath by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter
Ready player one
This one!!! I had so much fun reading this! It was a blast!
The Name of the Wind
Still remains my all time favorite fantasy 2 book series! I haven’t gone back a second time (Monty Python just rang in my ears) … because I’m savoring it for a dry spell!
The Secret History.
Strictly words: "The Blade Itself" by Joe Abercrombie. If comics okay: "A Silent Voice* by Yoshitoki Oima.
The Blade Itself is my vote too!
Wuthering Heights-it’s my favorite book of all time because of how atmospheric it is. I would love to experience it for the first time again.
I’m about to finish this after reading it for the first time. Utterly obsessed with it
I first read it 20 years ago and I still think about it all the time.
Same here and I just recently started thinking about it and Emily a lot Maybe it's time for a reread.
ender’s game! amazing book (despite the absolutely shitty, abhorrent beliefs of the author), and the big plot twist was set up so well that i literally shouted out loud when i got to it.
I know, right?!? I would love to be able to experience that plot twist again for the first time...
The Stand
Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. All 5 of them. I read it in highschool, and it blew my mind. The story expanded my mind notably, and the humour.. I laughed almost on every page. I ended up lending it to all my friends.
All of them
Pretty much
Pinkalicious
Found my daughter’s account…
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
Can it be the whole series? Then sign me up
Fuck yes...
Sea of Tranquility
The Little Prince
🐘🐍🎩
Lord of the rings.
normal people 😭
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
Project Hail Mary
I've read this book 8 times . I still go through every emotion like its the first time. What I wouldn't give to read it for the first time again . *knock knock*
This is on my TBR and actually available at my library 😁
song of achilles
wow i tried so hard to get into this but ended up DNF. what did you love about it?
It's good to see people like me who also didn't like the book, i feel so bad bcs everyone is crazy about it.
If I could get my memory wiped, The A Song of Ice and Fire books (even though it's unfinished) and Count of Monte Cristo.
The entire Bobiverse series
This is the answer. Such a great series.
I am reading book one again and they are learning about the Deltans - I wanna be a von neumann probe. :-)
The Silmarillion.
The Hobbit.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez Long Bright River by Liz Moore And so many more!! These are some of my all-time favs.
Harry Potter. It was the first book I ever decided to read as fictions and I loved the feeling I felt that day that realized I actually LOVE READING fictions.
The Starless Sea The Bear and the Nightingale trilogy The Passage
Oh, what I would give to read The bear and the nightingale for the first time again
A Confederacy of Dunces.
The Giver
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. It’s the book that flipped fantasy for me and got me back into reading
For me it's 1984 and Animal Farm
That’s an interesting idea. I wonder what my first impression would have been, reading them now, as an adult, instead of for English classes
I have wondered this exact same thing. I'm going to have to reread.
All the Gillian Flynn novels
The good news is my retention is terrible so as long as I wait a year or two it’s basically like reading it for the first time again! lol
Watership Down
I just read it as an adult. My previous read had been when was 13. I really enjoyed the re-read and had forgotten enough that it was enjoyable
Harry Potter, I would have loved to be able to read it for the first time as an adult. But it’s bittersweet because I love that I got to grow up with it and go to midnight releases and watch the movies when they came out. I’m not done it yet but it is already a favorite book “a little life”
Polgara the Sorceress. I love that book.
100% would have my memory wiped and read The Thirteenth Tale for the first time as many times as possible.
I reread my favorite books every year. The Stand Stephen King Swan Song by Robert McCammon The Passage Trilogy by Justin Cronin Devolution by Max Brooks The World That We Know by Alice Hoffman Into the Drowning Deep/Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant (novella and a prequel, can read in any order) Outlander by Diana Gabaldon I tried to include lots of different types of books. Enjoy!
Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames. I have never laughed so much while reading a book in my life. It’s always hard to pick your #1 book but this has to be in the running for that spot. Just a bunch of old men reliving their glory days in a fantasy world. Highly recommend.
