This week’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is “Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time“, which reminds me of a story an author I liked told — maybe it was Guy Gavriel Kay? — about someone going round with a list of books “to be given to me if I should end up with amnesia”, for just this purpose!

So what would I like to read again for the first time? Hmmm.

1. The Carpet Makers, by Andreas Eschbach. I remember this blowing my mind. I can always reread it now — it’s been long enough that some of it might still get me by surprise — but I remember how captivated I was the first time, and I’d love to re-experience that.
2. The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison. A huge favourite of mine from the start. I worry if I keep rereading it, I’ll wear it out! So I’d love to read it with fresh eyes all over again.
3. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, by N.K. Jemisin. This is another one where I remember the first read absolutely blowing me away — I remember that my now-wife was out so not available to chat as we usually did via… probably MSN Messenger? Maybe Trillian by that point? Anyway, I went to bed early with this book and devoured it. I haven’t read it in a while so it’d probably hit me differently now, and I’d like a plain ol’ normal reread too. But rereading it again for the first time sounds fun. I wonder if I’d like it as much if I got to read it for the first time right now?
4. Tigana, by Guy Gavriel Kay. This one packs such a punch; it’d be fascinating to read it again without knowing where to brace myself, without knowing about all the little choices and betrayals that makes it so beautifully heartrending.
5. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien. I’d actually rather like to read this for the first time without losing any of my memory of studying the various inspirations for Tolkien’s legendarium. What would I think of it if I were approaching it with all the academic context I learned later, compared to what I thought and felt when I first approached it as a teenager?
6. Strong Poison, by Dorothy L. Sayers. This is totally beloved for me, and now so very very familiar from repetition of the book, radioplay, and TV adaptation. I don’t really remember what it was like to come fresh to it, and I’d love to. I’d need my memory wiped of Have His Carcase, Gaudy Night and Busman’s Honeymoon as well, though, to properly re-experience the tension.
7. Pet, by Akwaeke Emezi. I remember flying through this one, just absolutely eating it up. It caught me by surprise how much I loved it. I know I didn’t like the prequel, Bitter, nearly as much — so I’d like to just revisit Pet and see what I think of it a second time.
8. Farthing, by Jo Walton. This would be a very very difficult book to read for the first time right now in the current political climate, I’d say — but worth it. I don’t think I’ve ever reread it, because it’s a rough one, but it was my first book by Walton and I thought it was amazing. I’d love to revisit like that.
9. In the Sanctuary of Wings, by Marie Brennan. For that moment of “oh my goodness” when you get to this point in the series and… No spoilers! I won’t tell you. But I’d love to go back to that culmination of the story and have that wow moment again.
10. Assassin’s Apprentice, by Robin Hobb. I’ve found it really difficult to reread these books, knowing where the story goes… but I’d love to refresh my memory and revisit. Plus, reading it for the first time (at the same time as Mum did) was a lot of fun. Maybe she’d have to also have amnesia and read it again for the first time?

That said, there are definitely books without which I’m certain I’d be a different person, like Ursula Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea and Susan Cooper’s Silver on the Tree. Maybe that’s true of any book you read, and this amnesia idea would be pretty dangerous… Food for thought!