"Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time"

This week's Long & Short Reviews prompt is "Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time." 

That's not an emotional experience I've actually had. One can always read a book again, and again, each time focussing on a different aspect of what the author had to say. As a child whose access to books in general used to be limited to a narrow selection of mostly unappealing books, I read some favorites literally dozens of times. As an adult I have more opportunities to read new books for the first time, but there are still books I can enjoy revisiting. 

In some other L&SR-prompted posts I've focussed on the first books I can remember in the category, which has meant children's books. This time, for variation's sake, I'd like to focus on books I read for the first time within the past twenty years, which means skipping over the children's books I don't actually need a child's help to enjoy revisiting and the reading list classics...

1. Dakota by Kathleen Norris

While she was only getting acquainted with the monastic people she would write about in her mega-sellers, Norris wrote this slimmer book of essays--long, short, and short-short--about her life with her husband in a small town. The topophilia is delightful. I wouldn't like to live in South Dakota but Norris makes it clear why she did.

2. Juniper Gentian and Rosemary by Pamela Dean

Given a contract to write a novel based on an old ballad, Dean strayed a bit from the topic. The oldest versions of the English riddle songs seem to date back to a time when people were seriously afraid of "devils" and relished legends of how someone might have outwitted one. By the time the ballad picked up the refrain, whether sung as "juniper, gentian, and rosemary" or "gentle fair Jennifer, Rose, and Marie," interest in "devils" had declined and the plot became that the young man chose, of three young women, the one who gave the best answers to riddles. In this novel Dean mixed both motifs. The three sisters are named after magical herbs because their parents anticipated that they'd need to defend themselves against malevolent magic. All three are attracted to a mysterious young man who moves into their neighborhood. The attraction is not primarily sexual; something murkier is going on. "Devils" wanted to corrupt souls. The malevolent power in this novel wants to derail one of the sisters' career by separating her from her own life, education, family, friends...drawing on another old song that warned "girls that flourish in their prime" to "let no man steal your time." I love that this novel finally calls out "boyfriends" as a harmful, corrosive factor in young women's lives. Dean's ability to portray a healthy family life and vibrant friendships has no equal.

3. Peace Talk 101 by Suzette Haden Elgin

After the success of her Native Tongue trilogy, the writer known as Suzette Haden Elgin had an interesting late career. She was also a linguist and language teacher known for the slow steady bestseller series that began with The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense. Those books continued to sell. Elgin continued to learn and write more about communication with verbal self-defense books for every market demographic that suggested itself. Each one seemed to do better than the last, while critics, feminists, and English teachers raved over Native Tongue. But...but...Native Tongue hadn't sold a lot of copies in its first run. Worse, because it had been not only recommended for many contemporary literature courses but actually used in a university research project, instead of forcing sales of lots of expensively produced copies it had been photocopied and distributed to students by teachers. Publishers didn't want to risk a novel like that and didn't want to publish the next science fiction series Elgin wanted to write. 

Meanwhile, she was privately counselling a young person in distress. She published no details about the person but she did self-publish, as a free e-book, a short novel about a depressed young man who gets some good advice that may or may not make his life less depressing, but it seems to start working in his favor. She called it Peace Talk 101. It 's a sort of summary of what she'd learned in a richly varied career, and it's a good read.

4. The Straight Dope (series) by Cecil Adams

Selected from a weekly newspaper column, this was a delightfully random collection of fun facts. People sent in questions and Adams researched and wrote up the answers to the ones with the highest snarky adult comedy potential. Teenagers love this series. My inner teenager is one of them.

5. The Dilbert Principle by Scott Adams

Common sense advice about work and communication, presented by cartoon characters.

6. The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges

If you want a book of manageable size that can be opened anywhere for goofy fun and memorable insights, this one is worth looking for. It used to be available in both English and Spanish. 

7. Eat the Rich by P.J. O'Rourke

The title is, of course, a joke, not a serious recommendation. O'Rourke visits places he considers examples of "good socialism," "bad socialism,"  "good capitalism" and "bad capitalism."

8. Clueless (series) by H.B. Gilmour, Randi Reisfeld, et al.

Remakes and reviews of the classics of English literature as reenacted by rich high school kids. 

9. Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg

Thoroughly researched historical classic, with a snarky sense of humor.

10. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

Actually, any book by Anne Lamott. I don't always agree with her but I love the way she writes.