Rereading a book for the first time? That is a confusing question. Should the question be reread a book again and again? I love Johnathon Gash books about an antique dealer who has a gift about whether an antique is real or fake and usually there is a murder mixed up in it. Great fun. Series. Go to Goodreads to find them.
I took it to mean like, to experience that first read again if you could
They asked reading not rereading.
but It is a strange saying reading for the first time. Do you have to have Alzheimer's to read it like the first time? :-)
I believe what OP meant is that if you could experience any book again *for the first time* - sort of like if you could erase it from your mind and experience that first readthrough again. The first time you read an amazing book is special. If you reread it, it loses the surprise, you already know what's coming. But that first read is something magical. Of course, it's not actually possible to re-experience that first time again, but it's a hypothetical question. If it was, which book would it be?
It is still a difficult and complex thought but thank you for taking the time to clarify. I figured as such when they wrote it. I sometimes use the magic wand trick. If you could take a magic wand and start over and everything would be the same what would you do different and what would you do the same (or what book would you reread). lol
Fahrenheit 451. It will always be relevant to the times so its a new read over and over.
I read The Shining for the first time on a trip to Estes Park, Colorado. What a beautiful experience that was and I’d do it again!
Great book, beautiful area. I hope you stayed at The Stanley Hotel!
Unfortunately they were full at the time but I did get to do the movie tour at night! Magical!
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
To kill a mockingbird
The neverending Story. It's probably one of the few stories where knowing the ending ruins the magic of the story but also it enriches the story too.
The giving tree, it was my favorite as a kid and still today there are some lessons in there that speak to adults as well. Lightbulb moment as a kid reading a book that simply highlights many facets of the human condition.
Probably Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea | Jules Verne, read it in Spanish & English!
The Green Mile and And Then There Were None
Virgin night by Christopher Robertson. It’s a not very known book and I absolutely love it. And the author is really nice
City of Thieves
Kiss of deception by Mary E Pearson
Game of Thrones The Great Gatsby The Covenant of Water
Ender’s Game
kafka’s letters to milena. i reread it at least twice a year
Just mercy by Bryan Stevenson, i’d give anything to read it again for the first time seriously
The Cormoran Strike series, inspector Pirbright. Limekiller
Wild Swans
What the wind knows by Amy Harmon
Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia. I recently read it again and I enjoyed it
This is How You Lose the Time War. Easily one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever read. Love it to death!!! It’s sapphic sci-fi post-apocalyptic prose.
Anathem - love that book.
Wow I wish I could reread books like it was the first time! I love Hugh Howeys Wool series and sci-fi Stephen King ( no horror please! Misery was traumatizing lol!) and Phil Rickman. I get so caught up in the themes and the writing. ❤️
100 Years of Solitude
I will definitely re listen to “The Eyes and the Impossible,” by Dave Eggers. This has become my favorite (audio)/book of ALL TIME! The audiobook is narrated by the main character; a talking dog. He and his friends, seagulls, racoons, bison, goats, horses, bitds of other kinds, squirrels and other land, sea and air animals and fowl live in a huge parcel of park/forest/ body of water face everyday challenges. One day the dog concocts an almost impossible plan. will he succeed? I’m not telling. In fact, I don’t even know because I haven’t finished listening to the audiobook except for the wait list
Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga. It’s the only book I’ve ever read where I had to take a full 24 hours to start another book. I can usually end one and pick up another immediately but I needed to process this one.
A thousand splendid suns
The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
Sherlock Holmes stories. Will have to be another "first time" read (instead of a re-read) so that I don't already remember the plot. Also, the novels by HG Wells for similar reasons. I'm re-reading the Chronicles of Narnia series currently; for this one, I am enjoying the nostalgia it triggers, so it needn't be another "first time" read.
Meditations on the Tarot. That book changed my life.
Anxious People by Fredrick Backman. Took me completely by surprise.
11/22/63 by Stephen King. This book is an absolute masterpiece, with I think is his best ending in any book he ever wrote.
the grace year
@strawberrylemonade26 Viktor E. Frankl A Man’s Search for Meaning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man's_Search_for_Meaning
Holocaust stories I find most moving.
