Books Purchased:
Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery
State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America edited by Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Wish I Could Be There by Allen Shawn
The Assistant by Robert Walser
The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee
A Fan’s Notes by Frederick Exley
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon
Werewolves in Their Youth by Michael Chabon
How Right You Are, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
The Birthday of the World by Ursula K. Le Guin
George, Being George edited by Nelson W. Aldrich, Jr.
Secret Lives of Great Authors by Robert Schnakenberg
Bachelors Anonymous by P. G. Wodehouse
Very Good, Jeeves! by P. G. Wodehouse
The Paris Review Interviews Vol. III edited by Philip Gourevitch
The Letters of Ted Hughes edited by Christopher Reid
I had a gift card to Amazon, so I stocked up on some books that have been on my wish list for a while. I also found many great deals at Skyline Books and The Strand. So, as usual, my new books stack is much more massive than my books read stack. My parents aren’t going to be happy – but I think I’m going to have to bring home a few boxes of books to store in my closet there. My apartment is getting a little overloaded.
Books Read:
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (re-read)
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger (re-read)
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (re-read)
The Annotated Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen & David M. Shapard (re-read)
A Man Without A Country by Kurt Vonnegut (re-read)
A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel (re-read)
A few months ago, I decided to spend an entire month reading only books I’ve already read. This way I could revisit some of my favorite books that I’ve only read once. I chose October, somewhat randomly, as the month I would attempt this goal. What I didn’t realize is that October was a pretty horrible month to pick, since I received so many wonderful books for my birthday at the end of September, all of which I wanted to read immediately. I stuck to the plan though, and managed to re-read six of my favorite books in October. I didn’t re-read as much as I wanted to, because The Annotated Pride and Prejudice took much longer than I anticipated (though it was well worth it). Since every book I read this month was a favorite to begin with, there’s not a lot to say about them, other than I loved (and still love) them all.
It was especially nice to re-read the three classics (The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, and Pride and Prejudice) – classics should be read more than once, especially ones you call your favorites. It’s hard for me to make time to do this though, considering how many unread books there are to read. The Catcher in the Rye was the most beneficial re-read for me (it was the only one of the six that I didn’t consider a favorite when I first read it, but do now); I appreciated it much more now, because I’ve read more of his other writing.
I really enjoyed re-reading some of my favorite books this month, and I think I’ll make time to re-read things more often now.
I’m currently reading Anne of the Island, as well as finishing up a re-read that I didn’t have time to finish in October: The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson.
My complete Polysyllabic Spree, since January 2007, is located here.
(This post was brought over from emilyw.vox.com. Click here for the original post and comments.)
