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2021: The Year to Read your Favorites Again

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In 2019, I read all of the Anne Rice Vampire Novels for the second time, in order. It was a great experience because I loved reading each and every book. Some of the reading was nostalgic, some of it was revelatory. There were so many fantastic passages I’d completely forgotten in the two decades since the first read.

In 2020, like many people looking for escapism, I read a LOT of new books. As of today, that number stands at one hundred and twenty-one books, none of them re-reads. I did this to avoid reading or hearing the news. I turned off news media notifications on my mobile devices and buried their icons towards the middle page of apps, blending in with other apps I rarely access. Each and every night, when the days work was done, I’d settle into bed with a book. During the day, while I worked, I’d listen to a book through my bluetooth headphones. While waiting in many doctor’s waiting rooms throughout the year, I’d read my kindle app on my phone. The result was wonderful – I read so many books I enjoyed. I learned so many things. I traveled to so many new countries and experienced new cultures.

For 2021, I think I’m going to pick some of my all time favorites, and read them again. I’ve got a tentative list of books I already own that I can begin to read immediately. I want to do this to experience the nostalgia of reading a book I loved again but to also rediscover the wonderful parts that I once loved but have now forgotten. The books I plan to read again are the same books I enthusiastically recommend to others who ask for book recommendations. Here is my list as of today:

A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving.

The Stand, by Stephen King.

Misery, by Stephen King.

She’s Come Undone, by Wally Lamb.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backmann.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Deathy Hallows by J. K. Rowling.

Roots by Alex Haley.

I’ll add to this list throughout the year as I remember many of the greatest reads of my lifetime, the books that left me feeling transformed or left me with a new perspective on life; a perspective that informed my future interactions and decisions.

I’d like to expand my list – which books will you re-read in 2021 or the future?

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