Books I want to reread in the coming year(s)

Here’s the thing: I absolutely love rereading. There are some books I’ve read multiple times, and even ones that are tied to a certain time period for me. For example, I tend to reread Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings during Christmas. Both of those series have such nostalgic ties for me, and they put me in a happy and comfortable state of mind. But there are certain books I’ve wanted to reread for ages, and haven’t gotten around to. I tend to reread the same books over and over again, and skip these. No more! In the coming year(s), I will reread these books/series! The titles will take you to the Goodreads page.

THE LEGEND OF ELI MONPRESS BY RACHEL AARON

 

I first read this series in 2014, and fell in love with it. It’s what started my love for Rachel Aaron’s writing (or Rachel Bach, depending on the series). However, I binge-read the entire series in a month and can’t remember all that much about it. To make me more comfortable recommending it at this point in time, I want to reread it and see whether I still enjoy it just as much.

THE GRISHA TRILOGY BY LEIGH BARDUGO

 

I started this series when I first got back into reading in 2013, and finished it with the release of the last book in 2014. At the time, I had just discovered Booktube and book blogs, and the growing market of YA fantasy. This entire trilogy got 5/5 stars from me, and has ensured I will pick up everything Leigh Bardugo writes at some point in time. I’m curious, though, what I’ll think of it now. I’ve read a lot since 2013, and have become a much more critical reader. I hope I’ll still love it. Besides, I could use a refresher before going in to King of Scars.

HIS FAIR ASSASSIN BY ROBIN LAFEVERS

 

Another trilogy I read in 2013-2014! The reason I want to reread these is because the series is getting expanded! In 2019, Courting Darkness will be released, which follows Sybella who we first followed in Dark Triumph. I can’t remember much about this series either, so it required a reread before I can go on to Courting Darkness.

BRETHREN BY ROBYN YOUNG

 

I read this trilogy years ago in translation. I bought a Dutch copy during the Antwerp Book Fair, and fell in love with the setting and writing. This is a historical fiction novel set in the 13th century, focused on the crusades and the Knights Templar. I really want to reread this series because I only remember snippets and the name of the main character. I also have two of her other books on my shelves, so I’ll get to those at some point too.

THE BRIDEI CHRONICLES BY JULIET MARILLIER

 

This is another series I randomly picked up at the library as a teenager. I immediately fell in love with Juliet Marillier and proceeded to read her Sevenwaters series too. I can’t remember anything about this series, other than it focusing on Druids and one nobleman (noblekid?) fostered at a Druid’s home. I also never see anyone talk about this series, but I vividly remember adoring it as a teen. So we’ll see if I still love it as an adult.

PARADOX BY RACHEL BACH

 

I read the first two books in this trilogy in 2016, after falling in love with Rachel Bach’s fantasy novels – published under Rachel Aaron. These are space opera books, and they’re so much fun. They follow a mercenary called Devi who gets a job on a trade ship with a reputation for nasty surprises. It was so good! I never finished the trilogy, which is such a shame. I’d like to reread it and actually read the third book this time around.

VICIOUS BY V.E. SCHWAB

You might wonder why Vicious is on the list. Well, I read it in the first half of 2015 which is now 3.5 years ago. I really want to read Vengeful, but I know I don’t have enough of a grasp on the first book to continue on yet. That’s why I’m due for a reread, before I read a spoiler on Vengeful.

THE SECRET HISTORY BY DONNA TARTT

Another book I read almost 3 years ago! I can’t believe it’s been that long, to be honest. When I first read this book, I was in awe of it. I took my time reading it, because I felt like the book required a slower reading experience. My copy is a pretty battered one I picked up in a secondhand store, and I’d like the pretty anniversary edition instead to reread it. Why? Because this is one of my favorite books, and I want to annotate it. I’m definitely not doing that in a copy I know I won’t keep.

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I’m planning on rereading these books in the coming years! I probably won’t get to all of these in 2019, because then I’d have no time to read ‘new’ books… However, I will make an effort to reread them as soon as possible. Have you read any of these? What are your thoughts on rereading?

Can I Change My Rating, Or Should I Re-read?

Today, I have a question for you. Or a discussion? I guess that depends on how you look at it. I keep Excel files on my reading, because I like to feel organized. So last week, I was really happy to see that I had managed to review every single book I had read in 2016. Isn’t that great? I reviewed everything! The euphoria and pride was out of this world. But then I opened a different Excel tab called “books to review from 2015”. Yes, I had 28 books I read in 2015, I had never reviewed. I wanted to take on the challenge and start writing reviews on those too! Then I encountered a problem… 

I didn’t agree with my ratings anymore.

