Revisiting old favorite characters and stories

[InspectorCaracal]

So we're watching Slayers at the moment as part of our weekly TV schedule and omg I'd forgotten how much I love Gourry, which got me thinking, like, you hear a lot about revisiting things you saw or read and loved ages ago and then being like "wow, what did I see in this", but how often do you hear about people revisiting things like that and being like "I forgot how much I loved all of these things!!"

How about y'all? Do you have anything you revisited recently-ish that you got to rediscover your love for?

[Bee]

Funny as it may seem... Harry Potter! I’m finally reading the books for the first time in at least a decade, and I’m loving them despite their many flaws.

[InspectorCaracal]

Funny as it may seem... Harry Potter! I’m finally reading the books for the first time in at least a decade, and I’m loving them despite their many flaws.

This is exactly the kinda thing I mean!! Stuff that you loved so much you just sort of internalized the fact that you did but then forgot all the specific details about it that made you feel that way in the first place.

[corvabird]

Every time I revisit a Tamora Pierce story, *especially* the Protector of the Small books, I have this experience. Like I know I love them. I love them so much they feel core to who I am. But also every time I re-read them I am surprised by just how much I love the characters.

That's not something that takes place over a long period of time -- I re-read them every year or two at least -- but it still happens.

I suspect the same is going to happen with Intisar Khanani's THEFT OF SUNLIGHT and related series, which is a very recent favourite I'm already itching to re-read.

I wish someone would make a book aimed at adults I loved as much as these! I want older characters with older concerns but the same feel.

[InspectorCaracal]

Every time I revisit a Tamora Pierce story, *especially* the Protector of the Small books, I have this experience. Like I know I love them. I love them so much they feel core to who I am. But also every time I re-read them I am surprised by just how much I love the characters.

That's not something that takes place over a long period of time -- I re-read them every year or two at least -- but it still happens.

I suspect the same is going to happen with Intisar Khanani's THEFT OF SUNLIGHT and related series, which is a very recent favourite I'm already itching to re-read.

I wish someone would make a book aimed at adults I loved as much as these! I want older characters with older concerns but the same feel.

Y'know I've still never read those books. I read the Alanna books way back and like... the first book in one of the others, the Wild Magic series I think? but the Wild Magic one didn't click the same way the early Alanna books did so I kinda lost momentum on Tortall.

I totally feel you though on the whole "why don't people write novels for grown-ups that have the same feel as my favorite kidlit, but about grownups instead of kids??" thing. Tbh that's a lot of what I want to write, adventure fantasy novels that have the feel of my favorite kidlit but star adults. ... Come to think of it, several of my favorite fantasy novels that aren't starring kids are basically that, lmao.

Her Majesty's Wizard is a portal fantasy about a struggling literary grad student being transported to a magical realm where poetry is real, it's sorta like if sword & sorcery meets Narnia, I haven't read it for a while.

Magic Kingdom for Sale is another portal fantasy about a guy who's lost his family buying a magic kingdom and then discovering whoops, it actually is a magic kingdom and now he has to actually run it, and I keep meaning to reread these because they're fantastic, everyone knows Brooks for the Shannara books which are good and all but I always loved the Landover books more.

On the other hand, my first favorite of Stasheff's books did not succeed at the "reread years later and still love it" test lol I mean I still liked it (A Warlock In Spite Of Himself) but it's... it's pretty badly written lol....

There's also The Unicorn Creed which I remember I really liked, has the structure and overall tone of a fantasy adventure with your animal companion but it plays hard with the whole "virginal maiden" element of the mythos of bonding with a unicorn - haven't read it for ages, again, but I remember liking how that worked into the character development and overall themes.

[corvabird]

Every time I revisit a Tamora Pierce story, *especially* the Protector of the Small books, I have this experience. Like I know I love them. I love them so much they feel core to who I am. But also every time I re-read them I am surprised by just how much I love the characters.

That's not something that takes place over a long period of time -- I re-read them every year or two at least -- but it still happens.

I suspect the same is going to happen with Intisar Khanani's THEFT OF SUNLIGHT and related series, which is a very recent favourite I'm already itching to re-read.

I wish someone would make a book aimed at adults I loved as much as these! I want older characters with older concerns but the same feel.

