I’m a reader who enjoys re-reading books on occasion. Books like Beth Pattillo’s Jane Austen series, She Walks in Beauty by Siri Mitchell, Austenland by Shannon Hale, The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James, and others.
I think the fiction book I’ve read more times than any other, though, is Beauty by Robin McKinley. I first read it as a teenager, and as you can tell from the worn binding, I’ve enjoyed it many times since then. (My copy has the 1985 cover on it – way different than the current cover!)
The beautiful writing, the well-thought retelling of Beauty and the Beast, the fairy-tale magic, and the romance make this book one of my all-time favorites.
Have you read Beauty? Do you like to reread books? Which book(s) have you read over and over again?
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I never have, but I'm a big fan of fairytale retellings. I'll have to grab this! Thanks for sharing!
Jessica – Have you read any of Jessica Day George's stuff? She does fairytale retellings too!
I haven't read Beauty, but now I want to. I re-read books, too…sometimes because I just love the story that much and other times to learn from the author. Ones of I've read and re-read: Christy, Ted Dekker's Circle series, Susan May Warren's Noble Legacy series, Michael Phillips/Judith Pella's Russian series…just to name a few. 🙂
I haven't read Beauty, but your post is a nice recommendation. A book that meant a lot to me, that I've re-read, and always with so much enjoyment, was A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith. The original one, too. It's a book you can live in while you are reading it, it's so richly textured with the feel of the era. Lovely book.
Another book was Jane Eyre. Hats off to Charlotte Bronte to be such a good storyteller in an era when not that many women were writing novels. The story still is compelling, despite some improbabilities.
How have we never talked about this book before?! I've read it more times than I can count. My favorite book and favorite author!
Melissa – Lately, I find myself rereading my favorites for book club, which is a win-win. 🙂
Elizabeth – I've read a couple fictional books about Charlotte Bronte – it was so fascinating learning about her life. Just waiting for somebody to make a movie of it!
Katrina – How funny is that – to just find out now how much we both adore this book! 😀
I'm going to have to check Beauty out. I have lots of favorites I reread – the Twilight and Harry Potter series, A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux and Austen's Pride & Prejudice to name a few. I really enjoy the fairy tale retellings and the time travel romance ones.
Heather – A time travel romance sounds like a great read! 🙂 I'm reading Mr. Darcy's Diary right now – it's fun to get Pride and Prejudice from his point of view.
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I like your suggestion of putting a story in that setting. I've written poems about it, but no stories, yet. However, the idea is on the back burner now. Have a great week-end.
Elizabeth – I'm glad you're thinking of setting a story in Portugal! Contemporary or historical, it would be a fascinating setting. Hope you have a nice weekend, too!