For example, the Falling Kingdoms series. I read book 1-3 last year, but never reviewed them. When I looked at my ratings, I gave them a 4.5, 3.5 and 4. Because at the time, while I didn’t love them, I did enjoy them. However, when I think of them now, I consider them more 3 to 3.5 star books. Here’s where my question comes in: can I just change my rating, or does that warrant a re-read first? Here are some of the arguments. 

I should re-read first because…

As it’s been a while since I read them, I am only basing this on memory. But what if I just forgot a lot of stuff I enjoyed? What if time distorted my view, and I really did enjoy them that much? I feel like I should re-read them because it may be unfair to rate a book simply based on distant memory. 

At the time, that seemed like the right rating for them. So without re-reading, how can I really say that I’m 100% sure I’d enjoy them less now, or rate them lower? I can’t be 100% sure of that. 

Basically, it feels like the only honest way to change a rating. How can I base it on a distant memory, or say that I believe I’d feel differently now? 

I shouldn’t re-read first because…

Let’s be real, I don’t have time to re-read each novel. I’m hesitant about quite a few of my previous ratings, but I simply can’t find the time to re-read them all.

Even if it’s distant memory and I can’t be 100% sure, if I can sum up reasons as to why I’d change my rating, shouldn’t that be enough? Let’s keep with the Falling Kingdoms example. Now, I think that it wasn’t really that captivating as I have no burning desire to continue the series. I found some of the characters boring, and others creepy -and not in an interesting way. Overall, I think it is massively overhyped -although it’s definitely not bad (don’t shoot me!). Shouldn’t all those reasons be enough to change my rating? I don’t feel like re-reading them all, just because I believe I wouldn’t enjoy them as much. 

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So, what do you think? Should I re-read first? Should I just change it? Should I mention in the review I’ll write that I’ve changed my ratings? Make a comparison between just-finished-rating and a-year-later-rating? I’d love to hear your thoughts, and maybe you could even help me out of my dilemma.

Mini reviews | Notes on my re-reads of 2015

A few hours before writing this, I went through a list of books I had read in 2015, but failed to review. The list was surprisingly long (I know, shameful). But I noticed that many of them were re-reads! I never know whether I should review the books I re-read, or whether that somehow doesn’t count? So I decided to put them all into one post, so I can talk a little bit about each one, and show you which books I re-read in 2015! 

Eragon (Inheritance #1) by Christopher Paolini // ★★★★ //
I’ve mentioned several times that I absolutely love this series. It’s one of my childhood favorites. I decided to re-read it, because I just felt like jumping back into the world. I can definitely see now, as a more experienced reader, that this was his first novel. The sentences can be kind of choppy, and they don’t flow as much. Yet I still adore it. I adore the world, the characters and everything else. I know many people don’t agree with me (but I don’t really care). 

Eldest (Inheritance #2) by Christopher Paolini // ★★★★ //
Of course, I had to continue on with the series. Eldest has never been my favorite of the series, although I do love it. I feel like his writing already gets better here, and the story gets even more intriguing. In my opinion, a worthy sequel.

Brisingr (Inheritance #3) by Christopher Paolini // ★★★★ ½ //
The third book in the series, and it only gets better for me. I do feel like you can see his writing evolve in this series. This book is already so much better in terms of writing than Eragon. Like I said, I have so much love for this series. Especially as the world, races, religions and languages become more pronounced, explained and intricate. 

Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days #1) by Susan Ee // ★★★★★ //
In preparation for the release of End of Days, I decided to re-read the first two books in the trilogy, as I could barely remember anything. I do love this book. It was such a great starter! The characters are intriguing. Penryn is the kind of girl who can take care of herself, as she trained for years in martial arts. She is the caretaker of her family. Her mother is I believe schizophrenic, which gives quite the different view on the apocalypse happening. And I liked the slow build of the romance. GREAT BOOK. 

World After (Penryn & the End  of Days #2) by Susan Ee // ★★★★★ //
I re-read World After immediately after Angelfall and really enjoyed it as well. Let me just say that this series is DARK. I mean, crazy shit happens. I feel like you can never trust your opinion on where the story will go, because it’ll probably be wrong. Again, loved it. (I did read the third book after this, but won’t include it here as it wasn’t a re-read). 

