24 More Books People Said They Wish They Could Re-Read For The First Time
These are some good books, guys.
We asked the BuzzFeed Community to come through with books that they wish they could travel back in time and read again for the very first time, and they had some incredible recommendations. So, without further ado, here are 24 more books that people said they wish they could read for the first time again.
We heard your requests last time, so this time we included descriptions of the book so you can see for yourself what it's about!
1. If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura
"This is an amazing book. It’s written in a very simple manner, an easy and quick read, but it’s hauntingly beautiful and funny at the same time. It’s originally written by a Japanese author, and it has been translated into so many different languages. I hope those who read it will enjoy it as much as I did."
Description from Bookshop: "The young postman's days are numbered. Estranged from his family and living alone with only his cat, Cabbage, to keep him company, he was unprepared for the doctor's diagnosis that he has only months to live. But before he can tackle his bucket list, the devil shows up to make him an offer: In exchange for making one thing in the world disappear, the postman will be granted one extra day of life. And so begins a very strange week that brings the young postman and his beloved cat to the brink of existence. With each object that disappears, the postman reflects on the life he's lived, his joys and regrets, and the people he's loved and lost."
2. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
"I've gotta add All the Light We Cannot See to this list. It parallels the lives of a blind French girl and orphaned German boy during WWII. It is the standard by which I now judge all other books. So much more than a war story. It's the kind of book you're sad to finish because the journey and magic have come to an end."
Description from Bookshop: "Marie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure's reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum's most valuable and dangerous jewel. In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another."
3. I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
"The format and writing style of the book are so interesting, and the characters are amazing. They are so lost you just want to hug them. I’ve always said that I wish I could erase it from my mind so I can read it again and again and again."
Description from Bookshop: "At first, Jude and her twin brother are NoahandJude; inseparable. Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude wears red-red lipstick, cliff-dives, and does all the talking for both of them. Years later, they are barely speaking. Something has happened to change the twins in different yet equally devastating ways . . . but then Jude meets an intriguing, irresistible boy and a mysterious new mentor. The early years are Noah's to tell; the later years are Jude's. But they each have only half the story, and if they can only find their way back to one another, they'll have a chance to remake their world."
4. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
"The twist blew me away and the writing is amazing."
Description from Goodreads: "The novel begins in Monte Carlo, where our heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage. Orphaned and working as a lady's maid, she can barely believe her luck. It is only when they arrive at his massive country estate that she realizes how large a shadow his late wife will cast over their lives —presenting her with a lingering evil that threatens to destroy their marriage from beyond the grave."
5. Out by Natsuo Kirino
"The one that truly sucked me in was Out by Natsuo Kirino. It's a Tokyo-set dark psychological thriller featuring four female night-shift factory workers who end up earning extra money from dismembering and disposing corpses before everything goes wrong."
Description from Bookshop: "This mesmerizing novel tells the story of a brutal murder in the staid Tokyo suburbs, as a young mother who works the night shift making boxed lunches strangles her abusive husband and then seeks the help of her coworkers to dispose of the body and cover up her crime. The coolly intelligent Masako emerges as the plot's ringleader, but quickly discovers that this killing is merely the beginning, as it leads to a terrifying foray into the violent underbelly of Japanese society."
6. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
"It’s been over 20 years since I read it for the first time, but man, what a wonderful book."
Description from Bookshop: "The fairy touched my nose. 'My gift is obedience. Ella will always be obedient. Now stop crying child.' So begins this richly entertaining story of Ella of Frell who wants nothing more than to be free of Lucinda's gift and feel that she belongs to herself. For how can she truly belong to herself if she knows that at any time, anyone can order her to hop on one foot, cut off her hand, or betray her kingdom — and she'll have to obey?"
7. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
"Every Steinbeck book is special to me, as he’s my favorite writer and he just GETS stuff other people miss. Steinbeck’s writing is so impressive. With fantastic, memorable characters and lessons never to be forgotten, The Grapes of Wrath stands with all of the greatest American novels."
Description from Bookshop: "Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an America divided into Haves and Have-Nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity. A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man's fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman's stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America. At once a naturalistic epic, captivity narrative, road novel, and transcendental gospel, Steinbeck's powerful landmark novel is perhaps the most American of American Classics."
8. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
"To realize what was coming alongside the characters for the first time was truly magical. It’s still a book that I adore to re-read, but I do miss that thrill of discovering the unknown from my first read through."
Description from Bookshop: "The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance."
9. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
10. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
"This should be required reading of every student in the United States. It’s so relevant to the Black Lives Matter movement that is sweeping (FINALLY) the entire world. As a white woman, this book left me SHOOK and completely changed my perspective on the 400+ years of black oppression in our country. This is a book about things that were NEVER taught in school or even talked about. It’s heartbreaking. PLEASE READ IT."
Description from Bookshop: "In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life."
11. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
"Bel Canto by Ann Patchett deserves to be on this list. I can never read it again, knowing what happens, but it was PHENOMENAL the first time. Truly, truly underrated."
Description from Bookshop: "Ann Patchett's award-winning, New York Times bestselling Bel Canto balances themes of love and crisis as disparate characters learn that music is their only common language."
12. The Shape of Snakes by Minette Walters
"I knew nothing about the book before reading and was bored, so I decided to give it a shot. It is so beautiful and subtle and interesting and heartbreaking. If you liked Winter's Bone, try The Shape of Snakes. You won't be disappointed."
Description from Bookshop: "Mrs. Ranelagh has never stopped thinking about the dead body she found in the gutter twenty years ago, during Britain's Winter of Discontent. 'Mad Annie,' as she was known, was the only black resident of her West London neighborhood and openly despised by the community. The police called her death an accident, but Mrs. Ranelagh has always suspected it was murder. However, her pleas for an investigation were met with a vicious hate campaign that drove her and her husband from the country. Now, determined to uncover the truth, Mrs. Ranelagh has returned to England, where she quickly discovers a sordid trail of domestic violence, racism and adultery that shockingly could lead back to her own family."
13. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
"When I finished that book, I re-read the last page at least five times. The ending was just so satisfying to me. I don't know if I would feel that same feeling reading it again since I already know what happens."
Description from Bookshop: "The tale of a youth whose features, year after year, retain the same appearance of innocent beauty while the shame of his abhorrent vices becomes mirrored on the features of his portrait."
14. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
"It’s set in New Zealand and Australia and tells the story of a family trying to survive the harsh landscape and extreme weather. It's also a beautiful love story spanning three generations. It’s LONG too! Very good book though."
Description from Bookshop: "The Thorn Birds is the towering saga of three generations of a remarkable family in the rugged Australian Outback. The triumphs and tragedies, the dramas and disappointments, the passions and the pain of the Cleary family and those who came into their lives."
15. Looking for Alaska by John Green
"I wish I could read that for the first time again. I cried so hard I stained the pages with my tears, but now every time I read it I know what’s coming so I prepare myself better."
Description from Bookshop: "Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet François Rabelais called the 'Great Perhaps.' Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young, who will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps."
16. Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon
"This book was passed down from my mum and eventually on to my daughter. A beautiful and thought-provoking read."
Description from Bookshop: "In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, Earth's last survivors have been drawn into a final battle between good and evil that will decide the fate of humanity. There's Sister, who discovers a strange and transformative glass artifact in the destroyed Manhattan streets...Joshua Hutchins, the pro wrestler who takes refuge from the nuclear fallout at a Nebraska gas station...and Swan, a young girl possessing special powers, who travels alongside Josh to a Missouri town where healing and recovery can begin with her gifts. But the ancient force behind earth's devastation is scouring the walking wounded for recruits for its relentless army...beginning with Swan herself."
17. Night Film by Marisha Pessl
"Hands down, nothing compares to that book!"
Description from Bookshop: "On a damp October night, beautiful young Ashley Cordova is found dead in an abandoned warehouse in lower Manhattan. Though her death is ruled a suicide, veteran investigative journalist Scott McGrath suspects otherwise. As he probes the strange circumstances surrounding Ashley's life and death, McGrath comes face-to-face with the legacy of her father: the legendary, reclusive cult-horror-film director Stanislas Cordova — a man who hasn't been seen in public for more than thirty years. For McGrath, another death connected to this seemingly cursed family dynasty seems more than just a coincidence. Though much has been written about Cordova's dark and unsettling films, very little is known about the man himself. Driven by revenge, curiosity, and a need for the truth, McGrath, with the aid of two strangers, is drawn deeper and deeper into Cordova's eerie, hypnotic world. The last time he got close to exposing the director, McGrath lost his marriage and his career. This time he might lose even more."
18. All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
"I got this after trawling through recommendations because I was getting angry with books basically telling me that love was the answer to happiness. Finch climbed into my soul and ripped out my heart. It was the ending I was looking for but I honestly didn’t think it would happen. I was devastated."
