Books I Wish I Was Re/Reading
Nov. 27th, 2019 11:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ryanreactsBut first, let's take a few moments to talk about what I actually AM reading and re-reading!
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Welp, this is my favorite book of all time. No big deal. The last time I read it was . . . I dunno, four to six months ago? Maybe even longer than that? This year has really fuxed with my perception of time. But anyway, rereading My Favorite Book Of All Time isn't exactly newsworthy. HOWEVER. This time I'm also going to reread both of its not-sequels, The Long Secret (which is about Beth Ellen) and Sport (which, if you can believe it, is about Sport). I'm pretty sure I only read these one time each, and that one time was in circa eighth grade. So I'm very excited.
And then I'd also like to reread Nobody's Family Is Going To Change, which has nothing to do with Harriet but is equally brilliant. I think I've read this one about five times. BUT WAIT, THE LIBRARY DOESN'T HAVE IT. BLERGH.
Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
I've read this three or four times. Not exactly a favorite, but it is v amusing. I love British people, and Becky is relatable even though I am neither a shopaholic nor a financial journalist.
But there are actually several books in this series, and somehow I've only ever bothered with the first one. So in the last week I've re-visited it and continued on to the next two, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan and Shopaholic Ties the Knot. It's not there yet, but the library has shipped Shopaholic & Sister for me. And then I might ever so briefly press pause on this series, because . . .
The Tiffany Aching Books by Terry Pratchett
I've read the first four (The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith, and I Shall Wear Midnight) many many times. Tiffany is one of my favorite witches in the history of fiction, right up there with Elphaba and Willow and Sunshine and Bonnie. The fifth and final book, Pratchett's last book ever, The Shepherd's Crown, was published in 2015, a few months after he died. I haven't been able to read it yet, but now I am. I must find out what happens to Tiffany. I accidentally spoilered one crucial detail for myself, and HOLY WHAT NOW, ish sounds good.
The Secret Life of Amanda K. Woods by Ann Cameron
I read this one a handful of times (note: that's funny because the story starts with Amanda's best friend moving away, and she suggests that they should switch hands) in middle school and maybe high school. I only remember bits and pieces, like Amanda getting a penpal and pretending to be her glamorous older sister, but this book is seriously good. It randomly popped into my head a few weeks ago, and for a hot minute I couldn't even remember the title, so I'm very glad the library was able to hook me up with a copy.
Snakes Don't Miss Their Mothers by M. E. Kerr
Again, this popped into my head out of nowhere. But I was able to track down the title fairly quickly, because I did remember that it was written by M. E. Kerr. I think I only read it once. It's about a bunch of animals at a shelter around Christmas. One of them gets adopted by a crotchety old man who doesn't appreciate the phrase "consensus of opinion" because it's redundant. At some point the narration says, "Placido's behind quivered in anticipation." And, other than it being a really cute well-written story, that's all I remember.
Now then, here are some Books I Wish I Was Re/Reading!
Animorphs by K. A. Applegate (and her husband, Michael Grant) (and, like, a butt-load of ghostwriters)
Ye gods, what can I even say about Animorphs? Six kids who can turn into any animal they touch versus an army of mind-controlling slugs from outer space. EPIC. This was my first fandom. Jake, Cassie, Marco, Tobias, Ax, and especially Rachel are some of my favorite fictional characters ever. The last book was published a few months before 9/11, and I haven't read them since 2004 or 2005, but I could still summarize the plot of any one of the sixty-four books (and tell you the cover morph) at less than a moment's notice. "Is it not time for cookies?"
Also, um, even though he spent most of his time as a red-tailed hawk, Tobias was and is one of my biggest literary crushes.
Sweep by Cate Tiernan
There's plenty of romance and intrigue and betrayal, but the basic plot of this series can be summed up as, "Ordinary High School Student reluctantly gets into Wicca and accidentally discovers that, oops, she's actually a ridiculously powerful blood witch." So yeah, you can see why I tore through all fifteen books in high school (secretly - if Mom knew I was reading them she would have grounded me) (double grounded me if she found out I sometimes read them during Algebra II). And yeah, you can see why I'm itching to reread them now.
Un-fucking-fortunately, the library only has a few of them, and when I requested the first three nothing happened for a whole month, so I canceled the request and added them to the top of my To Buy When Can Afford pile.
