The first time I read an excellent work, it is to me just as if I have gained a new friend; and when I read over a book I have perused before, it is like meeting an old one.
Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774)
One of the only consolations to finishing an insanely wonderful book is knowing that one day you can re-read it. Of course, your experience the second time around won't be the same. How could it be? You will have changed, your world will have changed and the mystery of not knowing what lies on the next page will be gone.
But that doesn't mean the thrill of discovery is over.
To me, re-reading is like the difference between a whirlwind courtship and a long-term relationship: Once you have graduated from the tyranny of uncertainty, you are free to embark on a search for deeper personal meaning. A book read again -- and again -- can continue to illuminate, comfort, and remind you why you fell in love with it in the first place.
What books have you re-read for pleasure or are looking forward to re-reading?
Here are a few I'm ready to dive back into:
Middlemarch by George Eliot
The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Vanity Fair by W. M. Thackaray
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
Jigsaw by Sybille Bedford
Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig
Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith
And I'd Do It Again by Aimee Crocker