Rereadings: ‘Stardust’ by Neil Gaiman

I first read Stardust by Neil Gaiman when I was eighteen. I was a first year at college and, what with adjusting to everything from the new rigors of college academics to living in a tiny room in an old house with a gaggle of other equally stressed, but fiercely competent and intelligent young women, I was perhaps more keen than usual for fantastical escape.

Reading and forgetting

One of the questions that haunts me—it’s a question for philosophers and brain science—is, if you’ve forgotten a book, is that the same as never having read it?

– Tom Stoppard

I reckon it’s also a question for book bloggers! What do you think? Is forgetting a book the same as not reading it?

Rereading Lists

As we have often discussed, commiserated about, and listed, every reader has his or her reading list. It’s most likely longer than is feasible in a human lifetime, constantly being edited to change as you do, and, despite the editing, forever expanding. I love a good reading list, so today I wanted to ask you what’s on your rereading list.

I spend a lot of my time (too much perhaps!) bemoaning the precedence my reading list takes over my rereading list. In a world where I only get 80 or so years to read everything on my reading list (baring the possible existence of some afterlife where I get to spend all my ghostly time in a well-stocked library), I sprint ahead with it, much to the detriment of ever rereading anything.

Rereadings: The Mark of Zorro

After reading The Prisoner of Zenda and being a little disappointed, I decided it was high time to go back and read the book that started my love of pulpy, historic adventure novels: Johnston McCulley’s The Mark of Zorro. If you’re ever looking for a quick, wholly satisfying, and righteous adventure story, Zorro has it all.

Many have commented on its similarities to The Scarlet Pimpernel (which came out some years earlier), but Zorro is in many ways far better. McCulley skips the sentimentality and often Radcliffe-like romance of The Scarlet Pimpernel in favor of more adventure and danger.

Rereadings: Emma by Jane Austen

As our loyal readers probably know, we here at Literary Transgressions are definitely Jane Austen fans. So after seeing PBS’ latest version of Emma (and loving it!), I decided it was high time I gave reading this book a second shot.

The first time I read it, I was in middle school and trapped at a family reunion. I tucked myself away in a small corner and read Emma as if I could escape into it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t.

Rereadings: The Thief

Welcome back to “Rereadings,” an LT series where we discuss rereading some of our favorite books. This week, we are joined by Britney of B: The Challenge who is here to guest blog about her recent rereading of The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. If you are interested in guest blogging with us about rereading one of your favorites, please drop us a line!

The fourth book in Megan Whalen Turner’s Queen’s Thief series was released earlier this year, and I promised myself I’d reread the three prior books first. After a few months, I finally picked up my copy of The Thief and even with the knowledge I gained from my first read, it was still an engaging, extremely well-crafted book.

Rereadings: The Professor’s Daughter

This is part of our on-going Rereadings series wherein we take a trip down memory lane to reread some of our favorite books. We are looking for guest bloggers for this series, so if you’re interested in taking a second look at one of your favorites, e-mail us! I look forward to hearing from you!

This week I decided to reread one of my newer favorites, The Professor’s Daughter. This wonderful little book is actual a French graphic novel and, unlike my lovely co-blogger, I am actually typically pretty bad at reading graphic novels. I am so word-oriented that I too often let the beauty and additional meaning of the illustrations slip by me as I hurry to read the words. In short, I focus too much on the “novel” part to the detriment of the “graphic” part. But no more, I vowed this time around!

Rereadings: (Some of) the Harry Potter Series

My latest rereading starting innocently enough with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. This somewhat inevitably led to rereading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. By the time I finished that, I had to go on to my favorite of the series: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I think you can probably guess what happened when I finished that one. (Yes, it involves the Triwizard Tournament.)

While these rereadings in general were basically as I expected them to be (excellent!), I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they actually got better now that the series has ended and I know where everything is leading. There was something completely addictive about reading them in “real time” as they came out, but there is another enticing quality altogether in reading them again after everything is said and done.

Rereadings: A Dumas First Chapter in Translation(s)

Since I am chronically having translation issues, I decided to take this rereading opportunity to look back at one of my favorite books (and one with many translations), The Three Musketeers. But I decided not just to reread the entire book. Instead, with Richard Pevear’s newest translation in hand, I wanted to reread the first chapter of the book in as many translations as I could find and see what difference it made to my enjoyment of it. Thus I set out chronologically in search of the first ever English translation of The Three Musketeers.

Rereadings: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

When Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell first came out, I noticed it right away. With its black cover featuring a stark white raven silhouette, it was hard to ignore on a table of new releases filled with flashy, colorful covers. Strange was an exercise in graphic design restraint and I was immediately drawn to it. I picked it up, read the inside jacket text, yawned at the mention of “magicians,” flipped idly through the pages, closed it, looked at the cover again somewhat longingly, and put it back on the new release table. And I walked away.

It is entirely possible that in the history of new release tables and people looking at books on them, no one will ever regret walking away from that table more than I do. And, I am deeply sorry to admit, I did it again. Four times. Four times over the course of three years I saw it, picked it up, leafed through it, and did not buy it. Once I even bought it for my then-boyfriend’s brother without reading it myself. Apparently it was good enough to give but not good enough to read. And in so doing (or not doing) for three years, I missed out on what would end up being one of my all-time favorite books.