Tuesday 27 September 2011

Top Ten Tuesday

We all know how I love a nice top ten Tuesday, and this week's is fun because it's all full of pipe dreams of what I would do if it was physically possible to re-read books, which I obviously can't because there are far too many books that I still have to read and there always will be! I mean, not to be too alarmist or anything... So anyway, I'm just going to make a nice little list now, and leave my neuroses out of it!

Top Ten Books I want to re-read


1. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky- I've only read it once which is, quite frankly, so not enough. I'm still resentful that I didn't have this book to hand when I was a teenager, so I definitely deserve to read it about 20 times. At least. I'm thinking that, since a bit of the book takes place at Christmas, I can re-read it as a Christmas present to myself. We'll see!

2. Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell- Again, I've only read this once, and it. was. epic. It's length is the main reason I haven't re-read it, but, you know, I can always watch the film in a mere four hours and pretend I'm reading a really easy-read book!

3. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck- I mainly want to re-read this (again) so I can make a fool of myself here and GUSH about how much I love it, because trust me- I really really do. And you'll be sorry that you ever found out how much because you will be vomiting at all the positive adjectives I'll be using.

4. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith- Like Perks, I only read this for the first time this year, so a re-read would be slightly foolish, and sort of pointless because I can basically remember it entirely! But it's a definite Laura classic (as in, you know, I liked it a lot) that I think I will revisit a lot in the future.

5. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini- Because I read it a really long time ago, and I know it was amazing, I just can't quite remember it in its entirety. But I know that it's so beautiful, and so sad, and that's enough for me to want to re-read it.

6. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte- I actually haven't read this for so long, and considering that I've quite recently read all the Austens, plus Wuthering Heights, it's an injustice to the greatness of Jane Eyre that I haven't re-read that too. But soon, I swear Ms Bronte!

7. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley- It's definitely one of the best dystopias I've read (although, to be fair, I like most of the dystopian novels I read) and, I don't know why, but I'm in that sort of mood recently. Probably has something to do with living in a country that feels like a dystopia...

8. The Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger- Let me make this completely clear. I only want to read this so I can point out all the things that are wrong with it, and then I want to forget about it and pretend the whole thing never happened (I just don't get it! I'm sorry!)

9. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood- Another dystopia, and this one I loved, so so much, and it actually scared me to the point of having to make an escape plan from this crazy, crazy America (I should actually get on that in case it does actually happen, REPUBLICANS, I'm looking at you!) I'm sort of thinking that I should read the other Atwood books I have before I re-read this one, because, chances are, they're all that good!

10. The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster- I really love Auster, and The New York trilogy is probably the book I most want to re-read of his, because it's just so... intricate and complex and all combined up in itself, and I definitely think that through re-reading it, I will be able to discover so many more subtle connections and intricacies that it really excites me! So yeah, I'll be getting to that someday soon.

So those are my top ten most pressing concerns once I've read the 200 or so other books that I haven't actually read yet. How about you? Any books you want to get seriously re-acquainted with that I haven't even been acquainted with? Let me know in the usual place!

12 comments:

  1. I had GWTW too and I'm seeing it a lot this week! There's a lot of books on your list that I haven't read at all yet that I really want to! Hopefully they'll be books I want to re-read soon

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  2. I would love to re-read Jane Eyre sometime, too. The Handmaid's Tale is on my to-read list. Great choices!

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  3. CATCHER IN THE RYE IS AWESOME. Holden complains because he sees so much that's wrong in the world (people being cruel) and he doesn't know how to deal with it, because he's 15. So it manifests itself in him seemingly being a whiny teenager, but he's a reeeeally good guy.

    So many of the books here are great.

    "which I obviously can't because there are far too many books that I still have to read and there always will be!"

    ACCURATE. Unfortunately? Maybe? Nah.

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  4. Awesome list. I want to read Perks of Being a Wallflower, I have it on my wish list, just waiting on the book fairy to grant my wish. I loved a Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Kite Runner. Nice selection you have.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Here's Mine:
    My Top Ten Tuesday

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  5. I have a copy of The Handmaid's Tale at home and now I want to rush back and get it...but like you I have so much in line to be read already I have no idea when I'll have time! :) I almost put The Kite Runner on my list, but for me it's just too sad.

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  6. I should re-read Handmaid's Tale and maybe (maybe!) Grapes of Wrath. Yeah, there are a lot of other great looking unread books out there but sometimes you just want to curl up with something you're already familiar with.

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  7. Love your list. The only 2 I haven't read are The Perks of Being a Wallflower and The New York Trilogy.

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  8. Gone with the Wind is one of my favorite books ever but I have only read it once. Shame!

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  9. Amazing list of rereads! 2-7 are some of my favorite books of all time. Also, I keep coming across Perks of being a Wallflower... I think it's a sign I need to give it a try.

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  10. I'd love to re-read Jane Eyre. I hope to get to it sooner rather than later.

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  11. I need to finish Brave New World. I've never finished it despite starting it a number of times. I'm glad that others feel similarly about Catcher. I just keep feeling like I'm missing something.

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  12. I've been wanting to reread The Kite Runner too! I loved it. I almost picked up the movie the other day, but didn't have the courage. The book is so sad.

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