read it again, and again, and again

“The sure mark of an unliterary man is that he considers ‘I’ve read it already’ to be a conclusive argument against reading a work. We have all known women who remembered a novel so dimly that they had to stand for half an hour in the library skimming through it before they were certain they had once read it. But the moment they became certain, they rejected it immediately. It was for them dead, like a burnt-out match, an old railway ticket, or yesterday’s paper; they had already used it. Those who read great works, on the other hand, will read the same work ten, twenty or thirty times during the course of their life.”

—C.S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism

I have a "stack" of books I read over and over again. Once a year, twice a year, each year at Christmas, it depends. In the last number of years I've started to go back to classic authors. I had read Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and that was it as far as reading for fun and not for an English paper. Now three of her novels are ones I go back to again and again. It's sad to say that I never read Pride and Prejudice until after I graduated college (and I was an English major!). I've now added two of Austen's other novels to my repeat list. I see new details and dimensions each read. This choice to not only read those books labeled "best-selling" and "trendy" has been good for my soul. These works have stood the test of time.

My personal list of  "great works":

Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Persuasion by Jane Austen

Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery

An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott

Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott

Pollyanna and Pollyanna Grows Up by Eleanor H. Porter

Boston's Public Garden from Pollyanna Grows Up