Another re-post
Hugh Hewitt asks... what modern novels are worth rereading?
Hugh is not a rereader whereas I am a habitual rereader. (A re-rereader? Anyway.) I love to go through old material and experience again the emotions evoked by favorite passages. Therefore, as a rereading fanatic, I'll list only a short list of the works I've read more than twice:
Fiction - The Secret History - Donna Tartt
Far and away my favorite book ever. I must've read this one fifteen times. I keep 5 or six copies in the house for easy and frequent loaning to friends. While the plot is unremarkable (a murder on campus, the guilty students band together to evade investigation) the writing is truly gorgeous. Rich and velvety language. If words were food, The Secret History would be warm brownies with milk.
Sci-Fi - Ender's Game/Speaker for the Dead/Xenocide - Orson Scott Card
Card has opined (and there is much truth in it) that the Morality Tale has one genre left: Science fiction. No one (willingly anyway) reads Everyman anymore, but millions have read the Ender trilogy and been stimulated to ponder the merits of good, evil, and indifference.
Historical Fiction - Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follet
Deeply engrossing story of the origins of the first gothic cathedral built in England. Epic in scope and pulling together 3 generations of characters, Pillars of the Earth is plausible, fun, and presented in Follet's trademark easy-reading style. It's not Umberto Eco, but if it was, would you reread it?
Other - Lord of the Barnyard - Tristan Egolf
I stumbled across this one on the bargain table at Border's and picked up the hardback on a whim. Boy am I glad I did! A real gem of a weird tale. The writing drips with the same emotions felt by the characters. Egolf has captured the dark underbelly of semi-rural Indiana. The best description of this indescribable story appears on the front cover. "Killing the fatted calf and arming the aware in the cornbelt."
Hugh is not a rereader whereas I am a habitual rereader. (A re-rereader? Anyway.) I love to go through old material and experience again the emotions evoked by favorite passages. Therefore, as a rereading fanatic, I'll list only a short list of the works I've read more than twice:
Fiction - The Secret History - Donna Tartt
Far and away my favorite book ever. I must've read this one fifteen times. I keep 5 or six copies in the house for easy and frequent loaning to friends. While the plot is unremarkable (a murder on campus, the guilty students band together to evade investigation) the writing is truly gorgeous. Rich and velvety language. If words were food, The Secret History would be warm brownies with milk.
Sci-Fi - Ender's Game/Speaker for the Dead/Xenocide - Orson Scott Card
Card has opined (and there is much truth in it) that the Morality Tale has one genre left: Science fiction. No one (willingly anyway) reads Everyman anymore, but millions have read the Ender trilogy and been stimulated to ponder the merits of good, evil, and indifference.
Historical Fiction - Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follet
Deeply engrossing story of the origins of the first gothic cathedral built in England. Epic in scope and pulling together 3 generations of characters, Pillars of the Earth is plausible, fun, and presented in Follet's trademark easy-reading style. It's not Umberto Eco, but if it was, would you reread it?
Other - Lord of the Barnyard - Tristan Egolf
I stumbled across this one on the bargain table at Border's and picked up the hardback on a whim. Boy am I glad I did! A real gem of a weird tale. The writing drips with the same emotions felt by the characters. Egolf has captured the dark underbelly of semi-rural Indiana. The best description of this indescribable story appears on the front cover. "Killing the fatted calf and arming the aware in the cornbelt."