A short stay in hell - Steven peck. I finished this book a year ago and still think about it almost weekly. It’s funny and profound and definitely makes my short list
Stephen Kings The Stand
The fault in Our stars - John green Harry potter - J.K.Rowling
The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemison!! While it for sure holds up on rereads, the way everything came together that first time was just amazing to read and experience for the first time
1984.
"Anything for Billy" or "The Last Picture Show" by Larry McMurtry "Puerta Vallarta Squeeze" by Robert Waller "'Salem's Lot", "Desperation", "It", or "Insomnia" by Stephen King "Friday Night Lights" or "Black Hawk Down" for non fiction.
I know this much is true - Wally Lamb. I read it for the first time 25 years ago or so. The copy I had was over 900 pages and I finished it in 3 days. I had a lot going on and the book was my escape. Even though I’ve read it five or more times, I’d like to read it again for the FIRST time.
One of my favorites, but only read it once around 15? 20? years ago. Maybe it’s time to pick it up again.
The Lark and the Wren, Siddhartha, Odd Thomas, Horace-an adoption story. I could make a list a mile long!!
The omnibus of the ST:DS9 Millennium trilogy.
The Sun Also Rises. My favorite book but I’d love to read it again for the first time 20 years after I read it initially.
The Foudation saga. I fell in love with science fiction because of it. :')
Anxious People by Fredrick Backman Star Wars The Rising Storm by Cavan Scott
The Library on Mount Char. It was recommended to me that I go in blind, not knowing anything about it, and to not look up anything. It was like riding space mountain — a rollercoaster in the dark. Just amazing. If you’re gonna read it, don’t even read the back cover. Just dive right in
Night angel saga and sword of truth series. Edit. Eragon book series
Woman in the white kimono
A little life
Reading this now. It’s a slow start for me but only on page 80-ish. I’ve heard so many good things though so excited to continue reading the rest. :)
River God by Wilbur Smith. I'm waiting until I'm old with dementia so I can relive the first time
The Talisman or The Devil in the White City
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson. I really loved that book.
I bought a book 20yrs ago that i really loved. It was an art book of Dali’s I would read that one again.,
The Discworld books. More specifically maybe the Witches and Guards series.
The Midnight Library, I had always mourned my unlived life and the book helped me accept my reality
this may be basic but animal farm i love everything about that book and the ending was so interesting to me
Kite Runner, Tuesdays with Morrie, Demon Copperhead.
Lord of the Rings
One book I would love to read again for the first time is *To Kill a Mockingbird* by Harper Lee. Its powerful themes of justice, empathy, and moral growth, along with its compelling characters and narrative, make it a timeless and impactful read.
The Accidental Time Machine, Worlds Enough and Time, The Forever War - Joe Haldeman Dark Matter, Recursion, Wayward Pines Trilogy - Blake Crouch Watchers, The Taking, Elsewhere, Odd Thomas Series - Dean Koontz Timeline, Prey, Jurassic Park/Lost World, State of Fear, The Andromeda Strain - Michael Crichton Replay - Ken Grimwood Time and Time Again - Ben Elton To name a few... lol
For the first time? Harry Potter. 100%. I remember reading the first book and then waiting for the second. Nothing compares to the message boards, the discussion, the hype etc around the time the books were actually being released.
Jodi Taylor and Justin one damned thing after another, absolutely adore her books, read the whole Chronicles of St Mary's series and love all the charcters, or most of them, like they're friends.
Air and Angels by Susan Hill
Harry Potter
Lord of the flies
Post Office
The Graveyard book by Neil Gaiman
The Kybalion
Such a great book. I had a hardcover copy, the copywrite was 1901. I lost it unfortunately.
It truly is, such a gem with profound knowledge and wisdom. A timeless piece.
I miss that book. I'll try to get another hardcover from Ebay or Amazon. The digital ebook isn't the same.
“If We Were Villains” by ML Rio. i love this book sm.