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Harry Potter #1) by J.K. Rowling // ★★★★★ //
Of course, I re-read Harry Potter this year. I didn’t re-read all of them unfortunately. This was the first year in which I wanted to give the audio-books a try. So I decided to listen to Stephen Fry’s narration of the books. It’s GENIUS. Everyone should listen to him narrating this amazing series. 

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter #2) by J.K. Rowling // ★★★★★ //
Again, I listened to the audio-book for this one. I love it so much. I think this is maybe my least favorite book of the series (even though I obviously still adore it). 

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter #3) by J.K. Rowling // ★★★★★ //
Also listened to the audio-book here! I’ve found a new appreciation for this one. I don’t know why, but I loved it even more than I used to? Plus, I love Remus Lupin. 

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter #4) by J.K. Rowling // ★★★★★ //
I didn’t actually listen to the audio-book here. It was so long, and it intimidated me. So instead, I read my beautiful paperback which you can see above. LOVE THIS ONE! The Triwizard Tournament always amazes me.

Written in Red (The Others #1) by Anne Bishop // ★★★★★ //
This is also one of my favorite fantasy series. I discovered it a few years ago, and haven’t stopped gushing about it. I’ll probably re-read book #2 and #3 soon in preparation for the release of book #4 (I’m SO EXCITED!). This is sort of urban fantasy. The Others are all creatures that can both show themselves in “human” form and animal form. It’s all about Meg Corbyn, a blood prophet, who runs away from someone and hides at the Courtyard (which is where The Others live, if they don’t live in the wild) as Human Law Doesn’t Apply there. 

The DUFF by Kody Keplinger // ★★★★ //
I re-read this one because I wanted to make sure I remembered everything before watching the movie. Surprisingly, although they are nothing alike, I enjoyed both formats. I have to admit that I loved this book less than the first time I read it a few years ago. I thought Bianca was dealing with certain things quite badly and treating her friends badly. And it bothered me more than the first time I read it. Still enjoyed it though!

Match Me if You Can (Chicago Stars #1) by Susan Elizabeth Phillips // ★★★★ //
This is a sports-romance novel from a series I started years ago. It’s been so long since I read them. I felt like I needed a fluffy romance and familiar characters so I decided to re-read this. I do love the female main character here. She wants to keep her grandmother’s business, a matchmaking one, open and make it successful again. I both liked and disliked the male main character. I liked him, but hated the way he thought of needing a wife. 

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Those are the books I re-read in 2015, and my thoughts on them. Have you read them? Do you enjoy re-reading? 

Burn, Rewrite, Reread Tag

I was tagged by the lovely Katherine @ Neon Yeti Reads to do this tag –thanks Katherine! So here’s how I went about it. I went to my “read” shelf on Goodreads and chose to order them randomly -which is a function Goodreads allows you to choose. For each round, I refreshed my page 3 times and picked the random first book I had read.

Round 1

 

Burn – Never Too Far (Rosemary Beach #2) by Abbi Glines. I did enjoy this novel, but if I have to choose between these three, it’s got to go.

Rewrite – Unite Me by Tahereh Mafi. This pains me to say, because I absolutely love this trilogy. Especially the Destroy Me novella that’s in here. But I chose for rewrite anyway, because the Fracture Me novella is my least favorite of the series.

Reread – Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3) by Sarah J. Maas. You knew I would pick this, didn’t you? What can I say? I love me some Celeana.

Round 2

Well, this round sucks. I LOVE ALL THREE OF THESE BOOKS.

Burn – Until You (Fall Away #1.5) by Penelope Douglas. While I do love this book -and what I’ve read of the series so far- my love for it pales next to the other two.

Rewrite – Eragon (Inheritance Cycle #1) by Christopher Paolini. It hurts me to write this. Physically hurts me. I adore this series, which I read when I was younger. It’s one of the first series I fell in love with. But I have to admit that I love the 3rd and 4th book in the series even more, so maybe I’ll go for rewrite this one.

Reread – The Spirit Thief (Legend of Eli Monpress #1) by Rachel Aaron. I discovered this series last year thanks to our wonderful blogging community and devoured all 5 books within a month. I’ll definitely reread this at some point!

Round 3

Burn – Uglies (Uglies #1) by Scott Westerfeld. I know that many people love this book, but I honestly didn’t really care for it. And I didn’t care for the sequel either. I definitely won’t be reading the last two novels.

Rewrite – Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. Before you kill me, I do love this novel. I thought Levi was adorable. Cath was relatable. The twin was horrible. But there were some points were I really got annoyed with Cath. So that’s why it fell to rewrite.