The good news is they'll be relatively easy to get my claws on. The whole series is readily available in three-book collections, which are about $10 each.
ALSO. She wrote another shorter witch series, Balefire, which was about long-lost twins. Shut up. I think I read the first book a few times, and maybe the second, but somehow never found the last two? Amazon has an omnibus that collects the whole series.
Circle of Three by Isobel Bird
Much like Sweep (which was actually called Wicca in the UK and Australia, where people are less uptight about the existence of other religions), this was a fifteen-book series about Wicca. Unlike Sweep, this was a much more "realistic" portrayal. And, as the title implies, it had three protagonists instead of just one. I read the first book and the last book, but only about half of the ones between them. They weren't as readily available as I would have liked, and I had to read them in super extra secret to avoid getting exorcised.
Shut UP, I just found out that "Isobel Bird" was actually a pseudonym for Michael Thomas Ford, who is gay gay gay! I might want to re/read these way more than Sweep.
A Nameless Witch by A. Lee Martinez
Even though I LOVED it, I only read this book once. I guess that was about ten or eleven years ago. Wow.
LITERALLY ANYTHING by Jean Thesman
She was one of my favorite authors in middle school. All of her books were YA, but she wrote historical fiction (Molly Donnelly, The Ornament Tree, A Sea So Far), ~realistic~ contemporary fiction (Calling the Swan, In the House of the Queen's Beasts, Where the Road Ends), and fantasy (The Other Ones, Between, Singer). I didn't read everything she ever wrote, but I did read everything she wrote that I could find, and the one thing they all had in common was excellence.
Dawn Undercover by Anna Dale
Only read this once, but it was HILARIOUS.
The Horatio Wilkes Mysteries by Alan M. Gratz
For reasons unknown to me, only two books were ever written. I loved them both, and am quite keen to read them again. Something Rotten was basically a Teenage Sleuth AU version of Hamlet, and Something Wicked was a Teenage Sleuth AU version of (can you guess?) Macbeth.
The Witches of Echo Park by Amber Benson
This is the first of a series of at least three books. Or maybe it's "just" a trilogy? I'm not sure, I haven't read any of them yet. But they are very very relevant to my interests, because TARA MACLAY WROTE SOME BOOKS ABOUT WITCHES???!!!
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Welp, this is my favorite book of all time. No big deal. The last time I read it was . . . I dunno, four to six months ago? Maybe even longer than that? This year has really fuxed with my perception of time. But anyway, rereading My Favorite Book Of All Time isn't exactly newsworthy. HOWEVER. This time I'm also going to reread both of its not-sequels, The Long Secret (which is about Beth Ellen) and Sport (which, if you can believe it, is about Sport). I'm pretty sure I only read these one time each, and that one time was in circa eighth grade. So I'm very excited.
And then I'd also like to reread Nobody's Family Is Going To Change, which has nothing to do with Harriet but is equally brilliant. I think I've read this one about five times. BUT WAIT, THE LIBRARY DOESN'T HAVE IT. BLERGH.
Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
I've read this three or four times. Not exactly a favorite, but it is v amusing. I love British people, and Becky is relatable even though I am neither a shopaholic nor a financial journalist.
But there are actually several books in this series, and somehow I've only ever bothered with the first one. So in the last week I've re-visited it and continued on to the next two, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan and Shopaholic Ties the Knot. It's not there yet, but the library has shipped Shopaholic & Sister for me. And then I might ever so briefly press pause on this series, because . . .
The Tiffany Aching Books by Terry Pratchett
I've read the first four (The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith, and I Shall Wear Midnight) many many times. Tiffany is one of my favorite witches in the history of fiction, right up there with Elphaba and Willow and Sunshine and Bonnie. The fifth and final book, Pratchett's last book ever, The Shepherd's Crown, was published in 2015, a few months after he died. I haven't been able to read it yet, but now I am. I must find out what happens to Tiffany. I accidentally spoilered one crucial detail for myself, and HOLY WHAT NOW, ish sounds good.
The Secret Life of Amanda K. Woods by Ann Cameron
I read this one a handful of times (note: that's funny because the story starts with Amanda's best friend moving away, and she suggests that they should switch hands) in middle school and maybe high school. I only remember bits and pieces, like Amanda getting a penpal and pretending to be her glamorous older sister, but this book is seriously good. It randomly popped into my head a few weeks ago, and for a hot minute I couldn't even remember the title, so I'm very glad the library was able to hook me up with a copy.