Y'know I've still never read those books. I read the Alanna books way back and like... the first book in one of the others, the Wild Magic series I think? but the Wild Magic one didn't click the same way the early Alanna books did so I kinda lost momentum on Tortall.

I totally feel you though on the whole "why don't people write novels for grown-ups that have the same feel as my favorite kidlit, but about grownups instead of kids??" thing. Tbh that's a lot of what I want to write, adventure fantasy novels that have the feel of my favorite kidlit but star adults. ... Come to think of it, several of my favorite fantasy novels that aren't starring kids are basically that, lmao.

Her Majesty's Wizard is a portal fantasy about a struggling literary grad student being transported to a magical realm where poetry is real, it's sorta like if sword & sorcery meets Narnia, I haven't read it for a while.

Magic Kingdom for Sale is another portal fantasy about a guy who's lost his family buying a magic kingdom and then discovering whoops, it actually is a magic kingdom and now he has to actually run it, and I keep meaning to reread these because they're fantastic, everyone knows Brooks for the Shannara books which are good and all but I always loved the Landover books more.

On the other hand, my first favorite of Stasheff's books did not succeed at the "reread years later and still love it" test lol I mean I still liked it (A Warlock In Spite Of Himself) but it's... it's pretty badly written lol....

There's also The Unicorn Creed which I remember I really liked, has the structure and overall tone of a fantasy adventure with your animal companion but it plays hard with the whole "virginal maiden" element of the mythos of bonding with a unicorn - haven't read it for ages, again, but I remember liking how that worked into the character development and overall themes.

Going to read one of these soon because you have completely summed up what I'm looking for in books! And that's what I try to write as well. ^_^

Also another reminder that *I want to read things you write* hurry up and make things for me to consume, Cal!

Re: Tamora Pierce, I didn't get on as well with Daine either, but Protector of the Small is another Knight School seriesfollowing the second ever lady knight and I loved it even more than Alanna (which was my first Tortall series so I was obvs deeply obsessed). And there are awesome recurring characters from the Alanna books as well. Kel isn't a hot-tempered chosen one; she's quiet, hard-working, and deeply kind. No magic just a growing collection of misfits and animals she adopts.

Actually I would love a 'Kel in her later years' kind of series. Maybe I should actually look for fanfic? Hmm.

[Kieran]

I should really re-read some of the books I remembered liking when I was a kid. In particular, I've been intending to revisit The Mixed-Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler for... oh... over a decade, I think... I don't remember much of it, but the whole thing with basically living at the museum made a huge impression on me.

[Bee]

I should really re-read some of the books I remembered liking when I was a kid. In particular, I've been intending to revisit The Mixed-Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler for... oh... over a decade, I think... I don't remember much of it, but the whole thing with basically living at the museum made a huge impression on me.

Oh I read that as an adult and really enjoyed it! Can’t remember anything else about it though lmao

[thiskurt]

Funny as it may seem... Harry Potter! I’m finally reading the books for the first time in at least a decade, and I’m loving them despite their many flaws.

This is exactly the kinda thing I mean!! Stuff that you loved so much you just sort of internalized the fact that you did but then forgot all the specific details about it that made you feel that way in the first place.

I've reread Hitchicker's Guide recently and should start on The Restaurant at the End of the Universe soon, which despite how formative that series was it's actually been a while since I really read it. But I have re-listened to the radio show a bunch of times, so it's not that super new, and, like, I still know a lot of it by heart I've noticed, probably the later books will be less familiar though.

[Bee]

So I just read all five of the Tommy & Tuppence books this week and, hm. I had read a while ago that analyses of her novels indicate Christie had Alzheimer's: her language got poorer in her final years, and she lost her grasp of plotting.

The Secret Adversary was Christie's second published novel, and Postern of Fate, the last. Fifty years separate them, and... it shows. At first I was annoyed that the dates just don't add up (T&T are the only characters that age, but they couldn't possibly have had children old enough to serve in WWII if they were born six years after tSA, which is set in 1919 at the earliest), but truth is, PoF was such a disaster it should never have been published, at least not without extensive editing. ._.

At least I still loved T&T to the very end. OTP goals: both utterly devoted to one another and not even the least bit afraid of roasting each other mercilessly lmao