Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Want to Read Again

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, is about books that we want to re-read again. Regular readers of my blog know that because my TBR pile is completely out of control I rarely re-read books. There are just too many others I haven’t read at all to be spending time reading ones I’ve already read.

That all changed this summer when my mother passed unexpectedly. For the first time in my life books were not providing the solace they once did for me. I couldn’t concentrate enough to get through more than a couple of pages so I went from reading half a dozen books or more a month to zero.

Eventually, to help me sleep, I purchased audiobooks of a few favorites in the hope that being reunited with familiar characters and settings would help calm my whirring brain down enough to sleep. It ended up working so when I was ready to read actual books again I turned to childhood favorites. This is when I finally understood why people love to re-read books: it’s comforting to be back with beloved characters and storylines. It’s almost as if you’re visiting beloved old friends.

So for this week I thought I’d share which books I revisited during this difficult period in my life. I’ll always be grateful to them and the authors for being there for me.

The Animorphs series books 1-3 by K.A. Applegate

Because I had just read The One and Only Bob just before my mother’s passing, I decided it was time to dive back into the books that first introduced me to K.A. Applegate, the Animorphs series. These books were a huge part of my middle school years and I blew through at least 20 of them before I was 13. I apparently quit reading them too soon though because there are more than 50 books in total in the series! Whew.

A lot more suspension of disbelief is required to read the books as an adult, although not for the aliens/morphing bits. Mostly what I find bizarre is how clueless all the adults in this town seem to be! Still, though, these books are an utter blast.

The Martian by Andy Weir, narrated by Wil Wheaton

Hardly a post goes by without me talking about how incredible Andy Weir’s debut novel, The Martian, is. I originally read it in print when it first came out, but once Wil Wheaton’s performances got me into listening audiobooks I knew I had to buy his narration of it. It had been sitting on my Audible app for awhile so when I needed to fall asleep and couldn’t get my brain to stop going 100 miles an hour I would pop this audiobook on and let Wil and Mark Watney read me to sleep.

The Expanse series books 1 & 2 by James S.A. Corey

I also originally read The Expanse books in print but I figured I might as well get the audiobooks too because they are in the same vein as The Martian. The narrations ended up being incredibly impressive and for several weeks they joined my nighttime queue of escapist sci-fi to help lull me to sleep.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series books 1&2 by Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell

Like many other bookworms I try to read horror stories around Halloween to up the spooky factor of the holiday. I simply did not have it in me this year to read anything too gory or murdery so instead I busted out the trilogy that traumatized most of us as kids, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. I hadn’t read them since I was a kid, but man those illustrations are still terrifying as an adult.

I read the first two collections alone in the hot tub the night before Halloween and a couple of the stories ended up freaking me out so much I had to go back inside where it was safe.

Have you read or re-read any of these? Which books made it to your TTT this week? Let me know in the comments!