Snakes Don't Miss Their Mothers by M. E. Kerr
Again, this popped into my head out of nowhere. But I was able to track down the title fairly quickly, because I did remember that it was written by M. E. Kerr. I think I only read it once. It's about a bunch of animals at a shelter around Christmas. One of them gets adopted by a crotchety old man who doesn't appreciate the phrase "consensus of opinion" because it's redundant. At some point the narration says, "Placido's behind quivered in anticipation." And, other than it being a really cute well-written story, that's all I remember.
Now then, here are some Books I Wish I Was Re/Reading!
Animorphs by K. A. Applegate (and her husband, Michael Grant) (and, like, a butt-load of ghostwriters)
Ye gods, what can I even say about Animorphs? Six kids who can turn into any animal they touch versus an army of mind-controlling slugs from outer space. EPIC. This was my first fandom. Jake, Cassie, Marco, Tobias, Ax, and especially Rachel are some of my favorite fictional characters ever. The last book was published a few months before 9/11, and I haven't read them since 2004 or 2005, but I could still summarize the plot of any one of the sixty-four books (and tell you the cover morph) at less than a moment's notice. "Is it not time for cookies?"
Also, um, even though he spent most of his time as a red-tailed hawk, Tobias was and is one of my biggest literary crushes.
Sweep by Cate Tiernan
There's plenty of romance and intrigue and betrayal, but the basic plot of this series can be summed up as, "Ordinary High School Student reluctantly gets into Wicca and accidentally discovers that, oops, she's actually a ridiculously powerful blood witch." So yeah, you can see why I tore through all fifteen books in high school (secretly - if Mom knew I was reading them she would have grounded me) (double grounded me if she found out I sometimes read them during Algebra II). And yeah, you can see why I'm itching to reread them now.
Un-fucking-fortunately, the library only has a few of them, and when I requested the first three nothing happened for a whole month, so I canceled the request and added them to the top of my To Buy When Can Afford pile.
The good news is they'll be relatively easy to get my claws on. The whole series is readily available in three-book collections, which are about $10 each.
ALSO. She wrote another shorter witch series, Balefire, which was about long-lost twins. Shut up. I think I read the first book a few times, and maybe the second, but somehow never found the last two? Amazon has an omnibus that collects the whole series.
Circle of Three by Isobel Bird
Much like Sweep (which was actually called Wicca in the UK and Australia, where people are less uptight about the existence of other religions), this was a fifteen-book series about Wicca. Unlike Sweep, this was a much more "realistic" portrayal. And, as the title implies, it had three protagonists instead of just one. I read the first book and the last book, but only about half of the ones between them. They weren't as readily available as I would have liked, and I had to read them in super extra secret to avoid getting exorcised.
Shut UP, I just found out that "Isobel Bird" was actually a pseudonym for Michael Thomas Ford, who is gay gay gay! I might want to re/read these way more than Sweep.
A Nameless Witch by A. Lee Martinez
Even though I LOVED it, I only read this book once. I guess that was about ten or eleven years ago. Wow.
LITERALLY ANYTHING by Jean Thesman
She was one of my favorite authors in middle school. All of her books were YA, but she wrote historical fiction (Molly Donnelly, The Ornament Tree, A Sea So Far), ~realistic~ contemporary fiction (Calling the Swan, In the House of the Queen's Beasts, Where the Road Ends), and fantasy (The Other Ones, Between, Singer). I didn't read everything she ever wrote, but I did read everything she wrote that I could find, and the one thing they all had in common was excellence.
Dawn Undercover by Anna Dale
Only read this once, but it was HILARIOUS.
The Horatio Wilkes Mysteries by Alan M. Gratz
For reasons unknown to me, only two books were ever written. I loved them both, and am quite keen to read them again. Something Rotten was basically a Teenage Sleuth AU version of Hamlet, and Something Wicked was a Teenage Sleuth AU version of (can you guess?) Macbeth.
The Witches of Echo Park by Amber Benson
This is the first of a series of at least three books. Or maybe it's "just" a trilogy? I'm not sure, I haven't read any of them yet. But they are very very relevant to my interests, because TARA MACLAY WROTE SOME BOOKS ABOUT WITCHES???!!!
