Weekend Blog Hops - 29 April 2017

How many books have you re-read?

If you have re-read books, please tell us the book's title and why you re-read it.

Of course I've reread books, but I'd be here awhile if I listed them all, so I'll stick to the one I've reread the most: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. I've always loved this book; it's poetic and beautiful. I have my favourite scenes marked so I can quickly find them, even if I don't have time for a full reread. Actually, I wish I could reread more books, especially some of the classics, which I read for the first time a good twenty years ago. I'd like to revisit them to see how my life experiences have altered my perception of them, but despite my best plans, new books seem to occupy all my time.

 

Opening sentence:
One for sorrow: Mary Tudor, a magpie queen--dress black, face chill white, pearls hanging in her hair like teardrops--stands in the pose of a woman with child, her right palm flat across her swollen belly.

From page 56:
Fanguin, whose eyesight had appeared impeccable, began polishing a pair of spectacles with a spotted handkerchief, a theatrical performance designed to give maximum effect to his reply.

 

My Current Read

Rotherweird

Andrew Caldecott

 
The town of Rotherweird stands alone - there are no guidebooks, despite the fascinating and diverse architectural styles cramming the narrow streets, the avant garde science and offbeat customs. Cast adrift from the rest of England by Elizabeth I, Rotherweird's independence is subject to one disturbing condition: nobody, but nobody, studies the town or its history.
For beneath the enchanting surface lurks a secret so dark that it must never be rediscovered, still less reused.

But secrets have a way of leaking out.

Two inquisitive outsiders have arrived: Jonah Oblong, to teach modern history at Rotherweird School (nothing local and nothing before 1800), and the sinister billionaire Sir Veronal Slickstone, who has somehow got permission to renovate the town's long-derelict Manor House.

Slickstone and Oblong, though driven by conflicting motives, both strive to connect past and present, until they and their allies are drawn into a race against time - and each other. The consequences will be lethal and apocalyptic.