Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Could Re-read Forever
What would you do if you could only own a few books, in this case, ten? What if you had to downsize? Which books could you live with and read over and over? It is NOT easy to choose just a few, but if I had to choose right now, this is what I could read over and over again. These are what I call my lifetime books because I have read them (some from an early age) again and again, and I look forward to the next reread.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
My Antonia by Willa Cather
Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Middlemarch by George Eliot
The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
6 comments:
I have not read most of these, though I can appreciate the re-readability of the ones I have (Jane Eyre & Fountainhead). Do you still find yourself spotting new things with every re-read?
These seem like very worthy choices..Even the books that I have not read appear to be worth taking along to the proverbial dessert island. Some day I am going to tackle In Search of Lost Time..
Yes, to Return of the Native, BK, and My Antonia. (O Pioneers was my favorite by Cather.)
I have to reread The Fountainhead one of these days.
Stephen,
The books I reread, especially those on this list, have a depth of meaning and focus on ideas that continues to challenge and provoke my thoughts. They also bring a level of enjoyment of reading that warrants multiple readings. Some authors, like Carroll and Bronte, I have read and reread for more than five decades.
Brian,
These are books that I have considered worthy of multiple readings. They are filled with ideas and perspectives that continue to challenge me - as I age I find my own perspective changing in ways that make these books new in subtle ways.
Ruth,
I enjoy other books by many of these authors, especially ones like Cather who wrote several great novels that I've enjoyed including O Pioneers. Dickens is another example where I have read several of his novels more than once; I selected David Copperfield because it is my personal favorite although I think Great Expectations is his "best" novel.
Post a Comment