Rereadable: The Scarlet Letter

I first read The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, in high school, like many other students. And like many other students, I understood the gist of it but was bored and didn’t see why it was important and considered a classic. It felt like an old tome full of boring descriptions and endless allusions to things I was unfamiliar with.

I’ve thought about rereading many of the old classics I was assigned in high school to see if I would appreciate them more now that I’m older. For no particular reason, I decided to start with The Scarlet Letter.

Rereadable: Fablehaven

This is going to date me, but I remember when Fablehaven, by Brandon Mull, was first published.  I was a young, bright-eyed student in my second year of college (my first time through college) when I started noticing people (usually women) walking around with these books under their arms.  They had bright, cheery colors, and looked far too young for the people who were carrying them.  It took me a while, but I eventually broke down and bought the first book (this was after Deathly Hallows was released, which I read in a 24-hour period and then wondered what I would do with the rest of my life).

The series was interesting–it was no Harry Potter, but it helped to fill a hole left in its absence.

Recently, I’ve been thinking about reading the Fablehaven series again, especially with the semi-recent release of a new book: Dragonwatch.  What better way to commemorate that then by doing a Rereadable post?

Rereadable: The Book of Three

I remember when I was little watching Disney’s The Black Cauldron.  During it, I fell in love with Gurgi (as a character–don’t judge me) and was terrified of the Horned King’s army.  Imagine my dismay when I finally read The Book of Three, quickly followed by The Black Cauldron and found that 1. Gurgi isn’t a cute little dog creature, and 2. The Horned King isn’t as creepy in the book as in the movie (although movie Horned King didn’t burn people alive in baskets as part of a pre-war macho exercise), and that movie Horned King was more a representation of Arawn.

With Disney picking up the rights to film the entire Chronicles of Prydain, I decided to buy the entire box set and start rereading them (and, honestly, I’m not sure why I never did finish the series.  I think The Castle of Llyr was checked out at my school’s library, and at the time I was too shy to put anything on hold…and then I moved on to the next Harry Potter book).  I must say, I am still in love with these books and am ashamed that I never did finish the series as a child/teen.