Tuesday 5 June 2012

Top Ten Tuesday Rewind: Top Ten Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week a theme for a list is suggested. This week is a Top Ten Tuesday Rewind, and I get to choose to do one of the past topics. I chose Top Ten Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time. A lot of these books will be ones that I love, because there is a very special joy in falling in love with a book for the first time, of being amazed by it, and of being pleasantly surprised.



1. Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
Juliet Marillier is a regular on these lists. It is known that I love her books. But I wish I could go back to that first book I ever read of her, to the feelings and thoughts it provoked, to the magic of something new and good that has been so very hard to find since. And this holds true with the rest of the series and her books.






2. Howl's Moving Castle by Diane Wynne Jones
I would love to read this book again for the first time, but more than that, I would love to read it before watching the Anime, and then compare my views of Howl and Sophie and Calcifer, to those of Miyazaki.






3. Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin
I wish I could read this series again, but for the first time, now that I'm older. But at the same time, it's hard to relinquish having read it so young, as these books made me grow up to who I am today.






4. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Almost the same as the Earthsea Cycle, I am torn between wanting to read for the first time now that I am older or cherish the fact that it was so important to my growth and that of my literary tastes. But I would definitely love to plunge into that amazing world for the first time, again.






5. Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente
I read Palimpsest in a strange time of my life, when I could not give it the attention it deserved. I wish I could go back and read it for the first time, but with attention, really soaking in all its imagery and strangeness, basking in its writing, and maybe come to actually love this book.






6. Plain Kate by Erin Bow
Plain Kate is like Daughter of the Forest, as I would love to be overwhelmed by it and the emotions it provokes for the first time again. It would leave me raw again, and broken hearted, but it would be worth it.






7. Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
With the Harry Potter series I am not sure if I wanted to read it for the first time now that I am older, but I wish I could have read the books in a shorter period of time. I'll explain: I started with Harry Potter when I was 13, and it was good, because Harry was 11 and it was still close to my age. But when the final book came, I was 21 and Harry was still 16, going 17. It no longer ran parallel with my own growing up, and I had left him being some time before. So, I wish I could now read it for the first time, but being 13 again (or 11 for that matter), so I could grow up with him.






8. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
I never had the heart to re-read this book, in part because I am afraid not to like it as much, and in part because there are key moments in the story that I already know, and so my perspective will change. But if I read it for the first time...






9. The Voice of Fire by Alan Moore
This is a strange book, and I have been promising a re-read for sometime now, but what I really would love was to read it again for the first time, with the eyes and mind of someone older.






10.Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Sunshine is, like most books on this list, a case of wanting to be plunged into a magical and awesome world for the first time, of having amazing adventures for the first time, and of meeting characters that will stay with me for a long time for the first time. Nothing really beats that feeling, right?