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Have you ever taken against a book, given up on it, but then, at another time in your life, given it another shot and loved it?

Asked by Sathnam Sanghera
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  • 71 Replies
  • Jan 14, 2023
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Have you ever taken against a book, given up on it, but then, at another time in your life, given it another shot and loved it? Interested in examples and explan...

Have you ever taken against a book, given up on it, but then, at another time in your life, given it another shot and loved it? Interested in examples and explanations for why. #books

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  • Recommendations
    All Book
Recommended by Speldnan Swati Moitra and Tintenfische
Book Apr 30, 2009
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Wolf Hall
  • by Hilary Mantel
England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell: a whol
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Speldnan 4mos

Yes I started Wolf Hall some years ago and couldn’t get past Cromwell’s childhood. Later in Lockdown when I felt justified in reading in the daytime I read it avidly, loved it and went on to read the next 2 volumes over subsequent 2/3yrs. So glad I did!

Swati Moitra 4mos

Wolf Hall. Stopped reading at the first go, found it dense. Read the whole trilogy on Kindle this year, where the length feels less intimidating. Amazing trilogy, but the first is definitely the peak.

Tintenfische 4mos

Wolf Hall. I just couldn't get into her style of writing. Came back two years and loved it.

Recommended by Emerling Tim F and Julie (Mae) Cohen
Book 1847
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Wuthering Heights
  • by Emily Brontë
You can find the redesigned cover of this edition HERE. This best-selling Norton Critical Edition is based on the 1847 first edition of the novel. For the Fourth Edition, the editor has collated the 1847 text with several modern editions and has corrected a number of variants, including accidenta
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Emerling 4mos

Wuthering Heights. Read a lot of the classics when I was relatively young and I think couldn't understand the complexity of the relationship. Went back to it as a young adult and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Tim F 4mos

Wuthering Heights. Read it at 17, thought it was absurdly melodramatic tosh. A few years and heartbreaks later, I'd got the point.

Julie (Mae) Cohen 4mos

I was forced to read Wuthering Heights at school and I HATED it with a passion! Everyone in it was cruel, selfish, petty...and yet people called it a love story. Ugh. Then I grew up and had to teach it, and came to understand what it has to say about class, gender, otherness.

Recommended by Ned Bertz Revati and Jackie Palmer
Book Apr, 1997
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The God of Small Things
  • by Arundhati Roy
The year is 1969. In the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India, a skyblue Plymouth with chrome tailfins is stranded on the highway amid a Marxist workers' demonstration. Inside the car sit two-egg twins Rahel and Esthappen, and so begins their tale. . . . Armed only with the invincible
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Ned Bertz 4mos

The God of Small Things. Went back to it after visiting Kerala for the first time, and it all clicked.

Revati 4mos

The God of Small Things- threw it across the room when I got to the end for the first time (14), read it again at 17 and sobbed/was in awe at how beautiful the writing is. Possibly too young the first time?

Jackie Palmer 4mos

The God of Small Things. Loved it so much I couldn’t understand why I didn’t get into it first time 🤷‍♀️

Recommended by Chris Boot soyturista and Anna
Book 1980
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The Name of the Rose
  • by Umberto Eco
The year is 1327. Benedictines in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate. When his delicate mission is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths, Brother William turns detective. His tools are the logic of Aristotle, the theolog
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Chris Boot 4mos

I must have started Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose" about 30 times, before I decided to miss out the first few chapters and discover how good the book was.

soyturista 4mos

Umberto Eco - The name of the rose. I kept giving up a few chapters in. I think I finally got stuck in when I couldn’t sleep on a flight.

Anna 4mos

Middlemarch and The Name of the Rose - I had multiple goes at both but was just too young. Also have a theory that you can only read Margaret Drabble’s novels when you are roughly the age she was when she wrote them, which is working perfectly so far.

Recommended by Anna and Velma Ramone
Book 1871
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Middlemarch
  • by George Eliot
Taking place in the years leading up to the First Reform Bill of 1832, Middlemarch explores nearly every subject of concern to modern life: art, religion, science, politics, self, society, human relationships. Among her characters are some of the most remarkable portraits in English literature: Doro
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Anna 4mos

Middlemarch and The Name of the Rose - I had multiple goes at both but was just too young. Also have a theory that you can only read Margaret Drabble’s novels when you are roughly the age she was when she wrote them, which is working perfectly so far.

Velma Ramone 4mos

Middlemarch. I simply didn't understand it when I was a student! But I know a bit more about why people make unsuitable marriages and the desire to do 'good works' and leave a legacy now I am in my mid-40s. So the story is much more relatable.

Recommended by G J Sykes and Kavitha Rao
Book Apr 10, 1925
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The Great Gatsby
  • by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Alternate Cover Edition ISBN: 0743273567 (ISBN13: 9780743273565) The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald's third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. This exemplary novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story is of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsb
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G J Sykes 4mos

Two examples immediately spring to mind for me - The Great Gatsby and The Sheltering Sky. First time around it was a case of 'whats all the fuss?' Second time...'Ah, I get it now'.

Kavitha Rao 4mos

The Great Gatsby. First read it as a teen. IMO regret and a certain type of melancholy is an emotion best understood in middle age. Ditto Remains Of The Day.