Reread – Son of the Shadows (Sevenwaters #2) by Juliet Marillier. I love her writing and fantasy worlds. They are just full of imagination.

Round 4

Burn – Geek Girl by Cindy C. Bennett. To be honest, I read this 2 years ago and already can’t remember anything about it. Not a single thing.

Rewrite – I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella. LOVED IT. Sophie Kinsella is great.

Reread – The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Fire and Thorns #1) by Rae Carson. Read this one recently, and guys, it’s SO GOOD. It’s different from other YA fantasies in so many ways. You need to read this one.

Round 5

Burn – Hour Game (King & Maxwell #2) by David Baldacci. This is a solid detective/mystery/thriller series. It’s great. If you like adult fiction, give this one a try.

Rewrite – Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy #1) by Richelle Mead. Highly enjoyed this series! But obviously, it can’t compare to Harry Potter.

Reread – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (HP #2) by J.K. Rowling. Anything other than rereading this one would be heresy.

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So those were my answers to the Burn, Rewrite, Reread tag. Do you (dis)agree with my choices? Let’s discuss it in the comments! Who am I tagging? YOU. If you are reading this post and have a book blog, I have hereby tagged you. Go forth and do this tag! No really, do it. It’s a lot of fun! 

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Want to Reread

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week, you make a list of ten books surrounding a certain topic. This week’s topic is rereading! I am personally on the pro-team of rereading. I do it quite often and I -almost never- feel guilty about it. Hope you enjoy my list!

Note: I did not include The Lord of the Rings trilogy nor did I include the Harry Potter series. I did not feel as if it was necessary since they are a given on most people’s lists. I will forever reread them!

1. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saénz
   I know that I have featured this book before -and not just once- on my blog. But I really feel like it deserves to be mentioned that many times! It is such a great novel and I need everyone to read it. I am quite sure I will reread this at least 10 times. (No, I’m not kidding).
2. Written in Red (The Others #1) by Anne Bishop
   I should get an award for mentioning this book in almost every post. I am really sorry. Well, I am actually not sorry at all. I have already reread the first two books in this series and will continue to do so -probably even every year. They are just everything I look for in a(n) (urban)fantasy book.
3. The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater
   This was, I believe, my first Maggie Stiefvater book and I fell in LOVE with the writing. The third book has recently come out and for some reason I haven’t read it yet. I really recommend this series but be warned: it is weird.
4. The Diviners (The Diviners #1) by Libba Bray
   I read the Diviners last year and really enjoyed it. I thought the story was enthralling, the “bad guy” was extremely creepy and the characters were intriguing. It’s been a long wait for the sequel, Lair of Dreams though, and before that comes out I will definitely reread the Diviners. Partly because I want to, partly because I won’t remember enough to read the sequel immediately.
5. Angelfall (Penryn & the end of Days #1) by Susan Ee
   Angelfall is probably one of the first -or the first- and maybe even the only angel book that I really love. It’s creepy, gory, and thrilling and the main characters: YES. I really want to reread this one and the sequel World After, and I need the next book!

6. The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson & the Olympians #1) by Rick Riordan
   I need to read this again, because I can’t accept that it’s over. No more Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus books… So I will just start all over again!
7. Eragon (The Inheritance Cycle #1) by Christopher Paolini
   I remember reading these books when I was really young (11-12-13 years old) and loving them. It’s one of the series that sparked my love for fantasy. I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve read them so I need to do so again.
8. The Dark Mirror (The Bridei Chronicles #1) by Juliet Marillier
   Juliet Marillier was also one of the first fantasy authors I fell in love with. I have read part of her Sevenwaters series, Cybele’s Secret, this trilogy and more by her and loved them all. While I also want to read the Sevenwaters series again, this one is higher on my priority list. I don’t think I’ve read many druid books at all, maybe I should look for some more!
9. Anna and the French Kiss (Anna and the French Kiss #1) by Stephanie Perkins
   Anna and the French Kiss is an adorable contemporary read. It’s probably one of my favorite young adult romance stories and I will definitely reread the entire trilogy!
10. Heist Society (Heist Society #1) by Ally Carter
    Thieves and con artists. As I’ve said before: love them! Now, a crew of thieves that are teenagers? Loved it even more. This series is funny, witty and just made me smile numerous times!

 

So, this is my Top 10 for this week! Do you agree with any of my choices? If you have made a list, let me know in the comments below, I would love to check it out!