The Joy of Rereads

There's something really joyful about reread books or audiobooks, isn't it? Whether you reread because of comfort and familiarity to the world/characters/story, getting a deeper understanding on the story and/or the author's writing, emotional connection or just because, I've never heard of anyone who doesn't like a good reread. (Am curious on why you, dear reader, reread?)

And seeing as, a few weeks ago, I went "Let's try and do some rereads this year" and accidently went down a rabbit-hole on some titles, I thought I would look at some rereads on my radar and hope you guys keep me accountable on sticking to reread these before the end of the year. I did chat about a few of these titles in my Neverending Reread TBR post back in September of last year.

Did I stick to my Reread TBR? No. As I said in another post (Rereading Surprises), I only reread 3 books last year: The Diviners by Libba Bray, Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve and We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. 

Not sure what was the shift in me wanting to reread came from. I know that both The Woman in Black by Susan Hill and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins came about as I saw both their stage productions and I wanted to refresh my memory over the original text, but the other books I have reread so far/am currently rereading/planning to reread are very impulsive. 

Of course, I decided to reread Sabriel by Garth Nix because one of my favourite fantasy books of all time. And because I did that, I am currently listening to Lirael and plan to reread Abhorsen. Maybe Clariel as well, I haven’t decided on that front and that, to me, is the Black Sheep of the Old Kingdom series and yet, it's one I think about... 

And, because I did The Hunger Games, I have requested the audiobook of Catching Fire from my library's audiobook app. Like most fans, I think this is the strongest out of the original trilogy so, going to keep going with THG. I suppose I should, in theory, do Mockingjay (my least favourite out of the original trilogy) as I think I've only read this once (and I never saw Mockingjay: Part 2 movie) and I am VERY TEMPTED to audiobook from local library Sunrise on the Reaping before the movie adaption comes out at the end of the year (no plans to reread The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Just no.). 

Because of the above, it's made me look at some titles on my physical/ebook/Audible and Library Audiobook app and see if there are any titles that scream "Reread me, you fool!" and a few have caught of my eye and I'm not sure why. 

Well, on one I can. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman. I got the audiobook version (read by Ruth Wilson) on sale. I suppose, in theory, I should reread the whole series as this is book 3 in the trilogy but I reread Northern Lights so often, I can easily skip that and just jump straight into The Subtle Knife. Not sure if I want to do Book of Dust (I should but after reading La Belle Sauvage many many years ago, I am fearful over where The Secret Commonwealth and The Rose Field will go... and from the look of some people's reviews, The Book of Dust doesn't hit the heights of His Dark Materials so might leave that trilogy alone.)

Not sure why but I have an itch to reread The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski. I remember reading this YEARS ago and really enjoyed it. Am surprised it's not riding high on the romantasy at the moment, but I feel the itch to read that and, seeing as I have purchased the whole trilogy, read them all! 

The Gift by Alison Croggon is on my reread radar. I know I read this when it first came out in the UK in 2004 (?), and I had plans to do the next book in the series (I believe that was The Riddle). I can't remember much about it, but it had a high fantasy feel to it. I'm intrigued to attempt rereading (via audiobook) this. 

I have a strong itch to reread Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones. Not sure if StoryGraph will allow me to backtrack percentage wise (my Chrestomanci series to in one ebook bundle) but I really want to get back into completing this series as well as Michelle Paver's Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. 

So yes, I have a good few rereads I have my eye on. But will I get round to rereading them by either book or audiobook? We shall see...