Bookworms have unending TBRs or to-be-read lists, and that’s a given. But sometimes, all we want to do is give up the quest for the perfect new book and go back to books we’ve read and loved before. There could be multiple reasons for this. Maybe we find comfort. Maybe we just love the language. Maybe we relate to them. Maybe we’ve found solutions to our problems in them. Maybe we love the characters like we love our own family – you know that’s a possibility. A lot of maybes, really.
But whatever our reason might be, we have to acknowledge that we learn something new about the book, the story, the character, or the author on each reread. We find details that we missed, we connect dots that we got confused at before, and we fall in love with them all over again. If reading a book for the first time is a beautiful journey, rereading is saying, ‘Oh, I wish I could go back to that place!’ and actually going back there with joy and warmth in our hearts.
In today’s post, I’m sharing with you ten books that are reread worthy and which are some of my favorite books of all time. I hope that you will find these beautiful as well. 🙂
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
This book is my brand! Ever since I read this book, I haven’t shut up talking about it. I mention this on Instagram and YouTube so often that people actually began to associate me with it. And there’s no prouder or heart-warming moment for me than that.
The Midnight Library is a book in which I found myself. I found my thoughts, my dreams, my fears, and a possible future, all playing tag with each other. But I also found that there’s not just one future, there’s an infinite number. And to see this in tandem with my fears was a moving experience for me. It gave me hope and told me that I’ve got this. That I can do this thing called life. Of course, it hasn’t been easy of late, the worst rather. But yeah. This book is something else.
The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
Another book that I couldn’t stop talking about in 2020 and there’s a good reason why. The House in the Cerulean Sea is a warm story of found family that resonates somewhere deep within. It is filled with humor typical of T.J. Klune, which I learned of when I read The Extraordinaries and fell in love with. It pulls you in, gives you a warm hug, kisses you on the forehead and allows you to feel your emotions. It feels like home.
Just, please, go ahead and read it! Or if I need to convince you any further, let me know. I am totally up for the task!
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
This is, obviously, about grumpy old man Ove. This is where I relate to him, because apart from the old man part, I can be grumpy AF and as an introvert, hate socializing. But Ove, you find as the story goes on, is multi-layered. There’s so much more to him than the obvious labels – something I think is true of most people. You find yourself falling in love with him as you continue flipping the pages and immersing yourself in his story. Which is why this book, in all its grumpiness, its sweetness, its loveliness, has made its way onto this list of best reread worthy books.
Ah, Ove, ah!
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Set in Germany during World War II, Liesel, who is living with her foster family, is a book lover. She, with the help of her foster father, begins stealing books from wherever possible. But when one day, the family hides a Jew in their basement, things threaten to turn feet up.
This, I promise you, is one that will open up your heart, carefully tear it open from every angle possible, and leave you heaving with tears. It’s not a threat. It’s just that the more you read it, the more you learn of the atrocities of the Nazis while learning of how humanity found a way through those circumstances. I remember crying my heart out on my way home because I had finished this in a café and I was glad that I had because I could then compose myself before my family saw me. This book turned me into a Zusak fanatic!
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
If you’ve seen people cry over this book – and I bet it’s everyone who’s read it – it is because Madeline Miller’s writing is so beautiful and powerful that it makes you live for Achilles and Patroclus, who this book is about. The way she has brought out the pathos in it, strand by sombre strand, and told this heart-breaking love story is guaranteed to make you cry. This is one book that no matter how many times you read, you end up feeling the same emotions as you felt the first time.
If you have read it already, you know why it features on this list of best reread worthy books. If not, you know what to do next. 😉
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Elizabeth Acevedo is one of my favorite writers and poets of all time. I started off reading her right at the very beginning, with The Poet X, which was her first published work, and fell in love with her. She is a powerful writer and an even better narrator, for her being a slam poet only turns everything she narrates into the best experience possible.
The Poet X is the coming-of-age story of Xiomara Batista, who wants to be a slam poet and is trying to navigating school and teenage feelings. The poetry that she writes and narrates is powerful and sends chills down one’s spine. I’d highly recommend that you read this book, but more than that, listen to the audiobook! It is AMAZING, to say the least. (Can you tell my excitement knows no bounds? ;))
One Day by David Nicholls
When I first read this book, I was so, so angry at the male main character, Dex, that I would love to have gone into the book and punched him in the face. But my love for Emma Morley was greater than my hate for this man. I won’t flatter myself by saying that I saw myself in her. Instead, I’ll say that I want to have her sense of self-worth, self-confidence, and determination someday. For that, Emma is one of my favorite characters of all time.
And to reread this book and understand her motivations and the way she sees herself is an exercise in learning one of the infinite right ways of being a human. For that, I will forever be grateful to David Nicholls!
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
I discovered Angie Thomas in 2019 and instantly fell in love with her writing. The Hate U Give is the story of Starr, who witnesses her friend being shot down by the police. How her life changes from there because she is the only witness in yet another shooting targeting Black people, forms the story.
The book is painful, given the subject it talks about. But it also has humor sprinkled here and there, and combine these two with the easy, flowing writing style and it makes for a power-packed, important book. And also because of the political nuances it packs in, rereading this book is necessary in order to understand the full extent of it. Which is why it is a supremely reread worthy book!
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
Sharp, cutting, dismissive of humans as a species, Yuval Noah Harari, in this book, made me smile as he spoke about the history of humankind in a nutshell. Unfortunately for us humans, there are always people who are going to try to define humanity while being the worst of it. And as you go through the history, you see the destruction that we have wrought and the destruction that is imminent if we keep going the way we are going. Sapiens takes these truths and lays it out, fast forwarding through history and showing us glimpses on the way. Rereading this book will reinforce the truths that Harari has put down in there, and will probably help us understand the motivations behind the weird, bloodthirsty animal species called Homo Sapiens.
Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig
I didn’t intend to start and end this list with Matt Haig, but he deserves all the love! Reasons to Stay Alive is a semi-autobiographical account of Matt Haig and his struggle with depression. He talks about how, at the age of 24, he stood at the edge of a cliff in Ibiza, his mind telling him to jump and ease his miseries. How he emerged from that dark abyss with his then-girlfriend, now-wife, Andrea’s help forms a major part of the book.
He also lists out, literally, reasons why staying alive is awesome. He doesn’t force it on anyone. He doesn’t say things like, “Since I found this useful, you also should” or drivel like that. He just puts out his opinion, and says that, see, these are the things I found beautiful, these are my observations and I think they are worth living for. And I love him for it. Every time you think otherwise, I feel like rereading this book will give you hope and strength. One of the best reread worthy books of all time, in my opinion!
So those were my 10 ‘reread worthy’ book recommendations for you! Which of these have you read? Which ones do you want to read? Which ones are you going to add to your TBR? Which books do you think are reread worthy? Let me know in the comments below! 🙂
I’ll see you soon in a brand new blog post.
Until next time, keep reading and add melodrama to your life! 😀
The Melodramatic Bookworm 
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