Description from Bookshop: Theodore Finch is fascinated by death. Every day he thinks of ways he might kill himself, but every day he also searches for — and manages to find — something to keep him here, and alive, and awake. Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her small Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister's recent death. When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school--six stories above the ground — it's unclear who saves whom. Soon it's only with Violet that Finch can be himself. And it's only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them."
19. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
"It’s such a good book that mixes humor and seriousness expertly. I’m usually not a fan of supernatural books at all, but I adore this one."
Description from Bookshop: "Galaxy 'Alex' Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale's freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug-dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. In fact, by age twenty, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she's thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world's most prestigious universities on a full ride. What's the catch, and why her? Still searching for answers, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale's secret societies. Their eight windowless "tombs" are the well-known haunts of the rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street's biggest players. But their occult activities are more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive. They tamper with forbidden magic. They raise the dead. And, sometimes, they prey on the living."
20. Hell by Lolita Pille
"The book was so captivating that I read it all in one night. The English translation is an absolute disaster though, so I would only recommend reading it in the original language (French)."
21. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
"For a life-changing, deep, nourishing, soul-enlivening experience, read The Name of the Wind. But beware: after reading that book and falling into the series, it will be infuriatingly challenging to find any other literature as satisfying. Completely, utterly mesmerizing."
Description from Bookshop: "My name is Kvothe. I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep. You may have heard of me. So begins a tale unequaled in fantasy literature — the story of a hero told in his own voice. It is a tale of sorrow, a tale of survival, a tale of one man's search for meaning in his universe, and how that search, and the indomitable will that drove it, gave birth to a legend."
22. The Ice Beneath Her by Camilla Grebe
"What a fantastic book. The plot twist gets you so hard. I wish I could go back and experience that suspense again."
Description from Bookshop: "Winter's chill has descended on Stockholm as police arrive at the scene of a shocking murder. An unidentified woman lies beheaded in a posh suburban home — a brutal crime made all the more disturbing by its uncanny resemblance to an unsolved killing ten years earlier. But this time there's a suspect: the charismatic and controversial chain-store CEO Jesper Orre, who owns the home but is nowhere to be found. To homicide detectives Peter Lindgren and Manfred Olsson, nothing about the suave, high-profile businessman, including a playboy reputation and rumors of financial misdeeds, suggests he conceals the dark heart and twisted mind of a cold-blooded killer. In search of a motive, Lindgren and Olsson turn to the brilliant criminal profiler Hanne Lagerlind-Schön. Once a valued police asset, now marooned in unhappy retirement and a crumbling marriage, she's eager to exercise her keen skills again — and offer the detectives a window into the secret soul of Jesper Orre. But they're not the only ones searching. Two months before, Emma Bohman, a young clerk at Orre's company, chanced to meet the charming chief executive, and romance swiftly bloomed. Almost as quickly as the passionate affair ignited, it was over when Orre inexplicably disappeared. One staggering misfortune after another followed, leaving Emma certain that her runaway lover was to blame and transforming her confusion and heartbreak into anger. Now, pursuing the same mysterious man for different reasons, Emma and the police are destined to cross paths in a chilling dance of obsession, vengeance, madness, and love gone hellishly wrong."
23. Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rivka Brunt
"My book would be Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rivka Brunt. It's set in the '80s and tells the story of a girl named June dealing with the death of her uncle during the AIDS crisis."
Description from Bookshop: "1987. There's only one person who has ever truly understood 14-year-old June Elbus, and that's her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss. Shy at school and distant from her older sister, June can only be herself in Finn's company; he is her godfather, confidant, and best friend. So when he dies, far too young, of a mysterious illness her mother can barely speak about, June's world is turned upside down. But Finn's death brings a surprise acquaintance into June's life--someone who will help her to heal, and to question what she thinks she knows about Finn, her family, and even her own heart. At Finn's funeral, June notices a strange man lingering just beyond the crowd. A few days later, she receives a package in the mail. Inside is a beautiful teapot she recognizes from Finn's apartment, and a note from Toby, the stranger, asking for an opportunity to meet. As the two begin to spend time together, June realizes she's not the only one who misses Finn, and if she can bring herself to trust this unexpected friend, he just might be the one she needs the most."
24. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
"The first time I read that was on a long train journey and I remember finishing the book, looking up, and being totally confused as to why I wasn't in Lower Tadfield (the village in the book). I had been that immersed in the story. I've read it over a hundred times now and still remember that first read."
Description from Bookshop: "According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (the world's only completely accurate book of prophecies, written in 1655, before she exploded), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner. So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon--both of whom have lived amongst Earth's mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle--are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture. And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist..."
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