After skipping the June monthly recommendation post because I’d written a similar post shortly before they announced the June topic (audiobooks), I’m back with another installment, this time about rereads!

I wrote a post last fall about books I want to reread, but the bulk of those are books that I read growing up and would like to circle back to as an adult. As an update to that list, I’m still working on rereading Harry Potter, I reread the A Court of Thorns and Roses trilogy this past spring, and I’ve reread A Wrinkle in Time and Northanger Abbey. The rest of them are very much books I’d like to reread in the near future.

For this post, though, I want to talk about books I’ve read in 2017 and 2018 that I already know I’m going to want to reread, namely books that I was tempted to read again as soon as I finished them.

Oh, and don’t forget to check out the Goodreads group here, especially if you want more books that group members think are worth rereading. We just welcomed two new moderators: Madalyn and April Sarah!

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

I enjoyed these books so, so much, but the main reason I want to reread them is so I can listen to them on audio! For those who aren’t familiar with the Illuminae trilogy, it’s a series of books set in space following the survivors of an attack on an illegal mining colony by a rival mining corporation. It’s a thrilling series, but what makes it especially stand out is that it’s told in a series of interviews, chats, posters, and other components of a huge dossier on the attack and the colonists’ survival.

I specifically wanted to read it in print the first time to experience the fun formatting, but I’ve heard that the full audio cast for the audiobooks is amazing, and I’d really like to experience it for myself. Plus this series was such a roller coaster, I think I’ll enjoy it even more when I can read it a little more slowly and not race through to try and find out what happens next!

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

I think hate to love might be my favorite trope in romance, so when I heard a number of people raving about how much they love The Hating Game, I had to check it out. It follows two personal secretaries to the co-CEOs of a publishing house as they compete for a promotion, but as the competition heats up, they start to realize their feelings for each other aren’t exactly hate.

I thought this was such a fun romance and I really liked watching Lucy and Josh realize their feelings for each other and start building a relationship. Plus it was super funny! I just got all of the warm, fuzzy feelings from this one and wasn’t ready to be done with their story by the end of the book, so I seriously considered rereading it immediately. Honestly, writing this post is making me want to pick it up again!

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

The All Souls trilogy, which starts with A Discovery of Witches, really stood out to me because of all of the history incorporated into it. I’ve never read a fantasy that’s so totally steeped in history, and as a history buff, I was totally for it. A Discovery of Witches follows Diana Bishop, who is forced to confront her powers as a witch after her accidental discovery of a hidden manuscript brings all kinds of creatures out of the woodwork, including the vampire Matthew. The history comes into play because Diana is an Elizabethan scholar and the manuscript is ancient and holds the secrets to the creation of creatures. Plus Matthew is more than a thousand years old, so he knows his history!

I don’t think I’ll reread these books for a while since I just read them earlier this year, but the upcoming TV adaptation and the spin-off trilogy might tempt me to go for it! Even if I don’t reread these books in the near future, though, I can see these rich, slow-paced books continuing to be a favorite in years to come, and they’re definitely worth a reread!

The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis

I read this book in December, and I still don’t think I’ve recovered from it. The Female of the Species is pitched as a feminist Dexter, as Alex Craft gets revenge on men who take advantage of women, starting with the monster who raped and murdered her older sister. It’s a brutal look at rape culture in the US, and while I’m not much of one for pulling quotes from books, this one was full of some really powerful.

This was such a powerful and gripping story with so many layers to it. I can definitely see gaining even more out of this upon rereading it. It’s a book that takes ahold of you and never quites let go, and I can’t imagine not rereading it sometime in the future.

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Red Rising is another series that was so fast-paced and full of twists and turns that I genuinely have to reread it just because I raced through it so fast the first time that I’m sure I missed stuff. The story starts out on Mars where Darrow is a miner trying to make it possible to terraform the planet. But when his wife is killed for discovering that Mars has already been colonized and that their people are being lied to and forced to work as slaves, Darrow finds himself as the figurehead of a movement to break the current power structure in place.

These books are kind of like Roman history meets the Hunger Games in space and are nothing like anything I’ve ever read before. I was caught off guard by so many plot twists in these books and genuinely never knew what was about to happen next, and I loved every minute of it. These books are definitely worth rereading at a slower pace so I can enjoy the story so much without being quite so stressed out, and my understanding is that Brown wove a lot of details into these books that I missed the first time. So I will definitely be rereading these in the future!

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

I adored these books when I read them last year, and the upcoming movie on Netflix is really making me itch to reread them! I think I’m going to try and hold out until after I see the movie so that I’m less likely to criticize all of the differences between the books and the movie, but after that I suspect the adorableness of the movie is going to make me want to read these books again!

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before follows Lara Jean after the love letters she writes to each boy she has a crush on are accidentally sent out instead of remaining safe in her room. Of course chaos and all kinds of embarrassing exchanges ensue, but so does a cute romance. Plus I really enjoyed Lara Jean as a character and absolutely loved her family (Kitty is the best!). Han created such a sweet world that I know I’m going to enjoy returning to.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

It’s kind of a theme in this post that I want to reread books that gripped me so much the first time that I barely had a chance to enjoy them because I was so eager to find out what happened next, and Six of Crows definitely fits that mold. This duology starts with an impossible heist that six unlikely characters must pull off in order to save their world from a dangerous drug that lets magic get out of control, and the stakes only increase from there.

I know I read through these books a little too quickly, so again, it’ll be nice to go back and enjoy them at a bit of a slower pace. But also, I’m just so attached to these characters and this world that it will be so much fun to return to them. I’m very excited for the next Grisha series featuring Nikolai, but the new books definitely won’t replace the Dregs for me.

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It’s interesting look back at this list and realizing that pretty much all of them are fantasy, even though I read a lot of nonfiction and romance. I guess there’s something about a world and a cast of characters that really pulls me in and keeps these books in the front of my mind.

I can see myself rereading romance (and there’s one on here), but I think I’m less inclined to reread romance just because of the sheer volume produce by the genre; why would I reread something when there are a zillion other romances on my TBR? Though there are definitely some classics that are well worth rereading.

And I think it’d be pretty rare for me to reread a nonfiction book. A couple I could totally see myself rereading are more narrative ones like Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell or fun ones like Notorious RBG by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik, but mostly I’m not drawn to pick up a nonfiction once I’ve already read it. I know there’s still plenty to glean on a reread, but something makes me feel like nonfiction is one and done and there’s no point to rereading it.

Anyways, those are some of the first books I’ve read in the past year or so that I’d like to reread. What books do you suspect you’ll return to again in the future? Let me know in the comments!