What? I don't need a reason.
The super-whiz-bang thing about re-reading classics around this time is that, well, it's too damn hot to think too much. So concentrating hard on a new classic is generally out. But if I've already read it, it's a bit easier. ALSO most of these are in the public domain, i.e., free to download to my Nook for ease of travel 'n shit (don't get me wrong, I also have ACTUAL COPIES of these books because I still think of e-books as NOT REAL even though my brain-piece knows better).
SO. Here's what I'm planning to re-read this summer:
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Persuasion by Jane Austen
The rules aren't hard and fast. I'm also considering Lolita, but probably won't go there because that book takes work no matter how many times you've read it.
Care to join me? If you're planning to re-read anything awesome this summer, let me know below! Or write a post about it on your blog and send me a link. I suppose I could make this a Thing Where People Sign Up And There Is Organization, but it's summer and that would defeat the purpose of Lying Around Not Thinking Or Doing Anything Except Maybe Shopping.
Planning to re-read A Tale of Two Cities. I read it through the first time as a senior in high school, and I'm way overdue revisiting these characters. My Penguin cloth bound edition is giving me extra incentive to pick it up.
ReplyDeleteI considered A Tale of Two Cities very seriously- I haven't read it since 6th grade and it was my first Grown-up Book. But I think I want to read the rest of Dickens before I start re-reading Dickens? Maybe?
DeleteTale of Two Cities is on the top of my re-read list too. Here's hoping I can do it this summer! I'm really curious to know of my awe and infatuation with Sydney Carton has held up over time.
DeleteI am re-reading Madame Bovary, but it's not officially summer yet. However, it was around 80 degrees yesterday. Does that count?!
ReplyDeleteUGH MADAME BOVARY IS SO GOOD. I'd re-read that one but I read it initially pretty recently, so maybe next year.
DeleteI will be re-reading Wuthering Heights. I remember a lot of drama and Heathcliff-awesomeness and a confusing storyline involving many characters with the same names, but these memories might be a little biased by the hormones of my 13 year-old self.
ReplyDeleteOh and in case you don't want the summer, just send it here. I'll trade it for rain 24/7!
I'll probably be re-reading Beloved for some classics challenges. I read it in high school and wan'ts a fan, but recently I've come around to the genius that it Toni Morrison.
ReplyDeleteI am currently reading Mrs. Dalloway for the first time, and am loving it to pieces. How did it take me this long to get to it? Also, Persuasion is probably my favorite Austen of the ones I've read. So basically, your list sounds great.
ReplyDeleteThis summer I'll probably re-read The Great Gatsby. This might be the only time I'll be free enough to be able to read it before the movie comes out. I am very worried about said movie, so I definitely want to re-read the book before I go see it.
Summer is time for re-reading. I have a book that I re-read every summer: The Gambler by Dostoyevsky. This summer will be my 11th or 12th re-read. Fantastic book, and perfect for the beach >:)
ReplyDeleteCold As Heaven
I'm in the process of rereading The Count of Monte Cristo right now. I have been wanting to reread Jane Eyre, Beowulf, and The Scarlet Pimpernel so I might get to those books in the next three months.
ReplyDeleteI am planning to re-read A Tale Of Two Cities. (I love that it was your first grown up book!!) I'm toying with the idea of re-reading Crime and Punishment as well. I am going to definitely re-read Jayne Eyre, Sense and Sensibility and I usually pick up one or two Harry Potter books in the summer.
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna try to give Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow a try. I tried once, but didn't get all that far. This time I'ma read it like a boss.
ReplyDeleteIts worth a read. And not only to say that you've read it but for the sense of utter paranoia that only Pynchon can achieve.
DeleteI could use a little more paranoia in my life.
DeleteI've been very slowly rereading the Anne of Green Gables series which I haven't read since high school. Slowly because as much as I love it, a little goes a long way and I need some time in between books. Right now I think I'm up to book 4. I've also been eying Gone with the Wind, another non-read since high school. As much as I loved it then, I recognized it had major issues...and I fear a rereading now would only enrage me with all the complete and utter race fail. And finally Walden, a book which I didn't care much for originally (I liked Emerson's writings more), but thought I'd try it again.
ReplyDeleteThat picture made me snort my tea through my nose. Awesome.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of re-reading Gone With the Wind this summer because you know, AWESOME and also I read it first in the summer and now it seems like a summery book. I also *might* read Crime and Punishment for the first time, but maybe I'll wait and see what you have to say about it first... (no pressure!)
ReplyDeleteIn keeping with previous summer traditions I will be going on a Mark Twain bender this summer. And Ernest Hemingway. Or both. Nothing says summer more than two guys who spent their time drinking and traveling. I think that's the spirit of it or something.
ReplyDeleteI so need to re-read Crime and Punishment. I couldn't finish it in high school, but I've matured since then and also developed a fascination/obsession with Russia.
ReplyDeleteI'm joining in with Girl Detective's Shelf Discovery summer (http://www.girldetective.net/?p=4458), and I'm going to reread a bunch of my teen favorites. Should be interesting and possibly embarrassing.
ReplyDeleteCrime and Punishment is great but it doesn't hold a candle to The Brother's Karamazov. That is one of the finest pieces of literature ever penned, in my opinion. Given a desert island scenario that would definitely be one I take with me.
ReplyDeleteI'm planning on re-reading The Great Gatsby this summer with my wife, who has never read it. We watched the movie "Midnight in Paris" and she is having a fascination with that era of literature. I'm not complaining. Maybe I can get her to read Ulysses with me.
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ReplyDeleteI'm re-reading Anna Karenina, but a different translation this time. I originally read what I believe was my grandmother's copy, so I'm interested to see how Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky's translation compares.
ReplyDeleteFinally, someone who hates summer and people that wear skimpy clothes as much as I do. I'm rereading one novel for my thesis, but I generally like to cram a lot of books in that I couldn't because of grad school. So far I've read Home (Toni Morrison), The Amen Corner (James Baldwin) and Black Cool (Rebecca Walker). I'm thinking about the Edith Wharton biography by Hermione Lee, but I start teaching summer school next week and might not be able to devote my full attention to it. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteI'm with Jason, Brothers Karamazov is infinitely better, and one of the greatest novels of all times. The Idiot is also an absolutely astonishing and wonderful novel, a much more essential read. And, of course, the novella Notes from Underground. Crime and Punishment ties with Demons for an adequate fourth place.
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ReplyDeleteI am re-reading Madame Bovary and Ethan Frome. I love reading classics over again. It is rare that I don't discover something that I didn't pick up on the first time around and I agree that it is much more leisurely the second time through.
ReplyDeleteTry listening to Lolita read by Jeremy Irons if you have any long drives over the summer. Very well done.
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