Books I Read Over & Over

Some books are magical. Books that you can read over and over again and they never lose their intensity no matter how many times you read them.

Here are just a couple that fit the bill for me:

1. Pride and Prejudice – truly one of the most romantic books I’ve ever read. The language is vivid and it pulls on your heart as the characters struggle with their inner desires and what their heads tell them they should do. Quite honestly, I feel this way about all of Jane Austen’s books, but this one in particular stands out to me.
2. American Brutus – This is one of my all-time favorite books. If you like history or non-fiction, add this book to your reading list. It is a biography of John Wilkes Booth and it follows him through the assassination of President Lincoln and his attempted escape. I am a Civil War History buff (not that I can recite facts, I’m just fascinated by that entire time period) and my dad recommended this book to me. I recommend it to anyone looking for a historical non-fiction book that reads like a novel.
3. Catcher in the Rye - My definitive favorite book. I read this in high school and fell in love with the idea of Holden Caulfield. His struggle with reality and his own perception of it was something I could identify with both then and now. Language aside, this book changed the way I look at literature.
4. Little Women – This book is one that I hope my daughter falls in love with. There is nothing like the bond of sisterhood (I have two brothers and no sisters, but now I have two sisters-in-law and another about to join our family) and reading that book took me to a world where I suddenly had four sisters that I could share adventures with. Again, I get lost in the language of the book and Louisa May Alcott paints a vivid picture of the life and times of these four young women and Laurie.
5. Gone With the Wind - The obstinance and determination of Scarlett O’Hara evolves through every page in this book. While I didn’t like the follow-up book nearly as much as the original, this book captured my imagination of the world during the Civil War and the situations that Scarlett found herself in as she was forced to grow up from her childish and immature ways. While she didn’t fully grow up, she quickly learned that she was no match for Rhett. Another amazingly romantic book, this one had my full attention every step of the way.

There are a lot more books that I would read repeatedly, but these are my top 5. What books would you read over and over again and feel the same way that you did the first time you read them?

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