Happy Tuesday, you all! Also, happy Ramadan for those who follow it! So, topic for this week was the Book Characters That Remind Me of Myself. The truth is that there has been very few characters that remind me of myself.
I grew up thinking of certain characters as similar but those were more wishful thinking of me aspiring to be them. And now, when I read, I may relate to characters due to certain decisions they make or maybe certain characteristics they have, but I rarely find a character that totally reminds me of myself.
So, this is why, I’ve decided to list down the books I enjoyed more when reading a second time. Now, I tend to reread books a lot. I just like the comfort of revisiting what I have already enjoyed.
Just for clarification, all the books I list are books I liked the first time I read them, but the second read absolutely sealed it for me!
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018.
Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix : I read the book when I was in high school, and I found it to be too long and serious. I also found Harry very annoying with his teenage angst and temper. But after I reread it when I was a little older, I learned to appreciate the book for the gem it is, with its intricate and detailed plotting.
The Lord of The Rings : Again, I read the series when I was too young and was frustrated by ?the difficult and complex language. But reading it later only made me admire the amazing storytelling.
Finnikin of The Rock : Lumatere Chronicles is one of my favorite fantasy series. It’s subtle and unconventional. But it took me a long time to get through the first quarter of the book. Also, funny story. I read it a long ago when I’d simply download the books illegally and my version had the last quarter missing. That left me feeling that the ending was abrupt. So, when bought the book later and reread it, you can’t imagine by delight at finding there was more read!
Court of Thorns And Roses : Although, I really liked the book, particularly the last half, I had a lot of issues with it. The romance was not my cup of tea. Tamlin did a lot of things (or rather didn’t do them) to make me be lukewarm about him. So when I reread it after reading the second book, I could understand and appreciate what the author was trying to do, knowing the bigger picture
Dreams of Gods & Monsters : It is the installment of the final trilogy. I did like it but I wasn’t happy with the ending. It left me confused. But after reading it a second time, I think I understood the ending better I also think that not having reread the first two books before reading this one for the first time did not help the matter. Thhe second time I read it, I read the whole series together, so I remembered all the small details perfectly and enjoyed the ending more.
The Seven & Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle : The plot was a little too complex for me to understand all the little twists and the role of all those characters during my first read. So, I read it again just to understand the storytelling better and that worked. I liked the brilliant writing even more on a second time reading.
The Hating Game : For some reason, I found on my first read of the book that Josh and particularly Lucy were unnecessarily creating hurdles in their own romance. Like, they were overthinking too much. But I grew to enjoy the banter and the games a lot more on reading it a second time and a third and a fourth and a fifth….. you catch my drift, right?
On the Jellicoe Road : I found the games and rivalry between the different schools a little to confusing and meaningless in my first read. But I think the multiple reads cured the confusion. It’s now one of my all-time favorite contemporary young adult reads.
Amour Amour : I liked the romance but was not engaged by the circus parts the first time I read it. I think I wasn’t on the mood for that, maybe. Because when I reread it a second time, I found myself enjoying all of it.
The Beau & The Belle : I realized when I was reading the book for the first time that I wasn’t in the perfect mood for it then. So, I decided to reread it again when I was next in the mood for a cute and light romance. And I loved it when I read it again.
What do you guys think? I realize that this happens to me a lot that my opinion of a book changes when I read it for the second time, be it for the better or the worse. And I do reread books a lot! What about you guys? Does it happen to you too? Let me know!
Raya's Reads 