Re-reading old favourites

I have recently started a series on my blog called “My thoughts while re-reading” where I am re-reading some favourite series and keeping a book diary about how I feel about the book when returning to it. The first of these was for Spellslinger and I will be continuing with this series for the next few months, but I thought I would highlight some other series I love love to return to.

I adore re-reading books, I like returning to old favourites, visiting the worlds and hanging out with the characters and generally just remembering why I loved them in the first place. So I decided to make a list of the books or series I would like to immerse myself in again and maybe give you my thoughts along the way. Most of these I have talked about before as they really are some of my favourite books.

Not the End of the World
Christopher Brookmyre

I discovered Christopher Brookmyre’s work when I was 16 and on holiday with my parents. I had just finished Dead Famous by Ben Elton and was looking for something else to fill my time lazing by the pool. The resort we were at had a small library of books left by previous tourists and that’s where I found Brookmyr’e Not the End of the World. Drawn to it mainly by its cover I devoured this book, and I have to admit I did not return that copy to the holiday reps collection and it still sits on my bookshelf today. I dived into Brookmyre’s other works and he still remains one of my favourite authors from his Crime novels, his Sci-fi novels and his new writing partnership as Ambrose Parry with a historical based mystery novel (see my review).

The Simon Decourt Series
Christopher Boorkmyre

While all three of the books in this series can be read as standalone, self contained crime novels, the cross over in characters technically makes them a series. I have never read the trilogy through. In fact I read them out of order the first time I read them and I have read Sacred art of stealing far more than the other two. I would really like to see if these flow as a series and wither I pick up on more detail if i read them as such instead of standalones.

Old Man’s War series
John Scalzi

I hit a major reading slump during my undergrad years, until I was loaned Old-man’s war by a friend of my then boyfriend. I immediately bought my own copy (which was hard to find in the UK at the time) and it was one of the few books to come with me when I moved to the US for my Masters. I read that copy till it fell apart eventually replacing it with the digital version and continued on with the series in those versions. At this time Scalzi had started to delve back into the universe producing two serialised short story collections which I dutifully kept up with. Upon returning to the UK I set about reistablishing my physical collection of this series, however I have never actually read the physical copies I now own. It’s about time I got back into this universe and read those beautiful UK copies. There are a total of four novels and 2 short story collections in this series, and with news of a Netflix movie potentially making its way to screens in the near future this year is a perfect time to return to the universe.

Night Circus
Erin Morgenstern

This is another book I sort of stumbled upon. On a rather convoluted and rather delayed trip home from Ohio over the holidays, I had finished my current read and went raiding the bookshops of Chicago O’hare airport for a new book to delve into in the next leg of my journey. I came across The Night Circus and it was a pure cover buy. I read it in it’s entirety on the fright from Chicago to London and even started it again while I was home. I was so glad I picked it up. It is one of the most beautiful and magical books I have read. I also own the audiobook and the gorgeous UK hardback edition. I have listed to Jim Dale’s narration maybe 100 times but I haven’t actually physically re-read the book as a whole since I first encountered it. With a new novel for Morgenstern on the horizon I want to pick this one back up and go back to the circus again.

Cinder Series
Marrisa Meyer

This is a very recent series for me I only read them in December 2017 – January 2018. However, for Christmas 2018 I received the full paperback box-set with the prequel Fairest and the short story collection Stars Above. I loved the characters in this series, I truly missed them when I finished the series. So with the box set now firmly on my shelf and the two graphic novels winging there way to me soon. I am for sure going to revisit Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, Winter and the rest of the gang!

Honourable mention:

The River’s of London Series
Ben Aaronovich

The reason this is an honourable mention is I am constantly re-reading this on Audio as well as in physical copy as the are by far my favourite book series. I honestly could read and re-read these books time and time again and never get bored. The narration by Kobana Holdbrook-Smith is just superb and combined with the diverse set of characters, the rich and in-depth research contained in each book, the geeky cultural references and the witty one liners of Aaronovich’s writing I never go very long without picking up one of the novels or one of the audiobooks. This series is just a constant treasure trove that keeps giving with seven novels, a novella (with a second released in June), a now massive collection of graphic novels (I think we are up to number 8 in the graphic novel series) and a vast collection of free little short tales, I am honestly constantly, visiting Peter Grant’s London!

Do you re-read books? Which are your favourite to worlds to dive back into?

Which of these books/series do you think I should pick up once I have finished with Spellslinger? Would you be interested in a read-along for any one them?

I would love to hear form you and talk all things bookish in the comments, on Twitter or Goodreads.

Happy Reading!