To Re-Read or Not To Re-Read

When I was a kid, I re-read books all the time. I'd get to the last book in The Little House on the Prairie series or in the Anne of Green Gables series or the last story in a Stephen King short story/novella collection then go right back to the start. But, as I got older, I did that less often. I'm not sure why, exactly. Maybe because I had more access to libraries and bookstores, more money to purchase new books, more knowledge of upcoming titles that sounded intriguing?

Lately, though, I find myself turning back to old favorites (for a variety of reasons)...and loving every minute of it. Here are some of my recent re-reads (including the links to past posts if you want more of a review):

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell for The Heroine's Bookshelf's GWTW Read-Along. Still love it, probably love it even more now. It reminded me of how it feels to be caught up in a true saga.

Life as We Knew It and The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer. These are the first two in her YA Moon Book series and I re-read them because the third one had just come out and I wanted to experience them all in a row. (I'm geeky that way.)

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens. This was just as creepy the second time around, maybe even more so because I knew what was going to happen on the next page or in the next chapter and I was helpless to stop it. The reason I re-read this one was because I didn't enjoy her second novel as much as I had hoped. Don't get me wrong, it was good, but it didn't freak me out the way this one did, and I had wanted to go back and see if I had built the first one up in my head. Nope.   

Do you re-read books? Why or why not? Are there any books out there you keep meaning to go back to but haven't yet? (I want to go back to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith and The Betsy-Tacy Books by Maud Hart Lovelace.) Any favorite re-reads you'd recommend?

Recommended Reading - THE MOON BOOKS

I like a good end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it novel. Don't ask me why. I've said before that if zombies are coming, I'll just pour ketchup all over me and serve myself up on a plate because there's no way I'd make it in the new world. But the books I'm recommending here have no zombies and are still some of the scariest - and best - of this type of novel that I've ever read. And they are young adult (YA.)

Susan Beth Pfeffer's Moon Books are LIFE AS WE KNEW IT, THE DEAD AND THE GONE, and THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN. They're all amazing, real, scary reads. I devoured them even as I cried, even as I checked to see how much food we had stocked up in the house.

The first two books hold the same premise - what happens after a meteor hits the moon and knocks it closer to the earth's orbit. This sets off tidal waves, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes - among other things - around the world. In LIFE, Miranda, who lives with her mother and two brothers in a more rural area of PA, tells the story through her diary entries. In THE DEAD, we follow Alex, who lives in NY city with his family. Both teens are forced to face realities so stark they have no choice but to change and grow. Both fight starvation and disease and the depravity of some of their fellow human beings. Miranda may never see her father, his wife and their unborn baby again. Alex may never see his parents again. Miranda goes without food, empties bedpans and dreams of the little brother or sister she may never know. Alex dodges rats, goes "body shopping" and clings to his faith.

THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN picks the story up one year later. I don't want to say too much about it here because I don't want to give anything away. You don't have to read them in order but I absolutely recommend it. They're all in paperback or probably available at your library.

I admit it - LIFE AS WE KNEW IT  is my favorite of the three, although the last part of THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN literally had me weeping. And seeing the same catastrophe from such different points of view made THE DEAD AND THE GONE a great read also. Oh, just go read them all.

And then go check on how many canned goods are in your pantry.