BTT: Second First Time

What book would you love to be able to read again for the first time?

The possibilities are endless. The feeling that comes with reading a really good book for the first time is almost indescribable in its complexity as your heart soars with pleasure, your brain scrambles quickly back through the whole experience, your stomach clenches with sadness as the book is over, you smile/laugh/cry, you hurry and think of who you can talk to about the book. It is an almost euphoric state. You can read the book again and again, but 99% of the time you will never again experience quite the same rush.

I have had quite a few books over the years which have set the high mark for this feeling. Some were classic novels, works of literature which have stood the test of time; others were trashy romance novels. I'm an equal opportunity reader. What can I say? Some of these special books I remember, and I have to admit, some I don't. This makes it a bit more difficult to choose the one book I would like to start over with, but if I absolutely had to choose, I would have to say the winner would be Michel Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White.

I can't tell you particularly why; it's not the best book I've ever read, it didn't give me that euphoric feeling more than any other. But it was a new type of reading for me. Written partially in second person, the book literally speaks to you, an interesting experience. I would enjoy opening up to that first page and beginning the journey for the first time.

Because I can - this is my blog - here are some quick runners up: Wicked, Princess, House of the Spirits, Good Omens, Hitchhikers Guide, and Middlemarch.