This is such a tough question for me! My gut instinct is to pick one of the first books in one of my favorite series. So many of the books I love the most aren’t really single books at all, but the overarching story of a long running series. My all-time favorites are Harry Potter (of course!), The Amelia Peabody Mysteries by Elizabeth Peters, and the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. And it’s so easy to think, “Oh, wouldn’t it be great to reread one of those early books for the first time!”

The problem is, for me, I never know a series is going to be great when I read the first book. I really liked Harry Potter, but I didn’t feel like the series was going to be great until the third book. It was the moment when Hagrid revealed that he’d gotten his motorbike from Sirius Black … that was moment I knew J.K. Rowling was plotting long term. That was the moment I knew the series was going to be great. With the Amelia Peadody books, it was The Lion in Valley. With Harry Dresden it was in Blood Rites, when we realize how deep Harry’s familial ties go.  

None of those moments happen in the first book. Picking a later book to “read again for the first time” just feels like cheating. By book three or four or five I’m already emotionally invested. I’d certainly been enjoying the series up until that point. It’s just those are the moments that blew me away. 

Do I wish I could go back and read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone or The Crocodile on the Sandbank or Storm Front for the first time? No, I don’t. But I totally wish that I’d known then how amazing the series was going to end up. I wish I could send a little note to myself that says, “It’s okay to fall head-over-heels in love with the series. The author is going to take good care of you. He/She will continue to surprise and amazing and entertain you for many books to come. You’re in good hands.”

How about you? What book do you wish you could read again for the first time?