Well in fact the month is a little more than half way over. I am still loving this whole re-reading thing. I am finding it interesting – and very pleasing that my reactions to books I read a long time ago have changed so little.
I adored Northanger Abbey, and it led me to buying a book of Jane Austen’s juvenilia and a collection of her letters – I wasn’t supposed to be new buying things! Re-reading Northanger Abbey had made me want to re-read all her novels – and I had to stop myself buying an attractive little box set of Jane Austen hardbacks. I can’t promise I won’t go back and give in to the temptation. I then read Willa Cather’s My Antonia – which although I enjoyed a lot – but I found the second half of the book to be a slower read than I had expected or remembered. Needing a nice cosy/comfort read over the weekend – I read Dead Man’s Folly – Agatha Christie is always such a pleasure to read. I am now into A Passage to India – which I am enjoying a lot – and if I hadn’t have had work to bring home yesterday – I would have read a good deal more – but I’m not sorry at having to spread out the pleasure of it. Dr Aziz, Mr Fielding and Mrs Moore feel like reliable old friends – and it is lovely to be back in their company.
In a couple of days I will move on to Villette by Charlotte Bronte and I am anticipating it with pleasure, then I’ll read Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamond Lehmann for the Rosamond Lehmann reading week. If I have time before August – and I just might – I will be re-reading Emma Larkin’s Secret Histories: finding George Orwell in a Burmese teashop – which I have a copy of again thanks to the lovely Kaggsy If there is still some of July left after that – well I have lots to choose from.
So then, how has everyone else been doing? Is re-reading something you will be doing again? I will I think I might just stick to Liz’s original idea of doing it twice a year – despite the impact on my horrendous TBR. There are so many I want to re-visit. Did you change your mind about any of the books you read?
If you didn’t join in this time – maybe you could join us next time, I think we will be doing it again in January – so plenty of time to get those lists together.
heavenali 
I am finding that my original responses have mostly remained the same as well. I didn’t think they would follow so true the second time around. I am loving this challenge and combining it with Orange July has made it doubly enjoyable. Looking forward to the 2nd half of the month. I may not get as much reading done as my elder daughter is arriving from Dallas tomorrow. It has been 5 years so probably more talk and less read. 🙂 Excited!~!
Oh have a lovely time with your daughter Belva – how exciting I’m sure you’ll both have a great time catching up.
Really enjoyed The Great Gatsby. I was worried it might not feel quite so special but the same lines that moved me so much still had the power to move me again. Thanks for giving me the impetus to re-read it!
So glad you enjoyed – Fitzgerald might be a good one for me to revisit one day too.
I was looking through my reading journal index the other day (as you do) and noticed I’ve read The Great Gatsby – didn’t know I had!
I’m absolutely LOVING Jane Eyre. I shouted at the dinner table “oh no, I’ve got the scary bit and now I won’t get to the awful bit until tomorrow”. Matthew said, “but you’ve read it so many times, how is it still scary?” Because it’s bl**dy good writing, that’s why!
I am loving the rereading, so fun, and so many changes (I found a sex scene in a pony book – more of that when I post my next pair of reviews!). I may leave the other two books in the horse series so I can fit Northanger Abbey in, not sure yet. But I’m loving it all.
And: you have the ORWELL BOOK??? Can’t believe it! I always, always look for it whenever near a bookshop/charity shop. I bet I find another one now!!
Yes after all this time I have that book – which I should never have given away in the first place I regreted it immediately. I was so happy when Karen emailed me that she found a copy. So glad I happened to mention my desire to get a copy on LT. Thanks again Karen: )
Aw shucks! Glad it’s gone to a good home! You’re doing really well with your re-reads too. It’s always reassuring when you find that your reaction to a book hasn’t changed. I think this is a very worthwhile reading challenge and one I would probably repeat. Although I haven’t stuck entirely to re-reading this month, I haven’t felt guilty when I ignored the tbr pile and returned to an old favourite!
That’s the thing I mentioned in my review of Jane Eyre – so lovely to get off the new books treadmill and wallow in an old favourite. The first one I have felt exactly the same as ever about, too!
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So far so very good! King’s Row by Bellaman was actually a very, very good book. As a kid I read it for the shock value and didn’t pick up on why the characters acted as they did. This time I appreciated the setting, descriptions
of the changing seasons, regional dialect. I had totally missed the homosexuality of an important minor character.
Great Gatsby is even better than when I read it the first time. I was shocked to find that Gatsby doesn’t even appear in the book until a third of the way through and that the scenes with Daisy and Gatsby are so few. (I wonder if my memory of the romance was colored by the Redford film) This time I appreciated the wit, especially Nick’s descriptions of the party guests. I saw Gatsby’ innocence and Daisy’s uselessness clearly, not through the eyes of a 13 year old.
Daughter of Time….the definitive defense of Richard III in my opinion. Don’t care what the experts say! This time around was amazed about how Tey made a riveting book of dry facts being examined by a guy in a hospital bed. Must go and rejoin the Richard III Society.
I am two thirds of the way through Captain from Castile. Still a good adventure story, but no longer politically correct. Shellabarger tries to be balanced about Cortez’s conquest of Mexico: it is historical fact, but the total destruction of a civilization in the name of God and Country just makes me cringe in a way I never would have been able to understand at age 12. (I had six more years of beiieving that it was truly a good things for missionaries to go into other countries and try to get people to abandon their native religion).
Still, I am enjoying it, especially the bigger-than-life characters.
I think I’ll do a Heyer, a Chrstie, and maybe try to play catch-up with Taylor before the month ends.
Sounds like you’ve had a great month Elaine – thank you for telling us about it. I think I would like to re-read some F Scott Fitzgerald sometime.