Recommended by Jean Sibelius and Jane Booher
Book Nov 10, 1961
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Catch-22
  • by Joseph Heller
Fifty years after its original publication, Catch-22 remains a cornerstone of American literature and one of the funniest—and most celebrated—books of all time. In recent years it has been named to “best novels” lists by Time, Newsweek, the Modern Library, and the London Observer. Set in Italy du
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Jean Sibelius 4mos

Catch 22. Then was advised to get past a certain page and then it would be ok and it was 👍👍👍

Jane Booher 4mos

Also Catch 22! Thirty year gap between first and second reading.

Recommended by Nic and Lucy Bish
Book Mar, 2004
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Cloud Atlas
  • by David Mitchell
A postmodern visionary who is also a master of styles of genres, David Mitchell combines flat-out adventure, a Nabokovian lore of puzzles, a keen eye for character, and a taste for mind-bending philosophical and scientific speculation in the tradition of Umberto Eco, Haruki Murakami, and Philip K. D
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Nic 4mos

Cloud Atlas. Because I saw it on Sara Cox’s book show and I felt like I must be stupid as I didn’t get it. Loved it the second time.

Lucy Bish 4mos

David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas. Took me three attempts over about 10 years. Someone on the radio had said it was their favourite ever book, so I kept thinking it must be worth another go.

Recommended by Kerry Hammond and Ian Andrew Roy Burns
Book Feb 2, 1922
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Ulysses
  • by James Joyce
Loosely based on the Odyssey, this landmark of modern literature follows ordinary Dubliners in 1904. Capturing a single day in the life of Dubliner Leopold Bloom, his friends Buck Mulligan and Stephen Dedalus, his wife Molly, and a scintillating cast of supporting characters, Joyce pushes Celtic lyr
www.goodreads.com
Kerry Hammond 4mos

Ulysses, tried twice years ago & found it confusing & annoying. I recently saw an old Arena episode on the book & suddenly i had an “in” & finally finished it. Still annoying but less confusing.

Ian Andrew Roy Burns 4mos

Just finished Ulysses - fourth attempt over about thirty years. Was worth the revisit

Recommended by Seána Grant and Gemma Moroney
Book Sep 6, 2020
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Shuggie Bain
  • by Douglas Stuart
Shuggie Bain is the unforgettable story of young Hugh "Shuggie" Bain, a sweet and lonely boy who spends his 1980s childhood in run-down public housing in Glasgow, Scotland. Thatcher's policies have put husbands and sons out of work, and the city's notorious drugs epidemic is waiting in the wings.
www.goodreads.com
Seána Grant 4mos

Yes. This was me with Shuggie Bain got it when it was booker nominated in 2020 - covid was here & no vacccines fully rolled out, my cup of worries was full & I couldn’t handle it. Picked it up last week and it’s possessed me ever since. It’s full of pain but very relatable for me

Gemma Moroney 4mos

I excitedly started Shuggie Bain but just couldn’t get into it. It just felt so bleak. But so many friends recommended it, I tried again and liked it. Then when Young Mungo came out, I finished it in one sitting.

Recommended by John Conmy and BrinRajathurai
Book Apr, 1981
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Midnight's Children
  • by Salman Rushdie
Saleem Sinai is born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the very moment of India’s independence. Greeted by fireworks displays, cheering crowds, and Prime Minister Nehru himself, Saleem grows up to learn the ominous consequences of this coincidence. His every act is mirrored and magnified
www.goodreads.com
John Conmy 4mos

It took me about three attempts to crack Midnight’s Children. Now it’s compulsory every couple of years. It’s just the epic fantasy and the little things.

BrinRajathurai 4mos

Midnight's children - Salman Rushdie. Just couldn't get going with it first time round and then tried again years later and absolutely loved it.

Recommended by Loboestroperlo
Book Jun, 1965
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Dune
  • by Frank Herbert
Here is the novel that will be forever considered a triumph of imagination. Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, who would become the mysterious man known as Muad'Dib. He would avenge the traitorous plot against his noble family - and would bring to fruition
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Loboestroperlo 4mos

Dune by Frank Herbert. Tried reading it when I was 8-9. Utterly failed and didn’t enjoy it. Grabbed it again when I was 16, loved it. Read it again in my late 20s and loved it even more.

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  • Recommenders (69)
    Dr Katherine Schofield Max Hardy Julie (Mae) Cohen Kavitha Rao Seána Grant Celia Richardson Swati Moitra Jean Sibelius adrian mcmenamin Tim F Chris Sarah Chapman Left Peggers Ned Bertz Paddy Fraser Aisha Ditta Alice Salisbury James Mylet Linda Aizlewood Jacqueline Saville Nick Tintenfische KwesoniusMaximus Gemma Moroney Revati Mad Percy Conrad David Wilson Richard Barnett M.G. Zimeta Emily Norfolk-Thomps Sara Price John Conmy Amelia Bell anne mcdonald Tanima Ian Andrew Roy Burns HazelMary Chris Boot soyturista G J Sykes Katie Cathy Linacre Jeremy Maw ⭐️⭐️ slum napoleon Loboestroperlo BrinRajathurai Velma Ramone Angie Bentley Anna Sebag-Montefiore Jean Valjean Mr molecule Sue Ed D Jelena Sarmo Jane Booher Miriam O'Byrne Speldnan Jackie Palmer Simone Carbery Padraig Murphy Kerry Hammond Ann apocalypstick Emerling Norbert Scrote Nic Lucy Bish
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